School practitioners’ perceptions of the pre-service teacher education practicum: a comparative study

The importance of strong school-university partnerships in bridging the so-called theory- practice gap in pre-service teacher education has been well established in the literature. The experiences of pre-service teachers during practicum have in particular been shown to be enhanced where there are strong links between the two educational sectors. This paper draws from research conducted in two diverse Australian pre-service teacher education programs to evaluate factors that are perceived to profoundly impact on the professional experiences of pre-service teachers during practicum. The particular focus of this paper is the beliefs and experiences of school practitioners and university staff members regarding the efficacy of the practicum in enabling students to enact theory in practice. A mixed methods approach was adopted for both studies, one of which was located in an urban university in Tasmania, the other in a regional university in Queensland. Findings generated from the comparative study of both programs revealed some differences but predominantly a number of similarities between the perceptions of the two samples of school practitioners and university staff members towards practicum. Three key findings are presented and discussed in this paper.

The nature and role of assessment during practicum : stakeholders’ perspectives

This paper focuses on the assessment of student teachers during practicum. The study is contextualised in an Australian pre-service teacher education program in which practicum has been reconceptualised to help bridge the theory-practice gap commonly associated with “front-end loading” programs. Survey and interview data collected from student teachers and supervising teachers point to what participants perceive as disparate understandings between university and school staff about the nature and role of assessment and suggest that this lack of common understanding adversely affects students’ experiences of assessment. While contextualised in teacher education, these findings have applicability to other tertiary programs for the professions. The study’s conclusions are threefold: the importance of establishing and sustaining effective university-school partnerships is paramount; there is a clearly identified need for shared stakeholder understandings about practicum assessment; and disregarding failed or diminished partnerships jeopardises student learning.

The limitations of front-end loading in undergraduate university programs

This paper shows how Mead’s theory of emergence can prove explanatory in how the theory-practice gap is co-created and sustained in front-end loading university programs. Taking teacher education as an exemplar, we argue that the trainee teacher encounters different and oft-times conflicting environmental, social and cultural conditions in the two “fields of interaction” of the training program, namely, on-campus work and in-school experience. The argument draws on interview and focus group data collected via a study of first-year graduate teachers of an Australian teacher education program. We conclude that role taking and self-regulated behaviour within the two environmental fields of interaction in front-end loading programs inhibit the trainee professional from exercising the power of agency to implement theory learned at university in practice in the workplace. Further, we propose that Mead’s theory of emergence proves effective in explaining a major limitation of front-end-loaded university programs.

Exploring connections between the in-field and on-campus components of a preservice teacher education program : a student perspective

This paper discusses the preservice teacher education practicum experience from the perspective of preservice teachers at a regional Australian university. It locates the practicum in the broader context of work integrated learning and associated principles of good practice. The paper argues that there are some perceived disconnections between the in-field and on–campus components of the teacher education program as well as an endorsement of some aspects of the practicum experience in closing the theory-practice gap. Our research adds to international debate about the balance between theory and practice and contributes a much needed student perspective on these issues. The paper concludes with suggestions on ways to improve
the quality of the practicum.

How ready are you? A preliminary investigation into the workplace readiness of final-year education students at a regional university

One criticism of teacher-training programs is that they do not sufficiently prepare graduating teachers for the transition between higher education and the demands and practicalities of classroom teaching. This lack of workplace readiness or 'teacher ready' status of graduates has been attributed to insufficient pre-service practical experience and the failure of training programs to adequately coach pre-service teachers in the delivery of quality pedagogy (Nelson, 2005). On the other hand, the Australian Council of Deans of Education (2005, p. 3) argues that teacher-training programs should provide foundational knowledge and skills with the onus on the profession to build on these foundations and elevate the teacher 'to the point of full and complete practitioner-readiness'. Central Queensland University has tried to respond to these concerns through the introduction of the Bachelor of Learning Management. This paper reports on a preliminary investigation into the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the program in preparing graduates and enabling workplace readiness. Towards the end of 2005 a cohort of final year students was asked to identify their levels of confidence in the transition from university to work; and how the cohort could have been better prepared. It is intended that the issues identified will be translated into recommendations for future program improvements.

Using feedback from stakeholders to strengthen the student teacher experience during field experience

This paper reports a study into key stakeholders’ perceptions of a teacher education program in the context of field experience. Located in an urban Australian university, the study draws on data collected from students, university supervisors and teachers to provide insight into three inter-related issues. First, it projects an understanding of how different stakeholders perceive and enact their roles and responsibilities during field experience. Second, it contributes an understanding about factors that enhance and impede students’ capacity to integrate theory and practice and, third, it shows the fundamental role that effective university-school partnerships play in enabling student engagement in teacher education. The paper concludes by proposing ways in which the study’s findings can be used to improve teacher education.

Developing effective school and university partnerships for teacher education

The use of school-university partnerships to address the theory-practice divide in teacher education has recently come to attention in international teacher education studies (e.g. Darling-Hammond, 2005; Jones & Ryan, in press). School-university partnerships are particularly important in primary science teacher education as a means to overcome limited opportunities primary pre-service teachers have to observe and practice science teaching during their Practicum. Their opportunities are limited due to a lack of practising teachers who include science in their classroom teaching or who do not feel sufficiently competent to act as science mentors. This is generally attributable to low teacher confidence and knowledge of how to teach science (Jones & Carter, 2007).

This workshop will report on a study which is exploring existing approaches to school-university partnerships in science teacher education at 5 Australian universities. Utilising a multiple case study methodology (Yin, 2009), the project has examined the experiences of establishing, maintaining and developing these partnership and explored the benefits of the partnerships for pre-service teachers, practising teachers and schools.

A key outcome of the project is the development of an “Interpretive Framework” in which partnership practices were exemplified, contextualized and summarized, documenting key phases in the development of partnership arrangements. The Framework is currently undergoing validation with Australian universities. In this paper, the authors present the Framework to an braoder audience for comment and seek to explore its relevance and transferability to school-university partnerships in an international context.

Assessing the impact of foreign aid: value for money and aid for trade

 Assessing the Impact of Foreign Aid: Value for Money and Aid for Trade provides updated information on how to improve foreign aid programs, exploring the concept and practice of impact assessment within the sometimes-unproblematic approaches advocated in current literature of value for money and aid for trade.
Contributors from multi-lateral agencies and NGOs discuss the changing patterns of Official Development Assistance and their effects on impact assessment, providing theoretical, political, structural, methodological, and practical frameworks, discussions, and a theory-practice nexus.
With twin foci of economics and policy this book raises the potential for making sophisticated and coherent decisions on aid allocation to developing countries.

Política de formação de professores: uma leitura a partir da análise do programa especial de formação de professores para a educação básica PROEB/UFMA

Study of Teacher Education Policy: a reading from the analysis of Programa Especial de Formação de Professores para a Educação Básica Proeb - aims to analyze the initial teacher training developed by the Universidade Federal do Maranhão - UFMA. Proeb is a policy of in-service training of teachers, formulated and implemented in the context of current educational policies for basic education. This work assumes that the guidelines developed in the last decades of the twentieth century are linked to international organizations that spread in Latin America continent a homogeneous model of training which has as main features to be held in service through the mode the distance and the school as a leading locus. In Brazil, these guidelines are supported on the Law of Directives and Bases of National Education No. 9.394/96 and Report 09/2001, which deals with the Syllabus Guidelines for the formation of Basic Education Teachers. To carry out the study was taken as reference, the syllabus developed for the deployment of Proeb from 1998 to 2002, specifically the proposal operationalized in the Degree Course of Mathematics in the city of Vitória do Mearim in Maranhão. To conduct the study, it was used literature as a way to deepen understanding, clarify and aim the conceptual aspect of the object researched. The documental research was consisted in the analysis of legal documents concerning the reform of education policies, teacher training and pedagogical project Proeb/UFMA and, finally, the semi-structured interviews were used to allow a better understanding of the subjects involved with research. The data analysis has shown that the curriculum designed to operationalize the course of undergraduate mathematics Proeb/UFMA, despite having guidelines that point to the separation of theory/practice dichotomy and establish as a principle work as an educational principle, has an disciplinary curriculum organization that reinforces the instrumental view of the syllabus, not enabling in practice, the execution of their initial proposal. Concerning to the view of graduates on the course, they highlight the weaknesses of the course, but also evidence that it has allowed an improvement of initial training, through the disciplines of the common core syllabus of courses and special training. It is possible seeing in graduates words, that the course have had repercussions in their teaching and improving their integration into the labor market and in the community of Vitória do Mearim. Overall, these developments have indicated evidence of teacher professionalization, although they are incipient. The work has shown that for the professionalization of teachers is introduced, the syllabus of undergraduate teacher education must overcome the traditional view of syllabus and implement contextualized curricula in a multidisciplinary approach involving, in equal proportions, the general education and training specific course. Accordingly, it is believed in need to review the role of the University in the formative process, as well as recovering as part of educational policies, the omnilateral size of teacher education

A formação do pedagogo-professor no curso de pedagogia: limites e possibilidades na visão de professores formados no campus avançado de Patu da UERN

The inconclusive policies regarding the teaching background, specifically the Pedagogy Course, whose National Curricular Directives DCN were ratified by the Ministry of Education on April 4th 2006, have been causing protest from the various forces within the scope of the university, specifically in the Pedagogy Departments in which, through their professionals, express the several stands about the pedagogue profile, his/her professional acting field and a curriculum that meets the background needs of this professional. This paper tried to assess, from the viewpoint of the student who graduated from the Pedagogy Course and who acts in classroom in the first years of the Elementary School, to what extent this course meets the background needs of the professional who works as teacher. In specific terms it was this paper's objective to identify the most important background needs of teachers who graduated in Pedagogy, who act in the first years of the Elementary School; To list the contributions and limitations of the Pedagogy Course of CAJIM/UERN in the teachers' background, outlined by the graduates of the course; to raise suggestions for the improvement of the teachers' background in the Pedagogy Course of the CAJIM/UERN. In order to turn these objectives viable we opted for the qualitative approach in research, more precisely for the case study methodology, from which we used as instruments for the execution of the field work the observation in classrooms, semi-structured interviews which became the main instrument used for the data construction and analysis. The data analysis process took place through the content analysis technique based in Bardin (2000). The theoretical line is based on the studies from Schön (2000), Nóvoa (1997), Perrenoud (1993), Alarcão (2003), Ramalho (2003) we also used the National Curricular Directives which serve as current Parameter for the Pedagogy courses. The study indicated that the Pedagogy Course contributed for the personal and professional enrichment, however, difficulties in the theory-practice articulation are still present in the everyday life. The theoretical knowledge assimilated, though represent increments to the professional practice, are not enough to enable a pedagogical practice with excellence. There is a need to consider a curriculum in a dialectic perspective, configurator of social and cultural practices sustained by the reasoning as praxis, thus it must not be seen solely in a theoretical plan, mas as a process that builds itself between the acting and the reasoning.

Educação do campo e alternância :reflexões sobre uma experiência na Transamazônica/Pará

The study theme is the Rural Familiar House Program (RFHP), through the Rural Familiar House of Uruará-PA city (URFH), from 2000 to 2005. It is considered as base the education offered to the field young people, in the modality of basic education by alternation methodology between the Familiar and School Times in the two first from 5th to 8th grade classrooms. From the argument about the understanding importance and need of knowledge transmission and construction to be established in the inter-section between general references of the social reality and the subjective ones. It constitutes an educative work that both values domain of knowing and the creative capacity of each pupil. Considering that the greatest aim of the education is the human being emancipation, this thematic for the development of the documentary and field research was defined with the delimitated thematic for the educative practice-proposal in alternation, choosing the Program of the RFHs as the reference to carry out an analysis which considered fruitful in the articulation between education and educative work. This study had the objective to contribute for the debate concerning the alternation and to understand presuposals and educative practice of the RFHs what its importance for the young people and its relation with the field educational policy. For this, it was used, mainly, from analytical references of authors, such as Williams, Gramsci, Adorno, Freire, Shiva, Soares, Molina, Tonet, et. all, all were also important for the construction of this work. The studied documentary sources, as well as the verbal ones the actors also interviewed had allowed, in irreplaceable way and significantly, a critical analysis on the pedagogical proposals and the articulation among school, familiar work and education, which was carried out in the formation of URFH, the sessions of alternation between Time School and Time Family. The results are scored with the chapter construction, as they had presented themselves in several sources and the reading which was made. A reading that signals for the affirmation which is possible to overtake the emphasis on technicality, mediated in the practice-theory-practice relation, still present in the alternation, and, thus, to be able to make an educative work that intends to contribute for the young people education with capacity of being, thinking and to act actually as subjects of their history

O projeto politico pedagógico de enfermagem e o sistema único de saúde: a visão de discentes

This research aims to analyze, in the view of students, the pedagogic project of undergraduate nursing course, of UFRN, and its articulation with the SUS, in an attempt to understand the issues that permeate the teaching and learning of nursing. This is a qualitative study that used the focus group technique as a tool to collect empirical data. There were three meetings, where we had the collaboration of 23 graduating students from the eighth period of the semester 2009.1. For the analysis of information, we use a theoretical framework based on curriculum guidelines and basic principles of the SUS, making the analogy of the results with the metaphor of Greek mythology, Ariadne's thread, in dialogue with authors who discuss education as a transformative practice. Thus, the texture of the yarn was built of five thematic fields: joint the pedagogic project with the SUS; the teaching/service and theory/practice relation; interdisciplinarity or transdisciplinarity; didactic/methodological and relational approaches; and co-participation of students in the pedagogic project. According to the discussions, we find many difficulties in the teaching and learning process of undergraduate nursing in UFRN to strengthen the SUS, including: dislocation of educational institutions with services, professionals, managers and community; dichotomy between theory and practice; reality of services as a learning field and working process in health; posture adopted by professionals, teachers and other subjects included in the process of health education; decontextualization and fragmentation of teaching with the practice in health and nursing; excessive use of very illustrative methodologies, but little problem-solving; difficult and precarious situation in the relations between teachers and between teachers/students, regarding the acceptance of differences; absence of participation of students in the evaluation process and conduct of the educational project in progress. In this sense, we understand the need an auto-reflexive act of teaching and conducting collective pedagogical course with a view to achieving the SUS. Thus, it is necessary to support practices motivated by the polyphonic dialogue and the exercise of symbiosis and autopoiesis of subjects/actors jointly responsible for the ongoing process of learning for life.

Reflexões e contribuições para o ensino de gravitação clássica no nível médio

The subject of Classic Gravitation is part of the actual curriculum for High School in Brazil, and it is taught in the first year of that education level. This master thesis presents a research regarding the subject Classic Gravitation in High School. This research was based in two complementary guidelines of research and action. The first guideline was the analysis of 21 didactic books of physics which are the more frequently used in High School, in the city of Natal/RN. The second guideline, worked after being verified the most common deficiencies presents in the didactic books, was the elaboration, followed by a practical application, of a course suggesting how to approach that subject in the classroom. The Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais para o Ensino Médio (National Curricular Parameters for High School PCNEM) defend that Classic Gravitation is very important in the student s formation and that its study helps the comprehension of many nature s phenomena. Because of this vision of that subject by the PCNEM, the 21 analyzed books were separated in two groups: the first one, containing 10 books, was edited before the spreading of PCNEM, and the second, with 11 books, after that spreading. Whatever the group to which the didactic books belonged, the great majority of them let that subject in a second plan; two of them even suggesting, in the teacher s orientations, that the subject Gravitation can be suppressed in case of insufficient time . These analyses points that the PCNEM had produced no changes in the conception of the authors that wrote books regarding that subject. To analyze the didactic books, we elaborated a script which was used as an analysis tool, in which we put in evidence the relative importance of the historic and philosophic contextualization of the subject, the quotidian experience of the students and the interdisciplinary approach, among other aspects. It became evident that the didactic books give very little emphasis to historic aspects of the knowledge construction, to the relations with the day-by-day questions and to the interdisciplinary character of the subject Gravitation. It calls attention the non concordance among the authors opinions regarding the necessary previous knowledge or prerequisites the students should fulfill in order to begin to study Gravitation. The course we elaborated was given to a group of teachers as well as to students. In those courses we treated theoretical and practical aspects and emphasized historical questions and the ones which are related to people s daily life. The course for teachers was realized as an extra-mural activity of the UFRN and was given by the author of this thesis at the Escola Estadual Francisco Ivo Cavalcanti (a state public school in Natal/RN). There were 23 teachers present, from several public schools and several fields of knowledge. The thesis supervisor and the master degree s colleagues of the author acted as collaborators , reporting the participants opinions and speeches. The course to the students, on the other hand, had the participation of 300 regular students who belonged to 6 different 1st year classes of the High School Escola Marista de Natal (RN), in which the author acts as a physics teacher. The student s course was realized as part of the regular curriculum activities, in which three classes stood under the responsibility of the author and other three classes in charge of another Marista s teacher, who participated as a collaborator . The teacher s course as well as the students one were given in two stages, with five hours each. The first stage was divided in two moments, the first one focused on the survey of the spontaneous conceptions about gravitation, in which we worked basically with experiments of free throwing and pendulum, and the second one focused in theoretical presentations and quarrels about universe s models. In the second stage of the course we improved the study of Kepler s laws and the Newton s Universal Gravitation law, and we used as motivating tools some practices involving the construction of the solar system in scale. As instruments for evaluating both courses we used questionnaires and reported the speeches with participants opinions, beyond usual written evaluations in the course for the students. The teachers who participated in the course showed very good wills in realizing interdisciplinary practices; nevertheless, according their own speeches, they frequently came across the difficulty of how to do . From the experience we had in both courses, we conclude that the approach we propose hear to the teaching of the subject Classic Gravitation , supported on the tripod theory, practice and historical and philosophical aspects, is viable and effective. One hopes that this research may contribute in the formation of a opinion, among the teachers, concerning how to approach the subject of Classic Gravitation, and may offer suggestions in order those who want to apply that approach may develop classroom practices aiming to improve the teaching of that subject, which has a singular importance in the formation of High School students