In-service Teacher Education Courses Research Articles

Supporting teacher agency during a collaborative inquiry-based in-service teacher education course

ABSTRACT Teacher agency has been explored in many studies in different contexts, however research on supporting agency is somewhat limited. In this study, we aimed to support teacher agency in a collaborative inquiry-based in-service course developed based on the ecological model of teacher agency and earlier empirical studies. We conducted a study among 57 course participants to explore the potential impact of the course on participants’ agency and investigated which role the motives to join the course had on participants’ agency dynamics. Data were collected with questionnaires. The results showed that participants’ agency was supported to some degree during the collaborative inquiry-based in-service training course, teachers’ motives to join the course were somewhat related to professional agency dynamics.

The contribution of personal epistemological beliefs to uptake in in-service professional development: a case-study

ABSTRACT Formal in-service professional development programmes may help novice teachers or those new to a school adapt to targeted teaching approaches in their new workplace. However, the extent to which their practice changes in response to in-service learning may depend on prior beliefs. This longitudinal case study explored in-depth the personal epistemological beliefs of four pre-sessional English language teachers, international and national, in an English-medium university context in Turkey during a year-long, formal in-service teacher education course, and for 6 months after the course. It investigated changes in classroom practice and beliefs about knowledge and knowing, teaching and learning, and professional learning as a result of in-service learning. Interviews, classroom observations and reflective journals underpinned a hermeneutic analysis which compared informants’ beliefs and classroom practice over time using an existing theoretical model. Underlying patterns of change in epistemological beliefs show belief type, depth, and sophistication, as well as context, as major factors in the uptake and sustainability of targeted teaching approaches in this context. In-service educators’ knowledge of a teacher’s epistemological beliefs profile can lead to more effective and sustainable uptake in formal in-service professional learning through differentiated, practice-based interventions.

ELF awareness in ELT: Emerging challenges & new paradigms in teacher education

This contribution aims at presenting the underlying construct and the research design of a study carried out by the Roma Tre University unit of a 3-year national research project (PRIN), as well as the findings about English language (EL) teachers’ attitudes towards English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) as they emerge from the study and from the in-service teacher education course designed and implemented during the project. The study investigated native and non-native teachers’ understandings, beliefs and attitudes towards ELF and the challenges brought about by the notion of ELF awareness in English Language Teaching (ELT). This investigation was carried out through the online administration of two questionnaires, one for Italian non-native teachers of English teaching in the Italian school system, and one for native English language assistants working at university level. The survey findings informed the design of a post-graduate blended EL teacher education course, with a special focus on developing English language teachers’ awareness of the emerging realities of English, while providing an ELF-aware reflective approach to revisit the EL teachers’ syllabus design, lesson planning and implementation. Course participants’ feedback is presented and pedagogical implications for EL teacher education are illustrated and discussed.

Sharing critical perspectives in ELT with The Hunger Games

This paper examines how student teachers and language learners might learn to question perspectives and develop critical literacy through critiquing of texts. Focusing on work in an in-service teacher education course, the discussion explores how to help English language learners to read text representations critically, in order to identify harmful ideological slants. It outlines how teachers and their learners can ‐ through deep reading, in-depth learning and critical literacy ‐ work at contemplating ethical issues in empathy with a protagonist. Opportunities for interculturality and critical literacy are illustrated by the books and films of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games.

Emoções e ações de professores ao falar inglês no WhatsApp

Resumo: Este trabalho tem como objetivo compreender o papel das emoções na experiência de professores em exercício sobre suas interações orais em inglês. A pesquisa foi realizada durante um curso de formação continuada com foco em mobilidade digital, mediado por aplicativo de tecnologia móvel, o WhatsApp. As perguntas norteadoras foram: Como os professores se sentem ao usar o recurso de áudio para falar inglês no WhatsApp? O fato de as mensagens de áudio serem feitas via WhatsApp deixou-os mais à vontade do que em um encontro presencial? A metodologia é de base qualitativa com uso de questionário, entrevista e representações visuais das emoções. Os resultados indicam que parte dos participantes se sentiram mais confiantes e mais dispostos a se comunicar no WhatsApp do que em contextos face a face. Por outro lado, outro grupo se sentiu mais inseguro para falar inglês com os recursos de gravação de áudio. Os resultados serão discutidos à luz da literatura revisada, assim como das potencialidades dessa tecnologia móvel para o desenvolvimento de habilidades orais na formação de professores de inglês.

TEACHER CAPACITY BUILDING THROUGH CRITICAL REFLECTIVE PRACTICE FOR THE PROMOTION OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

In a time where inclusive education has become the underpinning framework of reference for educational policies globally, effective strategies for a smooth and sustainable transformation of educational systems need to be identified. Recent literature on teachers’ attitudes has suggested that the adoption of inclusive policies, although necessary, is not sufficient for its implementation. Particularly, it has highlighted that the successful creation of inclusive environments requires critical reflection on the beliefs and values underpinning the attitudes towards the practical implementation and long-term sustainability of inclusive education. The research presented in this article outlines the historic evolution of the principles characterising inclusive education in Italy and Europe. It then delineates the competencies required for teacher capacity building in inclusive contexts and provides an overview of the founding principles supporting critical reflective practice. In conclusion, it proposes a guided strengths-oriented process aimed at enhancing critical reflection during initial and in-service teacher education courses in order to give teachers the opportunity to reflect on the beliefs and values shaping their practice, as well as explore new routes to bring about improvement and build strategic alliances to be able to handle the complex nature characterising current school contexts. Key words: critical reflective practice; continuous professional development; inclusive education; inclusion; teacher training.

In-service teacher education course module design focusing on usability of ICT applications in science education

Teachers face challenges in adopting ICT applications for science teaching and learning. An in-service teacher education course module addressing the needs of science teachers particularly was developed through a design-based research (DBR) project. The course module is designed to improve the readiness of teachers in choosing ICT applications for science education and taking the technical and pedagogical usability of the application into account. An international survey showed that clarifyingthe needs and constraints of using ICT applications in science education as well as introducing and discussing both technical and pedagogical usability with the teachers was important. Moreover, a theoretical analysis of the usability of ICT applications offers various views on meaningful learning and motivational aspects of science teaching and learning. In this paper, we report what we learned from the experience of designing the course module, which is described and discussed in terms of theoutcomes of both the theoretical and empirical problem analysis.

The Views Concerning In-Service Teacher Education Courses in Science Teachers’ Professional Development

The main aim of this research is to identify administrators’ and science teachers’ views regarding in-service teacher training courses. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires have been utilized for collecting the data. The interviews were conducted with 6 head teachers (administrators)and 6 science teachers. A questionnaire developed by the researchers was conducted upon 109 teachers from seven primary schools. The results showed that there were discrepancies between the results of questionnaires and the interviews. In the questionnaires, most of the teachers indicated that the in-service training courses were helpful in their professional development, hi the interviews, even though most of the head teachers found in-service training courses to be helpful in teachers’ professional development, most of the teachers did not share the same opinion. Both the questionnaires and the interviews revealed some reported deficiencies and expectations from in-service training courses.

West meets East: on the Necessity of local Pedagogies

There is growing awareness that Western educational practices and language pedagogies cannot simply be exported to other parts of the world. The ethnocentricity of many teacher education projects that aim at introducing CLT to Asian societies have caused cultural conflicts and have led to the call for culturally appropriate methodologies. This paper presents an ethnographic analysis of three situations taken from two in-service teacher education courses in which cultural norms and identities were salient. It is argued that in the context of cross-cultural in-service courses it is important to identify possible culturally inappropriate procedures and ideas and locally introduce these aspects in the learning situation. This approach paves the way for ‘intercultural reciprocity’ (Coulby 2006), which will allow the course to evolve into a place from which C1 and C2 can be reflected upon without loss of face.

A Graduate Level In-Service Teacher Education Curriculum Integrating Engineering into Science and Mathematics Contents

This paper presents the curriculum of a master's level in-service teacher education course that integrates engineering into mathematics and science for high school mathematics and science teachers. The curricular design of the course including learning goals, reading list, course assignment and grading rubric, and a sample of Model-Eliciting Activities (MEAs) are discussed. In addition preliminary research results on teachers' perception of engineering show that prior to taking this course, teachers' understanding of engineering mainly focused on the professions of the engineering discipline. After the participation in the course, teachers' perceptions of engineering were broadened and included the design process of engineering. The curriculum and research results shared in this paper shed light on the development of k-12 teacher

Preschool teachers’ expectations and evaluations on the effects of in-service teacher education in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Teachers need certain teaching skills in order to teach effectively. In-service teaching courses are important for teachers as they provide teachers with a sense of profession and experience as well as the joy and challenges of teaching. In-service teacher education courses were carried out with preschool teachers working in public preschools in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.The purpose of this study was to examine in-service teachers’ expectations from in-service teaching courses and their evaluations regarding the effects of the courses on teachers’ profession. The in-service courses comprised such topics as intuitive thinking in preschool children, creativity, development of mathematical thinking, functions of educational routines in preschool classes, enhancement of developmental areas with educational activity in preschool, child assessment and evaluation methods in preschool.The sample consisted of 178 preschool teachers working in public preschools in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.In this study, qualitative method was used. The data were collected through participants’ responses about their expectations and assessments to open-ended questions asked by researchers during the courses. A categorical analysis was employed for the qualitative data.The results of the study show that the highest expectation of preschool teachers is to gain new scientific knowledge about their profession. The other expectation is gaining specific information about subjects such as learning disorders, conflict resolution in the classroom and management of child behavior problems. Teachers specified that they achieved different perspectives about their profession at the end of the courses. In addition they desire to these kind of courses regularly during the academic year.

Using teachers' prior knowledge, attitudes and beliefs to develop in-service teacher education courses for inclusion

This paper examines one important dimension of inclusive education: the development of in-service teacher education courses. Using an example from Cyprus, it discusses the issue of contextualizing teacher training courses to suit teachers' prior knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about inclusion. The paper considers some of the findings of a survey about issues relating to inclusion. The findings suggest that teachers' conceptualizations of inclusion are problematic. According to the findings, teachers tend to think on the basis of a medical and charity model and they favour special schooling for specific groups of children. The discussion considers how a training course for inclusion can be academically robust and professionally useful, while at the same time taking into consideration teachers' prior knowledge and expectations.

Educational Effectiveness Of Two Sequences Of Scheduling Classes And Two Techniques Of Teaching An Off-Campus Inservice Teacher Education Course

Educational Effectiveness Of Two Sequences Of Scheduling Classes And Two Techniques Of Teaching An Off-Campus Inservice Teacher Education Course