What do beginning English teachers want from professional development?

This qualitative, interpretive case study allows insights into the reflective emerging teacher practitioner as it explores pre-service and beginning teachers’ preparedness to deal with curriculum change and the demands of the classroom and school community. Five beginning teachers were asked what they want from professional development in a period of rapid curriculum change. The study aligns with emerging local and national agendas for teacher professional development and accreditation in Australia. The data analysis, based on “community of practice” perspectives, shows that new teachers have clear ideas about the professional development they need and want. Professional development is seen as integral to their developing professional identities. The paper has implications for the way leadership teams offer and how new teachers take up professional development opportunities, upon which registration is contingent.

Partnerships in action : what’s in it for us?

This paper presents an analysis of the role and experiences of the teacher practitioner within the partnership arrangement in the Bachelor of Learning Management (BLM) degree at the Rockhampton campus of Central Queensland University (CQU). The paper begins by discussing the concept of partnerships and the background to current pre-service teacher education programs in Australia. It then introduces the BLM, documenting the experiences of partner-teachers involved in the program and analysing this model of partnership. The paper concludes with some suggestions for improving teacher-lecturer partnerships.

Mudanças na prática docente no ensino de física: espaços, tempos e movimentos de experiências vividas por uma professora

Este trabalho consiste de uma pesquisa narrativa autobiográfica em que realizei uma investigação sobre mudança na minha prática docente, a partir da seguinte questão norteadora: Que contribuições para a mudança na prática docente podem emergir de experiências vividas no contexto da docência de uma professora de Física no Ensino Médio? O estudo foi realizado com base em quatro experiências vividas na atuação docente: no Projeto Pré-Vestibular Solidário (PPVS), em uma escola da rede particular, em duas escolas da rede pública de ensino em Santarém-PA, e na prática pedagógica com o Ensino de Física Através de Temas (EFAT), a qual foi realizada em uma escola da rede estadual de ensino em Ananindeua-PA. Esta última experiência consistiu de um trabalho em cooperação com a professora praticante responsável pela turma de 32 ano noturno, em que foi realizada a prática. Como material de análise fiz uso das memórias de docência das três primeiras experiências e registros construídos a partir da experiência com o EFAT por meio de diários de aula produzidos por mim e pela professora praticante, relatos e depoimentos dos estudantes, além de entrevista com a professora. Interagi com esses materiais de análise no sentido de construir compreensões sobre o processo de mudança em minha prática, na perspectiva dos professores como agentes de mudança educacional, segundo Goodson (2008a, 2008b) e Fullan (2009), e trato de mudanças nas crenças e valores pessoais. Das análises construídas identifiquei como elementos de mudança: rupturas/reconstruções de modelos e concepções de processo ensino-aprendizagem, ser docente, ciência, conhecimento científico e dimensões formativas decorrentes do aprendizado em Física; os desafios referentes a complexidade do cotidiano na sala de aula, as incertezas da prática, a construção de uma relação dialógica com os estudantes, promover a motivação para o processo ensino-aprendizagem em Física, a busca da aprendizagem contínua, reconstrução do papel de professora e estudantes no processo ensino-aprendizagem, desenvolver a prática compartilhada, as dificuldades das condições de produção docente; a interação decorrente das trocas com colegas professores, e estudantes, que propiciaram a construção coletiva e compartilhada da prática, a construção de valores e atitudes como a confiança, receptividade, a flexibilidade; e o movimento interno que diz respeito a inquietação, insatisfação, o conflito relacionados aos modos de condução da prática docente, o olhar constante para si, além das crenças na mudança. Das análises realizadas concluo que a mudança na minha prática docente no ensino de Física tem relação com o modo como enfrentei os conflitos decorrentes dos distanciamentos entre a formação e atuação docente, uma vez que no decurso da formação são construídos modelos e concepções de ciência, docência, processo ensino-aprendizagem, dentre outros que se distanciam do fazer cotidiano nos contextos de atuação e que por vezes necessitam ser reconstruídos. Assim, a mudança na minha prática docente envolveu múltiplas dimensões, aprendizados contínuos, abertura ao diálogo, flexibilidade para construir e reconstruir crenças e valores, modos de ser e agir na docência.

Good practice : communication skills in English for the medical practitioner. Teacher's book.

Recurso para médicos y estudiantes de medicina que necesitan el inglés para comunicarse con los pacientes. Se centra en las habilidades del lenguaje y la comunicación que los doctores necesitan para hacer las consultas más eficaces con los cinco elementos para una buena comunicación: comunicación verbal, escucha activa, administración de voz, comunicación no verbal y conciencia cultural. Enseña a los estudiantes a manejar un repertorio de situaciones como pueden ser historia del paciente, malas noticias de última hora, tratar diferentes tipos de pacientes. El libro del profesor ofrece las herramientas esenciales y los antecedentes necesarios para potenciar en el aula el inglés para médicos. En los clips de DVD se hace una réplica de escenarios clínicos simulados que es probable que encuentren en su labor profesional.

A fish out of water? Legal practitioner - practitioner teacher? Bourdieu, the legal field and the scholarship of teaching in practical legal training

It is surprising to discover during early doctoral research that there is a paucity of Australian scholarship using Bourdieu’s theoretical tools in the field of law, and in the sub-field of post-graduate pre-admission practical legal training. This article introduces Bourdieu’s conceptions of habitus, field, categories of capital, symbolic violence, and misrecognition. It describes how Bourdieu applied these tools to identify structural hostility between legal academics and practitioners, and the struggles for control in the field of law. Review of three North American studies that used Bourdieu’s theories follows, involving law students’ habitus in transition, class stratification in legal education, and gender stratification in law firm partnerships. Drawing on three internally connected ‘moments’ necessary to use Bourdieu’s tools, together with four critical questions concerning teachers’ engagement with the scholarship of teaching, this article identifies new questions for investigation. These questions will frame further research to discover whether the objective structures of the practical legal training field and the habitus of legal practitioners constrains them to act as ‘fish out of water’ in the context of a scholarship of teaching.

A national English curriculum far all Australian youth: Making it work for teacher and students everywhere

The authors draw on some powerful practitioner research they have been associated with recently to nvision ways in which a national curriculum might redress the inequities experienced by Australia's most disadvantaged young people.

Collaborative inquiries into literacy, place and identity in changing policy contexts : implications for teacher development

In this chapter we describe a history of collaboration between university-based literacy researchers and school-based teachers in teacher development programs and practitioner inquiries designed to improve literacy outcomes for students living in low-socioeconomic circumstances. We consider how an inquiry stance has informed teachers working for social justice through curriculum and pedagogy designed to connect children’s developing literacy repertoires with their changing material, social and linguistic contexts. We use examples from the practices of two of our long-term teacher-collaborators to show what has been possible to achieve, even in radically different policy contexts, because of teachers’ continued commitment to themes of place and belonging, and language and identity.

Beyond knowledge : an insight into the practice of a learning support teacher

Increasingly, schools are being asked to meet the challenges of providing inclusive classrooms for all children. Inclusion is no longer about special education for a special group of students. It is about school improvement in order to bring about the changes that are needed to classroom practices to ensure the improvement of student learning outcomes. Inclusion is no longer a policy initiative. Rather it has been transformed to become a process that moves a school towards inclusive practices that will result in school improvement, heightened student learning outcomes and greater opportunities for all students to gain equal access to education. This study focuses on the challenge of diversity as it translates into implementing inclusive practices across two secondary school contexts. I have undertaken this research in my role as a Learning Support Teacher over a period of five years. Central to my research is a constructivist ontology and a practice epistemology that aligns with a practitioner research methodology of action research. Seven generalisable propositions have emerged from this research that inform the strategies I am using to more easily accommodate legislated inclusivitiy. These propositions include: 1. School communities need to share a common understanding of equity. 2. The school principal must provide overt leadership in moving towards an inclusive school culture. 3. A whole-school approach is needed to narrow the gap between inclusion rhetoric and classroom practice. 4. Pedagogical reform is the most effective strategy for catering for diverse student learning needs. 5. Differentiating curriculum is achieved when collaborative planning teams develop appropriate units of work. 6. School communities need to make a commitment to gather, share and manage relevant information concerning students. 7. The Learning Support Teacher needs to be repositioned within a curriculum planning team.

The Dancer as Reflective Practitioner

The inextricably intimate relationships connecting the dancer, the dance and the self indicate that the practice of dance is inherently a reflective practice of feedback looping. Professional dancers are aware of this in continuing self-critical analyses and reflections for self-improvement, striving for the ever-elusive perfection in performance. The reflective nature of learning dance is, however, less apparent to the student of dance due to the traditional master/apprentice approach to dance training. By making explicit the essentially reflective sequence of processes through which the self becomes the dancer of the dance, the locus of control is shifted towards the dance student, thereby increasing the sense of autonomy and intrinsic motivation for exploration, discovery and improvement of her or his own practice. This study documents the implementation of the 4Rs approach to reflective practice in a university dance training context. Data include reflective observations of dance lessons, and teacher and student reflections on the reflective approach taken in these lessons. Insider and outsider perspectives from students, the dance teacher and external researchers are taken to provide a nuanced understanding of the value of corporeal, visual and verbal reflection in dance for improved performance.

Widening Perspectives of Teacher Education : Studies on theory-practice relationship, reflection, research and professional development

This dissertation examined the research-based teacher education at the University of Helsinki from different theoretical and practical perspectives. Five studies focused on these perspectives separately as well as overlappingly. Study I focused on the reflection process of graduating teacher students. The data consisted of essays the students wrote as their last assignment before graduating, where their assignment was to examine their development as researchers during their MA thesis research process. The results indicated that the teacher students had analysed their own development thoroughly during the process and that they had reflected on theoretical as well as practical educational matters. The results also pointed out that, in the students’ opinion, personally conducted research is a significant learning process. -- Study II investigated teacher students’ workplace learning and the integration of theory and practice in teacher education. The students’ interviews focused on their learning of teacher’s work prior to education. The interviewees’ responses concerning their ‘surviving’ in teaching prior to teacher education were categorized into three categories: learning through experiences, school as a teacher learning environment, and case-specific learning. The survey part of the study focused on integration of theory and practice within the education process. The results showed that the students who worked while they studied took advantage of the studies and applied them to work. They set more demanding teaching goals and reflected on their work more theoretically. -- Study III examined practical aspects of the teacher students’ MA thesis research as well as the integration of theory and practice in teacher education. The participants were surveyed using a web-based survey which dealt with the participants’ teacher education experiences. According to the results, most of the students had chosen a practical topic for their MA thesis, one arising from their work environment, and most had chosen a research topic that would develop their own teaching. The results showed that the integration of theory and practice had taken place in much of the course work, but most obviously in the practicum periods, and also in the courses concerning the school subjects. The majority felt that the education had in some way been successful with regards to integration. -- Study IV explored the idea of considering teacher students’ MA thesis research as professional development. Twenty-three teachers were interviewed on the subject of their experiences of conducting research about their own work as teachers. The results of the interviews showed that the reasons for choosing the MA thesis research topic were multiple: practical, theoretical, personal, professional reasons, as well as outside effect. The objectives of the MA thesis research, besides graduating, were actual projects, developing the ability to work as teachers, conducting significant research, and sharing knowledge of the topic. The results indicated that an MA thesis can function as a tool for professional development, for example in finding ways for adjusting teaching, increasing interaction skills, gaining knowledge or improving reflection on theory and/or practice, strengthening self-confidence as a teacher, increasing researching skills or academic writing skills, as well as becoming critical and being able to read scientific and academic literature. -- Study V analysed teachers’ views of the impact of practitioner research. According to the results, the interviewees considered the benefits of practitioner research to be many, affecting teachers, pupils, parents, the working community, and the wider society. Most of the teachers indicated that they intended to continue to conduct research in the future. The results also showed that teachers often reflected personally and collectively, and viewed this as important. -- These five studies point out that MA thesis research is and can be a useful tool for increasing reflection doing with personal and professional development, as well as integrating theory and practice. The studies suggest that more advantage could be taken of the MA thesis research project. More integration of working and studying could and should be made possible for teacher students. This could be done in various ways within teacher education, but the MA thesis should be seen as a pedagogical possibility.

Huntingdonshire Regional College - The Teacher/Learner Switch

It is said the best ideas are often the simplest ones. At Huntingdonshire Regional College, Ken McKerral, an Advanced Practitioner in E-Learning has developed a very simple idea to engage students and improve teaching and learning. Ken has named his method "The Teacher/Learner Switch". It is a process that uses a unique colour code system, to help differentiate learning outcomes and deliver ownership of time to the students to enrich learning experience.

Lessons for 2003 from 1993 : primary teacher standpoint on policy backlash against the gender inclusive curriculum

In this paper, I provide evidence of policy 'backlash' against feminism from the standpoint of the practitioner. When asked, in a case study of Victorian primary schools how the gender inclusive curriculum was conceptualised and enacted, practitioners critique the conservative policy shift that they observed. I premise this paper on the notion that critical reflection on the specificities of policy discourse from the previous decade represents transformative work for the contemporary policy context. I conclude with a discussion of how research agendas in the current era of uncertainty can be re-assessed in the light of this study.

Implementing elements of Schon's reflective practitioner in an undergraduate public relations program

While the internship unit in a public relations degree is often viewed as the foremost area of experiential learning it can fail to deliver significant learning outcomes for student and teacher. This paper explores the use of other activity-based learning (ABL) methods as implemented in the Deakin University public relations undergraduate degree. The paper applies Donald Schon's concept of the reflective practitioner to learning undertaken in an internship unit and compares this application to two other units where ABL is used and the focus is on creating a client-professional relationship. For the purpose of this paper information was analysed using the 2006 on-campus cohort only. The cohort was further refined to include those students who successfully completed the degree of BA in public relations. Student internship evaluation forms and unit records were viewed to gain statistical information.

Traversing theory and transgressing academic discourses : arts-based research in teacher education

Pre-service teacher education is marked by linear and sequential programming which offers a plethora of strategies and methods (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005; Darling Hammond & Bransford, 2005; Grant & Zeichner, 1997). This paper emerges from a three year study within a core education subject in preservice teacher education in Australia. This ‘practitioner’ research (Zeichner, 1999) engaged the problematics of authentic and meaningful learner-centred teaching and learning through an arts-based curriculum. Over the period of the study, two hundred and eighty pre-service teachers participated in a ‘dialogical performance’ (Conquergood, 2003) of pedagogy about curriculum and assessment through the construction of art about curriculum and assessment. The possibilities of an arts-based pedagogy in pre-service education were affirmed by the research. An enacted epistemological move by the teacher educators led to similar shifts by the students. This opened a space for the reappearance of learner through engagements with identities, positionings and agency. This was an act of ‘putting theory to work’ (Lather, 2006, 2007) and invoked transgressive practices of academic discourses.

The national mapping of teacher professional learning project : a multi-dimensional space?

This essay focuses on the National Mapping of Teacher Professional Learning (2008), a report that we co-authored along with a number of other researchers on the basis of extensive surveys and interviews relating to the policies and practices of teacher professional learning in Australia. The report is an update of an earlier survey conducted by David McRae and others, entitled PD 2000, and it registers significant changes in attitudes and practices relating to professional learning across Australia in the intervening period. Perhaps the most significant development is the way professional learning is now recognized as an important vehicle for education reform by systems, schools and by teachers themselves, most notably the standards-based reforms that have such a decisive effect on the policy landscape here in Australia and in other countries. The work of the AATE in developing the Standards for Teachers of English Language and Literacy (STELLA) is mentioned in the report. It was acknowledged that STELLA provides a generative framework for professional learning, sometimes in contradiction to more managerial approaches. The question remains, however, of how English teachers as a professional community might locate themselves within the policy landscape described in this report. This essay is an attempt to promote this kind of discussion and to argue the distinctive nature of the standpoint that English teachers might bring to thinking about and planning for professional learning and practitioner inquiry.