Lack Of Pedagogical Training Research Articles

Improving English Teaching Skills: An Online Course for Non-English Major Teachers in Southern Thailand’s Rural Primary Schools

The mixed-methods study addressed the needs and challenges faced by first-grade English teachers in rural primary schools in Southern Thailand (for example, lack of pedagogical training). The study’s primary objectives were to investigate these teachers’ needs and difficulties, develop a 15-hour online pedadgocial training course, and evaluate its effectiveness after the training was completed. The research involved 33 teachers and 153 students and employed various tools, including questionnaires, an online pedagogical training and language course, pre-and post-tests, and semi-structured interviews about the experience. The findings highlighted the importance of training in speaking, vocabulary, materials, games, and communicative language teaching (CLT) for these teachers. Statistically significant improvements (p < 0.001) were observed in post-test scores for both teachers and students, indicating the positive impact of the customized online training course on teachers’ English skills and teaching performance and improvement in student learning outcomes.

Learning communities promote pedagogical metacognition in higher education faculty

Pedagogical metacognition, or the reflective and reflexive actions associated with teaching practice, strengthens the planning, monitoring, evaluation, and adjustment of teaching in higher education faculty. Learning communities are optimal environments to foster this active teaching reflection. This study incorporated pedagogical metacognition into a faculty learning community curriculum and explored its impacts on higher education instructors’ reflective and reflexive practices. Faculty participants completed monthly metacognitive reflections for one academic year, each corresponding to a research-based principle of learning. Qualitative analysis indicated that faculty learning community participants recognized their lack of pedagogical training, successfully reflected on their teaching strategies, identified areas for improvement, and set goals to incorporate research-based strategies into their instruction. To maximize student learning, pedagogical metacognition should be included in higher education professional development to encourage reflection on and action upon one’s teaching.

Investigating the Challenges Faced by Teachers in the Implementation of Digital Technology in Secondary Schools in Rundu Circuit, Kavango East Region Namibia

This study investigated the challenges faced by teachers in the implementation of digital technology in Secondary Schools in Rundu circuit, Kavango east region Namibia. The study adopted a qualitative research approach. The population of this study was comprised of of all secondary school teachers and principals in Rundu circuit, Kavango east region Namibia. The sample of this study consisted of three principals and seven teachers who were chosen purposively from the 3 secondary schools in the Rundu Circuit in Kavango East region. The qualitative data was collected by means of a semi structured open ended questionnaires. Data collected from the interviews were then transcribed, presented and then analysed using thematic analysis.The findings of this study indicated that lack of pedagogical training was one of the impeding factors to the implementation of the digital technology policy in the teaching and learning process. The findings of the study also indicated that a greater number of teachers had little or no access to the digital technology resources in their institutions. It was established during this study that burglary was on the increase in Kavango East region and computers and air conditioners were the main targets, most of the schools had their laboratories broken into and their computers and other supporting gadgets stolen, making the whole implementation of the digital technology policy fall on its face. The findings of the study further found that schools in Kavango East Region do not have electricity and that some schools had a lot of broken down computers which accumulated over time due to lack of the proper technical skills on the part of the teachers to have them repaired or fixed for use by both teachers and students.It can be concluded from the findings of this study that, lack of pedagogical training was one of the impeding factors to the implementation of the digital technology policy in the teaching and learning process at some Secondary Schools in Rundu circuit, Kavango east region Namibia. It can also be concluded that the absence of digital technology resources was another stinging obstacle to the implementation of the digital technology policy in the classrooms by teachers. The study concludes that burglary was on the increase in Kavango East region.The study suggested that the Ministry of Education has to fully intensify its involvement in the digital technology policy implementation process through the provision of human and material support, supervision and constant reviews or evaluations. Teachers need to be constantly in-serviced on digital technology skills in schools so that they are fully equipped and aware of the digital technology tools’ usage for the benefit of the Namibian child.

Investigating the Challenges Faced by Teachers in the Implementation of Digital Technology in Secondary Schools in Rundu Circuit, Kavango East Region Namibia

This study investigated the challenges faced by teachers in the implementation of digital technology in Secondary Schools in Rundu circuit, Kavango east region Namibia. An approach to qualitative research was used in the study. All secondary school principals and teachers in Namibia’s Rundu Circuit, Kavango East region, made up the study’s population. Three principals and seven teachers from the three secondary schools in the Rundu Circuit in the Kavango East region made up the sample for this study. Semi-structured open ended questionnaires were used to gather the qualitative data. Then, using thematic analysis, the information gathered from the interviews was then transcribed, analyzed and then presented. The results of this study showed that one of the barriers to implementing the digital technology strategy in the teaching and learning process was a lack of pedagogical training. The study’s findings also showed that more teachers had limited or no access to the digital technology resources available to them in their organizations. The results of this study showed that the Kavango East region was experiencing an increase in burglaries, with computers and air conditioners being the main targets. Most of the schools had their laboratories broken into, with computers and other supporting equipment being taken, rendering the entire implementation of the digital technology policy null and void. The study’s findings also revealed that some schools in the Kavango East Region lacked electricity and had a large number of malfunctioning computers that had accumulated over time because teachers lacked the necessary technical expertise to have them fixed so that both teachers and students could use them. The results of this study allowed the researchers to draw the conclusion that one of the obstacles to the adoption of the digital technology policy in the teaching and learning process at some secondary schools in Rundu Circuit, Kavango East area Namibia, was a lack of pedagogical training. It may also be inferred that another significant barrier to teachers implementing the digital technology strategy in the classrooms was a lack of digital technology resources. According to the study’s findings, the Kavango East region saw a rise in burglaries. The study suggested that the Ministry of Education needs to significantly increase its involvement in the process of implementing digital technology policies by offering both material and human support, providing oversight, and conducting regular reviews or assessments. Teachers must receive ongoing training in digital technology skills in order for them to be fully prepared and knowledgeable of how to use these tools for the benefit of Namibian children.

“I am a teacher” – exploring how to support teacher identity formation in physical therapists

Background Teacher identity among physical therapists is challenged by other identities such as clinician and/or researcher. Yet, having a teacher identity has been shown to be a critical organizing element in a persons’ professional life, driving their choices and energies. Objectives This discussion paper was designed to explore the health science teacher identity literature and start a conversation about teacher identity formation among physical therapy teachers. Topics explored included the importance of a teacher identity, its challenges, and what supports teacher identity. Discussion A lack of pedagogical training continues to limit teacher identity formation. Subgroups of research literature on teacher identity were grouped according to how faculty development and institutions could support the following factors: (1) a sense of appreciation for supporting student learning – supported by acknowledgement; (2) a sense of connectedness – supported by communities of practice, mentoring, communication; (3) a sense of competence – supported by skills training based on perceived needs of teachers; (4) a sense of commitment – supported by reflection and goal-setting; (5) a future trajectory – supported by possibility of promotion; (6) a sense of autonomy – supported by letting teachers decide content/methods; and (7) a “care-full” environment – where teachers know they are cared for. Similar supports were identified for all types of teachers, although contexts of experience and workplace were always important. A merged or integrated identity between teacher and physical therapist was suggested as most desirable. Conclusions Faculty development should continue to focus on interventions that promote teacher identity among their physical therapy teachers.

Accidental Composition: How the Ph.D. Machine Fails Our Students

Imagine spending six or more years diligently training in a particular subject to only apply for a job in an unrelated field. Most everything you know will never be used; your education remains for your own edification, locked in a dusty wardrobe of the mind. Add to this a lack of awareness of how to do your new job. This is the picture of the modern-day college composition teacher. Newly printed Ph.D.s (and sometimes Masters) apply for positions for freshmen composition with very little pedagogical training, background, or awareness of the task. For them, composition is a backup plan in the event that their preferred occupation (usually as professor in the humanities) does not pan out. Students in freshmen composition series across the United States end up paying the price for the limited pedagogical preparation that many teachers have had. These students should not have to wait five or ten years before experience teaches these instructors how to be excellent in their craft. This is a silent institutional problem of massive proportions that can—and should—be fixed. This article offers tangible solutions to the issues involved in the lack of pedagogical training of our newly minted Ph.D. students.

High School Philosophy Teachers’ Use of Textbooks: Critical Thinking or Teaching to the Text?

Ontario is the only North American, English-speaking jurisdiction to include philosophy in secondary schools. In this first study to examine Ontario high school philosophy courses, we investigated what sorts of textbooks teachers used, how they used them, and the reasons for their pedagogical choices when using textbooks. Despite claims that philosophy promotes critical thinking, an online survey of 53 high school philosophy teachers and personal interviews with a subset of 14 revealed their use of textbooks did not match this ideal. Teachers cited insecurities with knowledge, a lack of pedagogical training, their own perception that students were incapable of challenging texts, and pressure to meet provincial curriculum policy demands as factors that contributed to their pedagogical choices.

Introductory Courses and the Teaching Assistant

A prevalent format for teaching introductory courses is the lecture and discussion system, which, typi cally, involves a professor who handles mass lectures and assigns graduate students to smaller discussion or recita tion sections. In a recent study of the lecture/discussion format at Cornell University, Farley (1) found that stu dent reactions to the field of sociology, to the content of introductory sociology classes, and to their professors were influenced by the students' assessment of the gradu ate teaching assistant assigned to them. Briefly, both stu dent appraisals of the quality of professors' lectures and their expressed interest in sociology varied consistently with their reactions to discussion sections. To the extent that these findings hold true in other settings, it would appear that graduate teaching assistants play an extra ordinarily important role in the initial instruction?and possibly the recruiting?of undergraduate students in a particular field. Given the lack of pedagogical training in many graduate programs along with the frequent reliance on graduate teaching assistants, there is reason to examine carefully their role in the instruction of undergraduate students. As sociologists, we are, of course, primarily concerned with instruction in introductory sociology. We suggest, how ever, that the issues raised here are by no means unique to our field. Indeed, they are critical to any department which employs a form of the lecture/discussion format for teaching its introductory course. In this paper, two questions are raised: does the gradu ate teaching assistant influence reactions to introductory sociology? And, from where do students feel they derive the gist of the course?the large lecture hall or the small discussion section?

Increasing the Pedagogical Sophistication of Parents: The Basis for Improving the Education of School Pupils in the Family Setting

Lack of pedagogical training on the part of parents leads to serious errors in the education of children in the family setting. The experience of many years indicates that the modicum of pedagogical knowledge garnered by parents does not prepare them to educate their children. The training curriculum must not be confined solely to theoretical knowledge, but must also include the fostering of pedagogical skills and the ability to organize pedagogically feasible intrafamilial relations. Training parents to educate their children must consist first and foremost in upgrading their pedagogical sophistication [pedagogicheskaia kul'tura].