Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Research And Reconstruction In Teacher Education - Editorial Introduction, Tony Fielding

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In 1983 this Journal published a paper outlining a model of teacher development (Fielding, 1983). The model employed concepts drawn from personal Construct Psychology (Kelly, 1955). Kellyian concepts were chosen because it was thought they affirmed the model's basic assumption that human experience may be and frequently is both non-deterministic in character and non-functionalist in its outcomes for individuals.

Teacher Knowledge Part 1: Unstopping The Dam, J. W. Mcqualter

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Research on teachers and their teaching aims at understanding what it means to teach. Such research is conducted in a variety of ways. Major users of its findings are teacher educators. It is hoped that the research findings will provide a knowledge base for teacher education programmes often characterised as being more whimsical than rational. There are two basic views of the process of becoming a teacher: "master the model" or "model the master" (Stones, 1972). Both views stress institutional conformity, draw upon institutionalised knowledge and aim at developing technical skill rather than professional competency. The intention of this paper …

Teacher Knowledge Part 2: Personal Construct Theory As The Basis Of A Methodology To Study Teaching, J. W. Mcqualter

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In the previous paper, Teacher Knowledge Part 1; Unstopping the Dam, the suggestion was made that a methodology based on Personal Construct Theory (PCT) could be used to explore and develop a new model of teacher professional development prepared by Fielding (1983). Two questions were asked. What is this methodology? How can it be used to explore and develop Fielding's model? The second question was dealt with in the earlier paper. The first is the subject of this paper. The intention here is threefold; firstly, to describe the theory of personal constructs, originated by Kelly (1955) and elaborated by Fransella …

The Ideology Of Pedogogy: The Right And The Left Of It!, Colin Symes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

"No doubt real education could only flourish only after the Revolution, when its importance would be generally recognised and when educators would be honoured and respected by the community, but something could be honourably achieved even now. He must try to do his job as effectively as the existing educational conditions and his own limitations allowed. Though he would not without inviting the sack introduce revolutionary politics directly into his teaching, he could aim at propagating humane ideas and getting his pupils to think".

Professionalism And Professional Status: Contrasting Aspects Of The Teacher Role, Ken Shaw

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

When teachers talk about themselves as professionals two related, but at bottom different, ideas are involved, The first is that of a skilled performance, a practical competence within a sector of activity, underpinned by theory, but essentially the outcome of study, formation, and a lengthy period of immersion in a "technik" : classroom teaching and all that goes with it, including all relevant aspects of belonging as a full practicing member to a school or college, The second idea is that of professional status, This is an aspiration or a claim, to some extent realised, to enjoy certain privileges, social …

The Move Towards The Accreditation Of Teacher Education Courses In England And Wales, David R. Mcnamara

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In recent years there has been a significant change in the nature of Government (as mediated by the Department of Education and Science - DES) involvement in initial teacher training 1-c9- in England and Wales. Traditionally government has rightly concerned itself with the "manpower problem" of ensuring that the numbers of teachers in training relates to the demands for new teachers by employing authorities and with the "institutional problem" of determining the types of institutions which exist to provide teacher training, how they are organised within the higher education system, and how they are financed. The content of teacher training …

Teacher Curriculum: A Failed Paradigm Of Practise And Proceedure, D. M. Cavanagh

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

An examination of recent literature concerning teacher training suggests that in many parts of the western world it is constantly under review. Major Reports (Martin: 1964; Bell: 1971;James: 1972; The Senate: 1972; Williams: 1979; Coffey: 1980; Auchmuty: 1980) and the popular press have written and continue to write about various aspects of the teachers life. Some of these are anlyses of what is the case, others are about what could be the case whilst others dwell on the shortcomings of the teaching profession. The U.K. for example has its infamous Black Papers whilst in Australia the same concepts concerning standards …

Supervising Student Teachers : A Shared Responsibility, C. H. Laine, S. A. Tanveer

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Preparing a quality future teacher is a pressing concern of teacher education institutions, school systems, and state departments of education. It is almost impossible to train effective teachers unless these educational agencies share their responsibilities in the total teacher preparation process. This is becoming a greater reality as each agency recognises its identifiable and distinct role. Student teaching is an important component of teacher preparation and is frequently taken for granted. This internship plays a significant role in the making of a teacher who has acquired confidence in short- and long-range planning, communication and classroom management. This can be done …

United States Experience With Music The Arts Curriculum And Implications For Teacher Education, Lois N. Harrison

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

For many years, when music was integrated into the curriculum it was done by the primary classroom teacher weaving music throughout the school experiences of the children. With careful planning, social studies, spelling, maths, art, physical education, and other curricular components were enhanced by having music contribute to broader understanding of them, and by helping to make experiences within those curricular components more interesting. The children would have opportunities to sing songs of the countries being studied in social studies, to learn spelling words and number combinations through chants or songs, to develop works of art while listening to music, …

The Personal Construction Of Teaching And Mathematics Teacher Education, J. W. Mcqualter, W. G. Warren

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

With the expansion of schooling in the 1950s and 1960s there was a consequent flurry of curriculum activity. More pupils stayed longer at school and schools had to cater for a wider range of abilities and interests. New curricula were developed, old curricula revised to provide educational programmes for the changing clientele, and many curriculum projects initiated, covering all aspects of schooling. By the 1970s these curriculum projects had been evaluated and the evaluations provided new insights into the whole curriculum process. One insight of particular interest concerned the role of the teacher. What the teacher did in the classroom …

Computers In Undergraduate Teacher Education Programs, Neil Hall

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Clearly, there are many issues that need consideration when one seeks to analyse the role of computers in education. For example, how might computers best support the teaching/learning process given what we know about learning and teaching; what effects will computer technology have on school curriculum; how will presently employed teachers come to grips with this technological change; is all this talk about computer technology and the impact on education relevant anyway - is it more than a fad? In this paper I want to discusss the curriculum implications of computer technology for the infants and primary school. In particular …

The Collegial Alternative, Doug Ogilvie

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Professionals and managers promote authoritarian ideologies which justify their claims to privileges of authority The egalitarian, collegial ideology provides a genuine alternative that is particularly relevant to educators.

Some Implications Of A Non-Deterministic Model Of Teacher Development, Barry A. Sheehan, Ramon Lewis

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Since the 1950s, pre-service teachers and teacher educators have been caught in a quagmire of confusion as teacher education came to be held in increasingly poor repute. More recently, in Britain and Australia particularly, colleges and faculties of education took the major brunt of cuts in spending on education. Most of the old certainties - the certainty of a job at the end of one's training; the certainty of the absorption model of teacher training characterised by the 'give 'em a bit of everything and turn 'em loose' philosophy; the certainty of tenure in a college lecturing position - vanished …

Less Idealism And More Realism : The Programme For Teacher Education, David Mcnamara

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

First, on a positive note, I wish to nominate three issues which are implicit in Fielding's paper which busy teacher trainers and educational researchers often set aside, possibly because of the disturbing consequences of thinking seriously about them. The first is that he is prepared to recognise the limitations, indeed failings, of contemporary teacher training* programmes, in so far as available evidence indicates that training effects are rapidly 'washed out' when beginning teachers enter the classroom and that, setting aside periods of school-based practice, students are disenchanted with teacher training courses (for example, see Desforges & McNamara 1977; Shaw, 1981; …

Use Of Student Perceptions In Facilitating Improvement In Classroom Environment, Barry J. Fraser, Teresa Seddon, Jeffrey Eagleson

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Probably the best known and most widely used technique for studying teaching in order to improve it is classroom interaction analysis (Dunkin & Biddle, 1974; Peterson & Walberg, 1979). The coding ot classroom communication (usually verbal) according to category schemes has been used extensively and successfully in preservice and inservice education as a way of making teachers aware of and subsequently improving their own teaching. Used for this purpose, interaction analysis has provided teachers with a method of obtaining specific feedback on their classroom practice and a firm basis for reflection, discussion, and improvement related to their teaching.

As an …

The Merging Of Institutions: Contextual Decisions And Teacher Training, D. M. Cavanagh

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

With the Fraser's razors in operation and the impending collapse of numerous College's of Advanced Education as independent autonomous institutions and the unitary vision of the Correy Committee on a teacher training style for New South Wales, certain cautionary warnings should be uttered concerning the direction that teacher training could take if such stupidity is allowed to go unchallenged. The necessity for such warnings is fairly obvious: (1) there may exist in the shuffle for compliance a built in bias towards rigidity in teacher training; (2) political expediency or economy may become confused as good common sense; (3) educational principles …

Teacher Education - Today And Tomorrow, Geraldine C. Gilliss

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Teacher education today presents a formidable challenge to both policy makers and curriculum designers. In its broadest aspect, teacher education faces the same problems as the schools it serves - i.e., how to choose from the whole array of the world's knowledge the selection of information and skills which will most benefit its clients. In addition, teacher education works within much more stringent time constraints. While the predominant preparation pattern in Canada is the four-year Bachelor of Education, which may contain up to two years of professional content, the largest province and largest producer of teachers, Ontario, still adheres to …

Classroom Management: Managerial Functions In Teaching, Richard Coatney

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Classroom management has long been a concern of educators. Traditionally, the term has referred to the use of discipline by the teacher to minimize student disruptions in the classroom. Recently, conceptions of classroom management have emerged that are broader than the traditional one. For example, Berliner speaks of the teacher as an executive (1982).

Today's teacher is best conceived of as an executive. The modern teacher does not just dispense information, he or she really manages access to information. The modern teacher doesn't just give love, he or she provides environments that provide students security and rewards so they can …

A Research Base For Art Curricula In Teacher Education, Rob Fielding

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In order to determine the general achievements and attitudes of incoming student teachers into the Institute of Advanced Education at James Cook University, the author designed a series of tests which were used to indicate the chievements of students in terms of their knowledge and skills in the visual arts and the attitudes which they held towards this field. The information obtained in the author's opinion, is most helpful in the development of courses which most appropriately prepare student teachers for the role of teach ing art in the schools.

Student Variables: Adjust For Pre-Service Teacher Needs, David W. Van Cleaf

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Older students are returning to colleges and universities in ever increasing numbers. A recent article in "The Chronicle of Higher Education (Margarrell, 1981) reported that one third of the college and university population is now twenty-five or older.

College and university courses that were once populated by a relatively honogeneous group of younger students may need modifications. The older students are likely to be more mature learners and bring with them a wider experiential background. Therefore, assignments, instruction and experiences that were included to educate a younger population may need to be re-defined in order to address the educational needs …

The Early Childhood Multicultural Classroom: Implications For Teacher Education, Rita Kino

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article records findings and impressions gained from a selfbrlef·ing study of multicultural early childhood settings in British schools~ It begins by providing background information which motivated interest in the work. It presents the issues relevant to early childhood multi· cultural programmes around which questions were asked of ~nd administrators in a wide range of British early childhood settings. Conclusions are then presented, founded on replies to these These conclusions are useful for interpreting attitudes to the issues which are prevalent in Britain and may have a bearing in the Australi!ln early childhood setting.

An Ethnographic Approach To The Initial Professional Education Of Teachers, K. J. Stevens

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Educational ethnography has become part of the research tradition of both sociology and anthropology, that is, "research on and in educational institutions based on participant observation and/or permanent recordings of everyday life in naturally-occurring settings" (Delamont & Atkinson, 1980). While most graduate students of education will today be familiar with ethnographic research, this paper outlines a way in which first year students can also make creative use of some aspects of this approach.

During their professional education, pre-service teachers are expected to make the transition from the status of student to that of teacher. For some this is an abrupt …

Do Early Field Experiences Make A Difference In Perceived Professional Development And Commitment To Teaching Of University Students Preparing To Become Elementary School Teachers?, F. W. Sesow

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Although the concept of early field experiences in teacher/preparation programs is not unique, the attempts to measure the effectiveness of directed experiences in elementary schools for freshmen and sophomores is limited. These experiences have been included in preparation programs as a response to students and faculty feeling a need for direct concrete experiences during the early phases of the preparation program. This need is based on the theory that students should have concrete professional field experiences prior to enrolment in professional courses which should allow for greater understanding of the abstract theories and concepts of teaching and learning presented by …

Changes In Beginning Teachers' Attitudes Towards Individualised Teaching Approaches During The First Year Of Teaching, A. J. Rentoul, Barry J. Fraser

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

It is generally acknowledged that the beginning months of teaching can be a formidable and even painful ordeal for many teachers. For this reason, the beginning teacher has been the focus in a number of key studies conducted recently in various countries. The recent Auchmuty Report has recommended that teacher education research should include "Iongitudinal studies of the socialisation of teachers, covering ... the early years of teaching, with particular reference to the acquisition of professional attitudes and values." The present research is consistent with this recommendation because it represents one of the few existing studies of specific pedagogical attitudes …

New Wine, New Bottles : Some Recent Developments In History Teaching And Assessment In Victoria And England, David Stockley

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article examines recent developments in the structure and assessment of Year 12 Australian History in Victoria and discusses the assumptions underlying those developments. Comparisons are drawn with the Schools Council "History 13-16" Project in England. A number of implications stemming from these changes are then discussed in the context of teacher education. We shall see that a new wine of history content and method is now being put in a new bottle of assessment forms.

A Delphi Study Of Lecturer Role Performance, David Battersby

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The use of student rating questionnaires to assess the teaching performance of lecturing staff in institutions of higher education has been widely debated. In the light of arguments for and against student ratings, it seems realistic to suggest that the evidence gained from their use probably falls far short of a complete assessment of a lecturer's teaching contribution. However, if teaching performance is to be evaluated, then systematic measures of student attitudes, opinions and observations can hardly be ignored. It was on the basis of both these views that a study was undertaken in New Zealand which focused on the …

Implentation Of A School-Based Science Programme : A Case Study, Adrianne Kinnear

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper tells the story of the first two years of a science programme which was planned and implemented by the staff of a local primary school. The programme formed the core of a submission for government funding as a school-based innovation. The study describes the degree to which the submission's aims were achieved and attempts to analyse the factors contributing to the project's outcomes.

A Typology Of Teaching For Use In Teacher Education, Lewis Wilson

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Often when educators 'talk about teaching', they mention 'the nature of the child' and the expectations the child brings to the learning situation. Student teachers also bring expectations to learning situations in College. Though teacher educators inculcate respect in their students for pupil expectancies in school they can ignore the anticipations and concerns of their student teachers. A particular expectancy of many student teachers is that, while at College, they will be taught 'how to teach'. One can justifiably ignore this expectancy to a degree because ultimately each student teacher should develop his or her own style of teaching. To …

Alternative Teacher Education Programmes, Leonard H. King

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In trying to determine how and why alternative teacher programmes evolved, a number of critical questions come to mind. For instance what is meant by the concept of alternative? What are some reasons for the existence of alternative programmes? For the purposes of this paper, an alternative teacher education programme will be viewed as the provision of a programme option to the regular programme, that is, another complete programme in a teacher education institution which is fundamentally different.

Beginning Teachers : A Review Of Research, David Battersby

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

During the 1940's and early 1950's a small number of studies of beginning teachers were completed. However, in the late 1950's, particularly in Britain and the United States, the joint problem of teacher shortages and the high drop-out rate of young teachers gave rise to a new wave of studies on beginning teachers. In the last two decades, the recognition of this need has resulted in reports of over 250 studies and a plethora of literature about the beginning teacher. In categorising this material, a broad distinction has emerged between the theory-based research and literature and that which is orientated …