Description:
Although the provision of initial teacher education has been the subject of more than 100 inquiries and multiple reforms, the work of those in teacher education remains under-researched. This comparative research provides two snapshots of teacher educator surveys conducted seven years apart (2013 and 2020) in a regional university in Australia. The primary aim of the research was to examine how teacher educators describe their work and goals and to identify the barriers and enablers that are present in their practice. The data were thematically coded and categorised. The outcomes highlight that personal and professional experiences do shape the goals and motivations of teacher educators; that knowledge and skills impact the ways that they enact their work, and that professional development is essential. Issues pertaining to the discipline of teacher education and an increasingly casualised workforce need to be addressed by those within and external to the profession
Description:
The work of academics in higher education institutions is widely recognised as having intensified in demands and in accountability measures. In the field of teacher education, this intensification alsomanifests in academics needing to meet the requirements of both the university and external stakeholders and accrediting bodies. In this chapter, I draw on a central narrative “A glitch in the machine” to explore the demands that academics face in contemporary higher education contexts. I use this narrative as a stimulus for considering the nature of academic work and I contend that the adoption of the principles and practices of mindfulness provides an opportunity for academics to engage in resistance that enables them to remain focused on their authentic self and purpose as academics. In so doing, I describe the strategies I have adopted in order to make mindful choices about my work and identity as an academic in this space.
Description:
The purpose of this study was to explore, through the use of a case study, the impact of an eight-week residential learning program upon self-concept, learning and understanding of community amongst adolescent participants. The study utilized multiple methods of data collection including interviews, focus groups, observation, the Learning Process Questionnaire and the Self-Description Questionnaire II in order to address the research question.
Description:
The purpose of this study was to explore, through the use of a case study, the impact of an eight-week residential learning program upon self-concept, learning and understanding of community amongst adolescent participants. The study utilized multiple methods of data collection including interviews, focus groups, observation, the Learning Process Questionnaire and the Self-Description Questionnaire II in order to address the research question.
Description:
We are four teacher educators who are interested in the role of emotions and embodiment in teacher education. The impetus for this study emerged after an embodied reflection workshop run by Rachel, Mandi, and Sharon at the 2014 SSTEP Castle Conference in which Monica participated. The workshop explored the ways in which teaching and learning to teach are emotional, cognitive, and embodied acts. After this experience we committed to a collaborative self-study, which we conducted between February and October, 2015, to track our attempts to use embodied pedagogies in our teacher education practices. In this study, we examine our efforts to enact embodied pedagogies in our practice and identify the challenges and benefits of doing so.
Description:
We are four teacher educators who are interested in the role of emotions and embodiment in teacher education. The impetus for this study emerged after an embodied reflection workshop run by Rachel, Mandi, and Sharon at the 2014 SSTEP Castle Conference in which Monica participated. The workshop explored the ways in which teaching and learning to teach are emotional, cognitive, and embodied acts. After this experience we committed to a collaborative self-study, which we conducted between February and October, 2015, to track our attempts to use embodied pedagogies in our teacher education practices. In this study, we examine our efforts to enact embodied pedagogies in our practice and identify the challenges and benefits of doing so.
Description:
This thesis examines the role of teachers’ emotions in their work, particularly during times of school reform and highlights the important role they play during change processes.
Description:
This thesis examines the role of teachers’ emotions in their work, particularly during times of school reform and highlights the important role they play during change processes.
Description:
An emphasis on teacher quality in Australia has resulted in many changes in teacher education including a recent emphasis on non-academic capabilities (such as resilience) of prospective teachers. Reporting data obtained through an online survey of 73 teacher educators, this chapter presents their views about pre-service teacher resilience and the role of teacher educators and education programs in promoting resilience for pre-service teachers. Findings illustrate the multiple contexts important in the development of teacher resilience and how resilience can be demonstrated during the pre-service years. Barriers and supports for embedding resilience in teacher education programs are discussed. We argue that in times of uncertainty and complexity in teacher education, resilience is critical for sustained effectiveness and growth.
Description:
As a vital element of continuing teacher professional learning, the development of international and global competencies in teachers, and subsequently in their students, has drawn considerable interest worldwide. In an increasingly globalised world, digital technologies now provide the potential to connect teacher educators and their students across countries and contexts to collaborate in teaching and learning projects and research.As teacher educators from two universities at opposite ends of the globe the authors set out to establish an innovative collaboration between their two institutions in Teacher Education. The literature draws from three intersecting fields: First, internationalisation and globalisation in teacher education; second, the use of online learning platforms in continuingteacher education, and third, transformational partnerships in Teacher Education. In this paper a case study is examined to consider the possibilities, potential benefits and challenges in setting up the international partnership in Master’s level teacher professional development online programs. The case study is positioned within the context of the growing global push for internationalization and globalisation of teacher education in the professional learning and preparation of teachers. The concept of “dispersions” as dimensions of virtual teams, as well as the principles of transformational partnerships, are used to describe and explain some of the challenges the teacher educators confronted in establishing their partnership. The ways in which the online environment mediates the process of transformational change is a key theme. The authors reflect on and describe the initial phase of their attempts to establish a transformational collaborative partnership. They also outline the future plans for this partnership that emerge from their work as a virtual team. The knowledge generated in this research enables us to more deeply understandthe complexities involved in such partnerships and provides insight into how teacher educators might approach international teaching collaborations.
Description:
This book examines the nuanced and situated experiences of self-study researchers. It explores the ways in which ethics are dynamic, idiosyncratic and require an ongoing ethical reflexivity. In addition, the book identifies, documents and collates the collective experiences of self-study researchers and sheds new light on the role and impact of ethics, ethical dilemmas and ensuing decisions for education researchers. The book considers the ethical dilemmas that self-study researchers in teacher education face, their careful ethical considerations while conducting research, and how they form their professional judgment and understanding of what it means to be an ethical self-study researcher. For self-study researchers, there are a number of ethical dilemmas and challenges that cannot be neatly captured by the frameworks and guidelines of an ethics board. For many, this requires researchers to be ever-present and re-engaged with the ethics of their own projects, from the development, through to the dissemination of their work. Readers will gain a deeper understanding of ethics, ethical perspectives and practices in the field of self-study research.
Description:
For teacher educators, ethical dilemmas, tensions and 'pedagogical confrontations' (PCs) often arise in day-to-day teaching practice. Education research reveals that self-study researchers usually have a heightened awareness of their obligations to both identify and subsequently act on these dilemmas, tensions and confrontations (Berry, 2007; Bullough & Pinnegar, 2004; East, Fitzgerald & Heston, 2009; LaBoskey, 2004; Loughran, 2006; Pinnegar & Hamilton, 2009, 2015; Samaras, 2011 ). This self-study research focuses on the identification, categorization and analysis of 'pedagogical confrontations' (PCs) and asks what they mean for teacher educators. Through selfstudy and analysis of these 'pedagogical confrontations' we have come to understand more about the sophisticated and complex nature of teaching. Furthermore, we explore the way in which the use of PCs as a lens for researching practice, has subsequently led to new insights and led to an 'enactment in practice' (Loughran, 2006).