In-service Teacher Education Programs Research Articles

Perceptions of Sustainability among Children and Teachers: Problems Revealed via the Lenses of Science Communication and Transformative Learning

Scholars and policymakers see sustainability as depending on the inter-relationships between the three pillars of the environment, society, and the economy. However, it remains less clear how key stakeholders with a responsibility for educating the next generation perceive the concept of sustainability and act accordingly. In order to gain new insights, this research scrutinises participant perceptions of sustainability and climate change in two eco-schools in England for primary children (aged 5–11 years). Our case study involved individual interviews with classroom teachers and headteachers, group interviews with fourth- and fifth-year students (ages 10–12 years), and in-class observations. We also analysed data from student exercise books and photographs of school grounds to understand participants’ self-reported knowledge and perceptions of sustainability and climate change. Within a framework drawing on theories of science communication and transformative learning (a learning approach based on having challenging experiences), the results show that the integration of sustainability into the curriculum was limited and problematic. That is despite the fact that all students and teachers were aware of the environmental dimensions of sustainability, such as climate change and the overuse of natural sources. These findings suggest that schools are no different to other institutional settings when it comes to dealing with the challenges of integrating sustainability into daily practice. We conclude that there is a need for in-service teacher education programmes to enable and motivate teachers to provide richer teaching-learning environments so as to enable effective learning in schools about sustainability and climate change.

Self-Efficacy-Forming Experiences for Experienced Teachers Working with Multilingual Learners

To enhance teachers’ preparedness to support the growing number of multilingual learners, teacher educators need to engage inservice teachers working across K-12 settings in continued professional learning. In this study, we described a teacher education program designed for inservice teachers who were from diverse backgrounds and worked in a variety of instructional settings involving multilingual learners. Based on survey and follow-up interview data, teachers reported enhanced preparedness to work with multilingual learners and shared self-efficacy-forming experiences through the program. The findings revealed learning opportunities aligned with the sources of teachers’ self-efficacy including knowledge development, mastery experiences, and vicarious learning experiences. Implications for inservice teacher education programs that prepare educators for multilingual learners were provided.

Pre-service TESOL teachers’ professional-awareness building through reflecting on reflections of critical incidents

AbstractScholars have questioned the effectiveness of reflective practice for gaining professional awareness or attaining professional development. In addition, the prevalence of inadequate comprehensive framework for pre-service teachers’ reflective practice and insufficient support of teacher educators have been noted in the literature. Against these backdrops, the present study attempted to demonstrate how reflecting on reflections, a form of reflective practice, of Critical Incidents (CIs) contributes to building pre-service TESOL teachers’ professional awareness. The study involved ten pre-service teachers (PSTs) in reflecting on reflections of CIs during the teaching practicum. Following the interpretive phenomenological approach, the study unfolded the CIs associated with pedagogical factors, including passive participation of the students, students’ late arrival in the classroom, disobedience to teachers’ instructions, the chaotic environment in the classroom, students’ rude behavior, and disruption caused by technical glitches, and CIs associated with intrapersonal and interpersonal factors, comprising students’ emotional exhaustion and unprofessional behaviors by senior teachers. Subsequently, it illustrated how PSTs cultivated their professional awareness through reflecting on reflections of CIs. The study presented a reflective practice framework applicable to pre-service and in-service teacher education programs. It also provided practical suggestions for pre-service and novice teachers to address and overcome the CIs. Teacher educators and trainers can harness the findings to prepare PSTs to conduct interactive and productive English language classes.

Implementation of the Problem-Based Learning Model in Teaching of Mathematics about Adding Fractions with Different Denominators in Elementary Schools

Research has been carried out to find the level of student ability and the level of difficulty of essay questions on fractions, through polytomous data analysis by applying the Rasch model. The research was conducted in the In-Service Professional Teacher Education program, specifically in the Elementary School Teacher Education. The research was conducted at Belang 1 State Elementary School, Southeast Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, in grade 6 with a total of 27 students. Experimental research method with one group pretest-posttest design. The experimental treatment is a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) learning model. The test instrument is in the form of an essay with material on adding fractions with different denominators. The instrument was content validated through a video conference forum attended by experts, tutors, and subject teachers. Data was collected through formative pre-tests and post-tests. Scores are processed as polytomy data. Data analysis used the Rasch model with the Ministep 4.3.2 software application. The results of the analysis, as a class group, the pre-test average was 7.0 and the post-test was 77.0. This group's data shows that the use of the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) model in mathematics learning is very effective. Another conclusion is that the Rasch Model can accurately analyze polytomous data and find 1 student who has a high ability exceeding the highest level of test item difficulty in completing the essay test on adding fractions with different denominators. Then the Rasch Model can analyze the level of difficulty of the 5 items of the essay test instrument, it was found that 2 test items had a low level of difficulty. Using the Rasch model, it is consistently detected that adding fractions with different denominators containing the number 7 is categorized as having a high level of difficulty.

Revisiting language teacher education in an ELF aware perspective: responses to innovations

Abstract Teachers’ and teacher educators’ individual theories, attitudes and beliefs underlying their daily practice, are often challenged by sociolinguistic changes, curricular innovations, or new language policies that may often trigger teachers’ resistance to change, particularly when they are required to adapt and revisit their teaching practices. In many European countries recent migration flows have modified the countries language landscapes; their school population is now growingly plurilingual and with different learning and language needs. In their out-of-school experiences, learners are more and more exposed to English through social media and to non-native speakers’ English (ELF), aspects not integrated yet in local language policies, nor in teacher education programs. It is thus important to design pre- and in-service teacher education programs aimed at sensitizing language and subject teachers to these new scenarios, using reflective practice approaches in multilingual contexts. These contexts require English language teachers, and teachers who use English in different fields such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) or English Medium of Instruction (EMI), to reconsider their personal assumptions and beliefs, and to develop new competences that would incorporate the powerful reflective framework provided by ELF-awareness. The ELF-aware perspective had been adopted in recent courses for English teachers carried out in Italy, as the ENRICH CPD course, and in the CLIL courses for content teachers. The aim of this contribution is to present and discuss findings of two research studies carried out within the above-mentioned courses that were meant to make teachers aware of new instantiations of English through a reflective practice approach such as the ELF-aware approach, and to sustain their professional development as well as their agency. This paper is mostly related to the lessons learnt from the findings from teachers’ responses to course innovations and their agency development during these courses.

Implementing Internal Quality Assurance Systems in the In-Service Teacher Education Programmes in Zimbabwean Universities: The Quality Discourse

The emerging discourses in the Zimbabwean teacher education system have been on the capacity of in–service teachers to be transformative through their preparation at university. The call, then, has been on universities to improve their quality assurance and its effective implementation for quality programmes and learning outcomes. There have been growing indications and expectations that university in–service teacher graduates should lead in transforming the educational and economic systems of nations presenting a strong explanation for effective quality assurance structures in universities. In this article, the researchers contended that without robust quality assurance systems at Zimbabwean universities’ teacher education programmes, the nation may not achieve the desired educational vision. The paper reports, analyses practices and lessons learnt on the implementation of internal quality assurance systems on in-service teacher education programmes at one state university in Zimbabwe. Underpinned by the sociocultural theory, the qualitative case study used semi–structured interviews and open–ended questionnaires. One quality assurance directorate, four departmental quality assurance lecturers drawn from each of the four School of Education departments and twelve final years in-service students were purposefully sampled. The results indicated that the university had weak internal quality assurance management structures failing to continuously monitor and evaluate in-service programmes and their implementation. The study recommended that the institution reconstitutes the quality assurance body by bringing together all stakeholders including in-service students to a dialogue table to discuss how quality assurance standards and practices can be designed, implemented and evaluated. Keywords: Implementation, internal quality assurance, university, teacher education, in-service

In-Service Teacher Education Program through an Educational Design Research Approach in the Framework of the 2030 Agenda

Science education plays a key role in promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) through the training of informed and participatory citizens committed to the management of our planet and its resources. This work presents the design and assessment of an In-Service Teacher Education Program (ISTEP) through an Educational Design Research approach aiming at developing skills that make it possible to operationalize the experimental practical teaching of science topics, within the scope of ESD, in an articulated, coherent, and progressive way throughout Basic Education. It was implemented with 14 teachers from the three cycles of Portuguese Basic Education (ages 6–15), and focused on “Soils”. An integrated set of activities and respective didactic resources were co-built (the trainer-researcher with the in-service teachers) with a progressive, systematic, and sequential vision of the “Soils” theme. The content analysis of the teachers’ answers to questionnaires and during the final reflection point to an improvement in their practices regarding the ability to plan and design didactic resources on science topics from a Sustainable Development perspective. This ISTEP can be adapted to other themes and educational contexts, namely through close cooperation on education issues, which is one of the lines of action of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries.

Collaborative Learning for Professional Development: A Review of Research Methods and Instruments

This paper analyzes teacher collaboration research studies based on the research methods and tools used in these studies. As a researchmethodology, 36 studies were systematically collected from research databases such as EBSCO, ERIC, and search engines such as GoogleScholar, based on the selection criteria and themes. Across the studies, they were analyzed using thematic data analysis. According to thefindings, collaborative dimensions and activities, teachers’ beliefs and perceptions on their collaboration, teachers’ room to communicate,teacher-to-teacher dialogue, the way teachers work together, and collaborative attitudes are factors in developing research methods andtools used in previous studies of teacher collaboration in schools. Furthermore, previous studies have included various participants such asadministrators, teachers, staff members in schools, parents, families, community members and school board members. Informal collaboration,professional learning experience and peer collaboration, school culture, social networks, leadership and school management teams,sustainability in financial and physical conditions of schools and well-planned in-service teacher education programs based on collaborativeknowledge creation are factors that influence teacher collaboration. Different conceptual frameworks and instruments have been usedto describe teacher collaboration, such as the Teacher Collaboration Improvement Framework (TCIF), the Community of Practice (CoP), theTeacher Collaboration Assessment Survey (TCAS) and the Professional Learning Community-Revised (PLCR) instrument. According to thefindings, more research on the term “interprofessional collaboration” in the field of teacher education is required because collaborationbetween representatives of different professions is now essential for school improvement. The findings of this study have the potential tocontribute to future research in teacher collaboration and interprofessional collaboration in education.

Factors relating to agriculture teachers’ perceived use of instructional methods

School-based agricultural education (SBAE) teachers have been encouraged to use a variety of instructional methods. Despite teacher education programs covering numerous instructional methods and promoting active teaching strategies, prior research has indicated teachers’ predominant use of teacher-centered methods. Guided by social cognitive theory, we sought to determine relationships between teachers’ use of instructional methods, belief of method effectiveness, and teacher characteristics. We developed a web survey and administered it to all Florida SBAE teachers. We analyzed 146 usable responses using means, standard deviations, frequencies, zero order correlations, and mixed selection step-wise linear regressions. Findings indicated the most commonly used teaching methods were lecture-discussion, cooperative learning, demonstration, and paired/small group discussion. Teachers believed demonstration and cooperative learning to be most effective and debate and role-play least effective. Significant and positive correlations were found between belief of method effectiveness and method use for lecture-discussion, cooperative learning, demonstration, and paired/small group discussion. Regression models revealed similar trends, with the exception of lecture-discussion. We recommend pre-service and in-service teacher education programs emphasize the importance of student-centered instruction. In this effort, facilitators of teacher education programs should recognize the positive relationships between teachers’ beliefs of a method’s effectiveness and use of that method.

IN-SERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMMES- AN OVERVIEW

As we all know that education is a never ending process that allows a person's mind to grow continuously. As a teacher, we should be able to provide the students conducive environment for better learning, as it has direct impact on students' learning. A teacher's role is very pivotal in shaping his students behavior, that's why he should never stop learning .Such things can only be achieved through continuous learning. In-service teacher education programmes provide opportunities to the in-service teachers to enhance their skills and knowledge in their respective fields. There are various platforms which are conducting in-service teacher education programmes in online and offline mode. The present paper discusses about the teacher education, in-service teacher education, its role and importance in higher education.

In-Service Teacher Reflections on Program Innovations towards Education Responsive to Local Communities

Innovation in teacher training encompasses additions to a program so as to serve the most recent skills required by stakeholders. Innovation requirements push the redesign of in-service teacher education program which has seen embedding of an internship aspect. Using the theory of partnering pedagogy, these innovations focus on provision of education that is relevant and responsive to the local communities around and beyond the school. The innovations engage principles of effective pedagogy to design activities that involve and promote local community engagement practices and learning experiences. Using educational design research, ten in-service teachers participated a program that was recently reviewed with some innovation brought aboard. This study is qualitative which explored in-service teachers’ reflections on having gone through a recently reviewed in service program with innovations on board. The in-service participated in a reflection on their lived experiences and impact on their pedagogic practice having gone through the reviewed program. The resultant qualitative data was subjected to content analysis. Findings indicate that program review innovations that bring local stakeholders aboard allow integration of competencies beneficial to in-service teachers, learners, and the local community in which the school is located. Innovation design that engages communities lead to pedagogic practices that emphasize learning by doing and not just transmission and accumulation of theoretical knowledge. Innovation in program design and review should therefore focus on activities that engage the in-service teacher, learners, and the local community. This leads to the design of innovations that focus on quality learning and development of contextually purposed skills for the local community. However, because of the collaborative attribute among stakeholders, there are challenges in the implementation of innovative suggestions. It is concluded that innovations in program design and review need to be contextually relevant because then, their impact extend to the local communities surrounding the school. In these ways, innovations provide avenues for schools to provide quality learning opportunities and skills to serve the local communities and beyond.

Valuing Teaching Profession: Exploring Attitude of Pre-Service Teacher Educators

Education plays a significant role in changing the behaviour, perceptions, feelings, and beliefs of the individual. The ability of a teacher to teach is dependent on their attitude toward the profession. The teacher helps create a conducive and learner-friendly atmosphere in the classroom through his attitude. It has a positive impact on the learning ability of children. The quality of education through pre-service and in-service teacher Education Programmes (PIEP) uplifts the standard of education in the whole country. These programmes help to support and develop the necessary pedagogical skills and competencies among teacher educators. The objective of the present study is to measure the attitude of pre- Service teacher educators towards the teaching profession. The sample consists of 30 Teacher educators. The study uses an Attitude towards the teaching profession scale standardized by Tewari to collect data. Statistical measures are employed to find the difference in attitude towards the teaching profession among pre-service teacher educators. The results reveal that significant differences do not exist between the attitude towards the teaching profession and pre-service teachers’ locale. There is a significant difference in attitude towards the teaching profession among pre-service teacher educators concerning their gender.

Early Childhood Teachers’ Perceptions of Environmental Sustainability: A Phenomenographic Investigation

Early childhood teachers’ environmental perceptions can influence young children’s learning about environmental issues. Yet, to date, there is minimal research focusing on the perceptions of environmental sustainability held by early childhood teachers. This qualitative phenomenographic study collected data via individual semi-structured interviews with five early childhood teachers and one head teacher, in Malta. Preliminary findings revealed that the participants perceived environmental sustainability in terms of environmental concerns; environmental responsibility; and environmental protection. A mismatch between the participants’ environmental concerns and their pro-environmental behaviour emerged. The data also show that any environmental activities at school were done so uncritically. These findings hold importance for the reorientation of in-service and pre-service early childhood teacher education programs towards sustainability to ensure that systems thinking around critical environmental issues are introduced in the early years by addressing gaps in knowledge and supporting educators' development at the earliest stage (i.e., pre-service).

Intercultural citizenship and pre-service teacher education

Abstract This article explores the concept of intercultural citizenship and the significance of involving culturally sensitive issues in English language teaching and teacher education curriculum to train future global citizens. Before exploring ways to implement intercultural citizenship education from K-12 to university level, it is necessary to emphasize the need to integrate “intercultural citizenship education” into teacher education programs. In other words, English language teachers should become intercultural citizens themselves so that they can help their students to become intercultural citizens. In this paper, we emphasize the importance of training interculturally sensitive future teachers of English. In this respect, we report the findings of studies on intercultural telecollaboration projects involving cultural exchange between students in pre-/in-service teacher education programs in Turkey and abroad. We also suggest ways of increasing these intercultural citizenship courses and modules in training teachers to gain intercultural communicative competence and intercultural citizenship skills.

English Learner Teacher Advocates: A Systematic Literature Review

In this systematic literature review, we synthesize and critically analyze information from publications between 2010 and 2020 that answer the following overarching research question: What does being (or not being) advocates for English learner (EL) students look like for EL teachers? Findings indicate that EL teachers’ backgrounds and characteristics, such as gender, race, intercultural experience, and experience teaching, affect their propensity to advocate and the types of advocacy in which they engage. Additionally, we examine ways teachers advocate for their students inside and outside the classroom/school, such as changing how they instruct their EL students, and speaking up for them at district or states’ departments of education meetings. We also explore and describe conditions that support (supportive administration, prioritizing ELs in the master school calendar, collaboration with general education teachers, for example) and hinder (unsupportive administration, marginalization of ELs and EL teachers, lack of collaboration with general education teachers, for instance) advocacy for ELs by EL teachers. Recommendations for pre- and in-service teacher education programs are offered, and potential areas for future research are also discussed.

EFL Teachers’ Opinions on the Use of L1 in L2 Classrooms: Role of Experience and Context

The use of native language (L1) in foreign language classrooms (L2) has been studied from various perspectives, and it is important to investigate teachers’ opinions about the use of L1 to better understand their practice. This study investigates the role of experience on the attitudes of language teachers towards the use of L1 in L2 classes. The participants of this research were pre-service and in-service teachers, and research questions aimed to reveal the language teaching areas that they agreed and/or disagreed with the use of L1 in. The role of experience was clearly seen in the results of both quantitative and qualitative analyses in that the pre-service and in-service teachers differed significantly in their views about some areas where they use L1. While pre-service teachers showed a tendency to support English only, experienced teachers were more moderate towards the use of L1 in all their practices. Discussion of findings revealed that both experience and the L2 teaching and learning context were influential on teachers’ practices and beliefs. The study will provide insights into pre-service and in-service teachers’ attitudes in different educational settings and implications for pre- and in-service teacher education programs.

A Systematic Review of Online ELT Research in Indonesia During the COVID-19 Pandemic Through the Community of Inquiry Framework

Aim/Purpose: This study attempts to provide a thorough review on online English Language Teaching (ELT) research in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim of presenting best practices of online ELT classes for the future blended or hybrid learning scenario. To operationalize the “best practices” of online learning, the Community of Inquiry framework was used as the guiding perspective. Background: There is a dearth of research employing a systematic review of English Language Teaching (“ELT”) practices in Indonesia carried out during the pandemic, with a view of synthesizing such practices. Such a review is deemed essential in order to provide a comprehensive description of good practices in online English classes, such as in terms of integrating technology into the ELT virtual classes, taking advantage of the experience gained from approximately more than two years of Emergency Remote Learning in the country. Methodology: This study employed the Research Review methodology, with PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis) 2020 to guide the process. Database (Google Scholar and Scopus) search was conducted to find research articles in English on ELT during the pandemic in Indonesia, excluding those that are conceptual in nature. The final list of 94 articles was then coded using the categories in the Community of Inquiry (“CoI”) framework, namely, Teaching, Cognitive, and Social Presence. Inter-rater reliability was computed to assess the risk of bias of the two reviewers. The resulting data, in the form of pieces of “evidence” of the CoI categories, were tabulated and described. Contribution: This research has contributed to providing a synthesis of online ELT teaching practice in Indonesia during the pandemic, specifically in describing the way teachers enacted the Teaching, Cognitive, and Social Presence online through the use of technology. This paper also describes how such deployment of technology should be accompanied by a selective choice of activities and explicit guidance from teachers, as well as teachers’ supportive attitude. Consequently, this study is probably among the first to carry out a systematic review of emergency online ELT practice during the pandemic from the CoI perspective, addressing a methodological gap of extant online ELT systematic review studies. Findings: The results show that Teaching Presence constituted the highest number of pieces of evidence, with a caveat that the application of technology should be combined with clear instruction and task requirements. Next, Cognitive Presence needs to be fostered through activities that promote problem solving and critical thinking, such as online discussions, problem- or project-based learning, and self-reflection. Lastly, teachers need to make use of technologies to convey genuine concern for students and create a warm and friendly online environment as part of teaching activities that build Social Presence, although some affective expressions will need to be managed well to prevent some possible undesirable effects. Recommendations for Practitioners: English teachers in Indonesia, or elsewhere with a similar context to that in the country, can gain insights on the good practice of online learning in terms of teaching methods, media, platforms, assessments, etc. Besides, the online English teaching practices can also inform pre- and in-service teacher education programs, so as to provide technology integration training that has already been tried and empirically tested. Recommendation for Researchers: For future research, the seemingly fewer pieces of evidence found in Cognitive and Social Presence might be fertile ground for Indonesian ELT scholars to carry out research focusing on those aspects. Much research outside of Indonesia has been conducted around the theme of the application of CoI principles in online English classes, while only a few studies in this respect have been found in the Indonesian context. Impact on Society: The findings of this study may help inform educational policies with regards to blended/hybrid or restricted face-to-face meetings in schools. Future Research: This paper has contributed to exemplifying the application of CoI framework as a tool of systematic review in research. Hence, in view of the impending blended, hybrid, or limited face-to-face learning, this type of CoI-framed systematic review research can be replicated in the future to assess the effectiveness of such blended or hybrid teaching mode. Besides, future research could also inquire whether ELT teachers sustain the use of technology in the post-pandemic, on-site learning.

Comparing the Effectiveness of the Knowledge Base of In-Service Teacher Education Programs from the Perspective of Experienced and Novice Female Iranian EFL Teachers

Comparing the Effectiveness of the Knowledge Base of In-Service Teacher Education Programs from the Perspective of Experienced and Novice Female Iranian EFL Teachers

İyi Olma Hali (Wellbeing) Uygulamalarıyla Barış Eğitimi Önündeki Engellerin Üstesinden Gelmek

A growing body of literature reports structural, cultural, social, and political barriers making it challenging and stressful to integrate peace education in teacher education and in-service teacher education programs. To support peace educators in achieving what they stand for, this study proposes integrating wellbeing practices and approaches into the curricula. Drawing from the fields of peace education, educational leadership and policy studies and higher education, this study examines wellbeing as a potentially promising scholarly field to support peace education scholarship. For happiness and life satisfaction, wellbeing links a person's physical, mental, emotional and social health factors not just to internal factors such as optimism, resilience and self-esteem but also external factors such as income, satisfaction at work and social networks. In order to explore the ways wellbeing can contribute to peace education, we first expand on peace education as a controversial and challenging practice especially for practitioners in the field. Next, we discuss wellbeing practices as they relate to educational settings. Finally, we discuss that peace educators can be supported by wellbeing practices to overcome the degrading and demotivating effects of their practices.

Untrained Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices in Public and Private Basic Schools in Mfantseman Municipality of Ghana

To gain a better understanding of untrained teacher beliefs and how that corresponds with their reported classroom practices, a survey was conducted with untrained teachers in public and private basic schools in Ghana. The study collected data through the survey design using a questionnaire which was administered to 188 untrained teachers in rural and urban basic schools. The data were analysed using Means and Standard Deviations to compare the teacher beliefs and practices in the two school types. Pearson-Correlation was used to find out any relationship between the teacher beliefs and their reported practices. Furthermore, Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to find out differences in beliefs, teaching practices and the school type. The results show that most of the untrained teachers held on to direct transmissive beliefs more than constructive beliefs. There were also inconsistencies in the relationship between beliefs and reported practices. However, there were statistically significant differences between the beliefs of untrained teachers in public and those in private schools about teaching and learning. Implication and recommendations for in-service teacher education programmes have been discussed.