Embracing Philosophy and Raising the Standard of Pre-service Teacher Education Programs

In this chapter, a rationale is developed for incorporating philosophy into teacher training programs as a means of both preparing quality teachers for the 21st century and meeting the expectations detailed in the professional standards established by the statutory authority that regulates the profession in Queensland, the Queensland College of Teaching is presented. Furthermore, in-service teachers from Buranda State School, a Brisbane primary school that has been successfully teaching philosophy to its students for over 10 years, shares their experiences of teaching philosophy and how it has enhanced student learning and the quality of teaching and professionalism of the teachers. Finally, the implications of embedding philosophy into teacher training programs are explored in terms of developing the personal integrity of beginning teachers.

Teachers' personal epistemologies and teacher education : emergent themes and future research

This chapter summarizes the responses to four questions in each of the chapters in this volume. The questions addressed the use of a conceptual framework that guides the chapter, issues of domain-generality, how personal epistemology relates to teaching, and how personal epistemologies change. We concluded that all of the chapters discussed the distinction between constructivist and transmission teaching practices, while suggesting that there are many inconsistencies in understanding the relationship between the nature of beliefs and teachers’ practices regardless of the relative sophistication of teachers’ personal epistemologies. We also summarized a multi-component instructional model for calibrating teaching practices based on suggestions in each of the chapters, and made four suggestions for future research, including the need for an integrated theory that accounts for the development and manifestations of personal pistemology in the classroom, the generalizability of fi ndings across different measurements, a set of guidelines to promote teacher epistemological change, and an explicit instructional model that explains the development and calibration of beliefs and practices. The goal of this volume was to examine the relationship between teachers’ personal epistemologies and teacher education. Sixteen different chapters addressed one or more aspects of this issue. Although each of the chapters addressed different aspects of teachers’ personal epistemologies, a number of common themes are apparent across the chapters. We believe it is useful to articulate these themes in greater detail to provide a better retrospective understanding of this volume, as well as a better prospective framework for future research and changes to teacher training programs. We divide this chapter into two main sections. The fi rst section addresses four key questions about the nature of teachers’ personal epistemologies that were discussed in the introductory chapter as part of a larger set of questions. These questions focus on how to conceptualize these beliefs as explicit models; whether beliefs are domain-specifi c or domain-general; how beliefs are related to teaching; and how beliefs change over time. We provide a summary of each chapter in terms of these four questions. The second section proposes four general suggestions for future research based on the studies reported within this volume.

Perspectives of teaching in Papua New Guinea : a case study of elementary teacher trainers and their mentors

Global and national agenda for quality education led to reform in Papua New Guinea (PNG) based on the provision of quality basic education. “Education for All” (EFA) is a worldwide emphasis on the review and restructure of existing curriculum and teacher training programs to provide quality education and quality life. The provision of quality education is seen as an investment in developing countries including PNG. Quality education is facilitated through structural and curriculum reform, and teacher education programs. One such influence on quality education in teacher education relates to perspectives of teaching. Existing research shows teachers’ beliefs and perceptions of teaching influence their practice (Kember & Kwan, 2000; Prosser & Trigwell, 2004). However, there is no research focusing on perspectives of teaching for elementary education in PNG. This single exploratory case study (Yin, 2009) investigated the perspectives of teaching of eighteen elementary teacher trainers and their five mentors in the context of an Australian university Bachelor of Early Childhood (in teacher education) degree programme. The study drew on an interpretivist paradigm to analyse journals, semi-structured interviews and course planning documents using a thematic approach to data analysis (Braun & Clark, 2006). The findings revealed that participants held perspectives of teaching related to teaching children and teaching adults. The perspective of teaching children described by the trainers and mentors was learning-centred (the focus is on what the teacher does); while the perspective of teaching adults was both learning-centred and learner-centred (the focus is on what the learner does). The learning-centred perspective is at odds with the learner-centred perspective espoused in the PNG reform. The perspectives of teaching adults reflected a culturally nuanced view; providing insights about how teaching and learning are understood in different sociocultural contexts. Based on these findings, the study proposes a perspective of teaching for elementary education in PNG known as culturally connected teaching. This perspective enables the co-existence of both the learning-centred and learner-centred perspectives of teaching in the PNG cultural context. This perspective has implications for teacher training and the communities involved in elementary education.

Analysing mentoring practices to understand how a preservice teacher reflects on practice to advance teaching

Mentors (cooperating classroom teachers) have a shared responsibility with universities for developing preservice teachers’ pedagogical practices, particularly towards becoming reflective practitioners. Preservice teachers need to participate actively in their own learning, by reflecting and acting on the mentor’s constructive feedback provided during planning and feedback dialogue sessions. This case study uses feedback practices outlined within a five-factor mentoring model to analyse dialogue between a mentor and her respective mentee during different stages in their school-based programs (first practicum). This investigation uses multiple data sources such as video and audio-recorded interviews, archival documents from participants such as lesson plans, reflections and reports to examine preservice teacher’s reflections and implementations of practice as a result of her mentor’s feedback (e.g., establish expectations, review lesson plans, observe teaching then provide oral and written feedback, and evaluate progress). Findings indicated that reflective thinking was more apparent when the mentor did not dominate conversations but instead asked astute pedagogical knowledge questions to facilitate the mentee’s reflections on practice.

Teacher education to meet the challenges of child sexual abuse

The phenomenon of child sexual abuse has significant implications for teachers’ pre-service training and professional development. Teachers have a pedagogical role in dealing with abused children, and a legal and professional duty to report suspected child sexual abuse. Teachers require support and training to develop the specialised knowledge and confidence needed to deal with this complex context. This article explains the social context of child sexual abuse, its health and educational consequences, and the legal context, showing why teachers require this specialised training. It then reports on findings from an Australian study into the amount of training received by teachers about child sexual abuse, and teachers’ satisfaction with that training. Results have implications for teacher training strategies in pre-service and in-service settings.

Teacher education and the targeting of disadvantage

This paper outlines the Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools (ETDS) project which began in June 2010 with the aim of developing and documenting an Australian university-based teacher education program specifically focusing on the preparation of high quality teachers for the disadvantaged school sector. ETDS constitutes a novel model of teacher education targeting disadvantaged schooling in that the selection of participating pre-service teachers has been based on their proven academic performance over the first 2 years of their 4-year Bachelor of Education degree. ETDS has established a modified curriculum that better supports the on-campus training of this cohort while also targeting the role of field experience within partner disadvantaged school settings. This paper offers a rationale for the model, unpacks its various phases and provides a justification of the model’s selection criteria based on high academic achievement.

VET and VET educators : understanding teacher dilemmas in providing quality educational experience to international students in Brisbane

In the past fifteen years, increasing attention has been given to the role of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in attracting large numbers of international students and its contribution to the economic development of Australia. This trend has given rise to many challenges in vocational education, especially with regard to providing quality education that ensures international students’ stay in Australia is a satisfactory experience. Teachers are key stakeholders in international education and share responsibility for ensuring international students gain quality learning experiences and positive outcomes. However, the challenges and needs of these teachers are generally not well understood. Therefore, this paper draws on the dilemmas faced by teachers of international students associated with professional, personal, ethical and educational aspects. This paper reports on a Masters Research project that is designed to investigate the dilemmas that teachers of international students face in VET in Australia, particularly in Brisbane. This study uses a qualitative approach within the interpretive constructivist paradigm to gain real-life insights through responsive interviewing and inductive data analysis. While the data collection has been done, the analysis of data is in progress. Responsive interviews with teachers of VET with different academic and national backgrounds, ages, industry experience have identified particular understandings, ideologies and representations of what it means to be a teacher in today's multicultural VET environment; provoking both resistances and new pedagogical understanding of teacher dilemmas and their work environment through the eyes of teachers of international students. The paper considers the challenges for the VET practitioners within the VET system while reflecting on the theme for the 2011 AVETRA conference, “Research in VET: Janus- Reflecting Back, Projecting Forward” by focusing particularly on “Rethinking pedagogies and pathways in VET work through the voice of VET workers”.

Understanding pre-service teacher conceptual change through slowmation animation

This paper is an exploration of conceptual change. It reports on a study which utilised Hewson and Lemberger’s (2000) Conceptual Status Elements, and explores the unique contribution of Slowmation Animation in the conceptual learning of pre-service science teachers. 15 short animations were created by 55 participants in a single two hour tutorial class as a part of their methods training. Conceptual change was found to occur when their animation topic challenged their understandings of the processes within the scientific concept. The pre-service science teachers reported an enthusiasm for Slowmation Animation as a method for learning how to learn, as well as for highlighting what they thought they knew, but didn’t really know.

Successful outcomes in vocational education and training courses : how pedagogy and expectations influence achievement

This paper reports on a four year Australian Research Council funded Linkage Project titled Skilling Indigenous Queensland, conducted in regional areas of Queensland, Australia from 2009 to 2013. The project sought to investigate vocational education, training (VET) and teaching, Indigenous learners’ needs, employer cultural and expectations and community culture and expectations to identify best practice in numeracy teaching for Indigenous VET learners. Specifically it focused on ways to enhance the teaching and learning of courses and the associated mathematics in such courses to benefit learners and increase their future opportunities of employment. To date thirty-nine teachers/trainers/teacher aides and two hundred and thirty-one students consented to participate in the project. Nine VET courses were nominated to be the focus on the study. This paper focuses on questionnaire and interview responses from four trainers, two teacher aides and six students. In recent years a considerable amount of funding has been allocated to increasing Indigenous Peoples’ participation in education and employment. This increased funding is predicated on the assumption that it will make a difference and contribute to closing the education gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (Council of Australia Governments, 2009). The central tenet is that access to education for Indigenous People will create substantial social and economic benefits for regional and remote Indigenous People. The project’s aim is to address some of the issues associated with the gap. To achieve the aims, the project adopted a mixed methods design aimed at benefitting research participants and included: participatory collaborative action research (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988) and, community research (Smith, 1999). Participatory collaborative action research refers to a is a “collective, self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own social and educational practices” (Kemmis et al., 1988, p. 5). Community research is described as an approach that “conveys a much more intimate, human and self-defined space” (p. 127). Community research relies on and validates the community’s own definitions. As the project is informed by the social at a community level, it is described as “community action research or emancipatory research” (Smith, 1999, p. 127). It seeks to demonstrate benefit to the community, making positive differences in the lives of Indigenous People and communities. The data collection techniques included survey questionnaires, video recording of teaching and learning processes, teacher reflective video analysis of teaching, observations, semi-structured interviews and student numeracy testing. As a result of these processes, the findings indicate that VET course teachers work hard to adopt contextualising strategies to their teaching, however this process is not always straight forward because of the perceptions of how mathematics has been taught and learned historically. Further teachers, trainers and students have high expectations of one another with the view to successful outcomes from the courses.