Master Of Teaching Program Research Articles

Embedding Environmental Sustainability Education in a Master of Teaching Program: Reflections on Improvisation and Learning-by-Doing at OISE, University of Toronto

The aim of this paper is to share our story about introducing environmental sustainability education (ESE) in an initial teacher education (ITE) program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at University of Toronto, starting in 2018. In so far as narratives motivate reflection and action, the goal is to encourage readers to start a conversation with colleagues at their respective institutions (university or college) about how they might do something similar. Consideration is given to how this case fits what Neus (Snowy) Evans refers to as a “systems approach” to implementing ESE in ITE, even if more in retrospect and through improvisation than through foresight and technical prowess.

Research-Based Theater in Schools: Ethical Challenges, Conundrums, and Choices

This article focuses on the ethical challenges which may arise when a research-based theater (RbT) project is undertaken with students in a school or in another educational setting. It focuses on three case studies where I worked as an RbT practitioner with students in a single-sex boys’ school and Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) in a Master of Teaching program. For over 15 years, I have worked as an RbT practitioner, and I have developed a set of ethical principles pertaining to the writing and the performance of the RbT piece. I discuss in this article that even with such ethical principles in place, unforeseen critical incidents of an ethical nature may arise in an RbT project that may lead the RbT practitioner to reappraise the effectiveness of these principles in their work.

Supporting Urban-Oriented Teacher Candidates to Experience Rural Schooling: The Story of a Virtual Adapted Practicum

In the fall of 2020, due to the institutional impacts of COVID-19, the Master of Teaching Program in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (Canada) transitioned to a modified practicum program. In this article, I draw on self-study (Kitchen et al., 2020) to examine and share my experiences as a Practicum Advisor tasked to design and deliver a four-week virtual practicum program for 30 teacher candidates, without access to high school classrooms. I reflect on how my rural teacher and researcher selves informed my practicum design in one of Canada’s largest urban faculties of education, including teacher candidates’ development of data portraits based on one rural case study high school. A virtual adapted practicum presented me with a narrow opening, in an otherwise urban-dominant curriculum, to expand teacher candidates’ gaze beyond the metropolis.

Freedom and Constraint in Teacher Education: Reflections on Experiences Over Time

Teacher education programs in Australia increasingly comply with new and narrowing accountabilities so that they can be approved by diverse regulatory authorities and accredited. This is an auto-biographical narrative study which draws upon the memories of a teacher educator who contrasts her experience of learning to teach in the early 1980s with her recent experience as a Program Leader working with colleagues to design a new Master of Teaching program. She interviews Professor Bernie Neville who was responsible for the design and implementation of the teacher education program she completed in 1983. He reflects on the principles guiding his practice at a time when greater freedoms were possible. She contrasts this with an interview her colleagues conducted with her during the program accreditation phase and highlights tensions in the current process of program design related to an increasing performance-orientation, greater levels of compliance, and managing an over-crowded curriculum.

Preparing International Pre-Service Teachers for Professional Placement: In-School Induction

This paper reports on an Australian University's support program to prepare its first year international pre-service teachers (IPSTs) for professional placement. The aim of the program was to address some of the practicum challenges experienced by the IPSTs. A case study was undertaken to investigate the effectiveness of the program. Ten international students enrolled in the Master of Teaching program were participants of this investigation. Data was collected through a questionnaire administered post-program and non-participant observation. The findings indicated that the program was beneficial towards inducting IPSTs to the Australian school context and contributed towards their confidence, communicative skills, and ability to link theory and practice.

Teaching Beginning Teachers to ‘Think What We Are Doing’ in Indigenous Education

Working with beginning teachers to assist them to begin to ‘think what we do’ (Arendt, 1998) in both mainstream and Indigenous education is problematic. This is particularly so because the majority of our teacher candidates, and indeed most of their university lecturers, are positioned close to the racial, social and cultural centre of Australian education. That is, teachers and teacher educators tend to be white, middle class, educationally successful, and accepting of the main premises and assumptions, purposes and values of formal schooling in Australia. This proximity to the centre can lead to an inability to question ideas and practices that, while everyday and seemingly innocuous, are frequently dangerous and destructive for those at the margins. In this article, we illustrate the normative power of hegemonic ideas by using aspects of the teen fiction The Hunger Games as an analogy for ‘thoughtless’ and unquestioning acceptance of authority. We then describe and discuss a pedagogic practice used within the Master of Teaching program at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. The practice is designed to challenge normative understandings about Australian history, teaching Indigenous Australian students, and to encourage engagement with the German-American Jewish philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt's provocative question ‘What are we doing?’ (Arendt, 1998, p. 5). We conclude the article with a challenge to re-think current policies and practices in the education of Indigenous Australians.

Introducing e-portfolios to pre-service teachers as tools for reflection and growth: lessons learnt

E-portfolios are being introduced into initial teacher education programmes internationally to help pre-service teachers build records of their learning journeys and develop into reflective practitioners; to allow them to assemble collections of evidence of their achievements against graduate standards, which can function as digital CVs; and to facilitate the seeding of personal learning networks that will support lifelong learning after graduation. Despite certain tensions between these aims, the potential benefits of e-portfolios make them an increasingly popular choice in teacher education. In this article, we discuss the introduction of Wi-Fi-based e-portfolios into a Master of Teaching programme at an Australian university. These served primarily as developmental e-portfolios, or personal learning environments (PLEs), and were designed to place particular emphasis on reflective practice. We describe how the e-portfolios were perceived and used by pre-service teachers in the first year of their implementation, and indicate the challenges and limitations encountered. Lessons learnt from the implementation are outlined and recommendations are proposed.

Using Appreciative Inquiry to Frame the Appraisal of an Australian Initial Teacher Education Program

This paper reports on a study that investigated the process and outcomes of using Appreciative Inquiry (AI) in an Australian initial teacher education (ITE) program review. The aim of the study, which drew on a sample of teaching staff involved in this Master of Teaching program, was to gain an understanding of the extent to which the application of the AI framework can be used effectively in the review of ITE programs. AI promotes collegial reflective practice and the generation of positive resolutions and thus aligned with the purposes of the review that were to foster collaboration, strengthen staff morale and, subsequently, build a stronger program for students. This paper provides a perceptual account of the AI review process as reported by the facilitators and a sample of review participants, and contributes to international literature in the areas of ITE program appraisal, organisational reform and Appreciative Inquiry.

Action Research Built on Uncertain Foundations: The internship and action-research in a graduate teaching degree

This paper analyses action research’s uncertain foundations in graduate teaching degrees. This analysis focuses on one Master of Teaching program in Australia, and is conducted by the program coordinator in partnership with a recent graduate of the program. Uncertainty is traced to the structural incoherence of the program that is created by the influence of disparate philosophies of teacher education. The philosophy and practice of the program is informed by both the scholar teacher and reflective practitioner models of teacher education. It is argued that these models are incommensurable and lead to a poor use of action research during the internship of the program. The action research would be more authentic if a phronetic model of teacher education underpinned the entire program rather than just the final internship. This phronetic model will remain an ideal because of the prevailing hegemony of neo-liberalism that supports a means-rationality associated with performing to the graduate standards rather than a values-rationality associated with developing a lifelong habit of phronetic practice.

Learning in context: Technology integration in a teacher preparation program informed by situated learning theory

AbstractThis investigation explores the effectiveness of a teacher preparation program aligned with situated learning theory on preservice science teachers' use of technology during their student teaching experiences. Participants included 26 preservice science teachers enrolled in a 2‐year Master of Teaching program. A specific program goal was to prepare teachers to use technology to support reform‐based science instruction. To this end, the program integrated technology instruction across five courses and situated this instruction within the context of learning and teaching science. A variety of data sources were used to characterize the participants' intentions and instructional practices, including classroom observations, lesson plans, interviews, and written reflections. Data analysis followed a constant comparative process with the goal of describing if, how, and why the participants integrated technology into their instruction and the extent to which they applied, adapted, and innovated upon what they learned in the science teacher preparation program. Results indicate that all participants used technology throughout their student teaching for reform‐based science instruction. Additionally, they used digital images, videos, animations, and simulations to teach process skills, support inquiry instruction, and to enhance student engagement in ways that represented application, adaptation, and innovation upon what they learned in the science teaching methods program. Participants cited several features of the science teacher preparation program that helped them to effectively integrate technology into their instruction. These included participating in science lessons in which technology was modeled in the context of specific instructional approaches, collaborating with peers, and opportunities for feedback and reflection after teaching lessons. The findings of this study suggest that situated learning theory may provide an effective structure for preparing preservice teachers to integrate technology in ways that support reform‐based instruction. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 50:348–379, 2013

Engaging in teacher research: processes, problems and successes

This article explores the effects upon teacher learning of engaging in classroom research within the context of a teacher's professional life as a middle manager in a large urban school. The article is co-written by the teacher and his tutor on the Master of Teaching programme at the Institute of Education, University of London, where teacher research is a core requirement of the degree. The article is written from a narrative perspective, and offers an insight into the professional gains to be had from studying for a Master's degree, undertaking classroom research, leading a department and teaching full time – a combination which may, at first sight, appear overwhelming. The perspectives of both teacher and tutor are offered, with the teacher's story framed by an analysis of how teachers need to be able to develop ‘practical theories’ as part of their professional growth.

Engaging in teacher research: processes, problems and successes

Abstract This article explores the effects upon teacher learning of engaging in classroom research within the context of a teacher's professional life as a middle manager in a large urban school. The article is co-written by the teacher and his tutor on the Master of Teaching programme at the Institute of Education, University of London, where teacher research is a core requirement of the degree. The article is written from a narrative perspective, and offers an insight into the professional gains to be had from studying for a Master's degree, undertaking classroom research, leading a department and teaching full time – a combination which may, at first sight, appear overwhelming. The perspectives of both teacher and tutor are offered, with the teacher's story framed by an analysis of how teachers need to be able to develop ‘practical theories’ as part of their professional growth.

Approaches to the Writing of Cases: experiences with preservice Master of Teaching students

During the final phase of their first year, preservice students in the Master of Teaching programme at the University of Sydney are required to write their own case stories from experience. This process serves to help them make individual and collective sense of what has occurred in the course of their initial six week practicum, which was preceded by 20 weeks of intensive coursework based on several forms of case methodology. Through a carefully constructed writing workshop, the university teacher writes along with the seminar group members, thereby facilitating sharing, discussion and the conferencing of individual cases as they unfold. The collegial environment of a ‘community of writers’ established in this way operates as a support for neophyte teachers. In the short term, it provides a forum for articulating teaching dilemmas and reflecting upon their actions and decision taking. Longer term, it serves to enhance the potential for growth as these intending teachers begin to think constructively about their work in schools.