Multigrade Teaching Research Articles

Opening the Door on Best Practice

This paper examines two case studies of multigrade teachers, and focuses on the diverse styles of these different teachers. It questions what, given this diversity, are the critical issues in multigrade teaching, and whether it is possible to identify 'best practice' in the multigrade classroom. In addition this paper attempts to indicate the necessary skills which should be developed in preservice education for teaching in multigrade classrooms.

A Window into the Rural Classroom: interactive television and problem‐based activity in Australian pre‐service teacher education

ABSTRACT This project incorporated live broadcasts of teaching from small, multi‐graded, rural schools into university lecture halls where pre‐service teacher education students in the last semester of their programmes were able to observe ‘best practice’ in a learning context that they would eventually be responsible for during their final practicum session. Interactive observation sessions were immediately followed with opportunities for students to discuss various aspects of planning, classroom organisation and teaching strategies appropriate to multi‐graded contexts with the remote classroom teacher. These ‘reverse distance education’ sessions followed an intensive lecture and tutorial series centring upon topics relevant to teaching in small rural communities. Tutorial activities placed student teachers in small rural school scenarios containing everyday ‘problems’ requiring diagnosis and the generation and analysis of solutions. At the conclusion of scenario discussions, students had networked, collaborated with colleagues and applied current research findings in generating viable solutions and considered school community reactions to these proposed solutions. The incorporation of interactive video technology with these problem situations consolidated the concept and skill development of student teachers and increased both their real time involvement in their chosen professions, and their access to best practice. This dual focus upon a problem solving approach to teaching immersed the student teacher in situations derived from real school environments, and so encouraged a collegial and open approach to teaching. Extensive evaluations revealed that pre‐service teachers were more thoroughly prepared for rural teaching experiences, displayed competence in effective multigrade teaching skills, and exhibited control during involvement

Multigrade Teaching in Single Teacher Primary Schools. Unesco, Asia and the Pacific Program of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID)

<i>Multigrade Teaching in Single Teacher Primary Schools</i>. Unesco, Asia and the Pacific Program of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID)

Interpreting women's lives: Feminist theory and personal narratives edited by The Personal Narratives Group, 277 pages. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, 1989. US $39.95 cloth; US $14.95 paper.

This study examines the classroom strategies of the ten multigrade teachers of East district of Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines. The research environment has numerous remote elementary schools. It has six multigrade schools in which all teachers were handling two grade levels. The primary data collection method used is a semi-structured one on one interview. The results of the study informed that the classroom strategies of multigrade teachers include: Classroom Management, Collaborative Learning, Using Differentiated Instruction, Connecting the Teaching to Real-life Situations, Integrating Technology in Teaching, and the flexibility of the Teacher. Despite these limitations and challenges that the teachers and pupils encountered in this multigrade school, they strived hard and tried their best to be meaningful and productive. There are several successful techniques that these multigrade teachers used to enhance the abilities and skills of the learners that bring them to compete in big schools. There are a lot of good things that came out precisely the classroom strategies of multigrade teachers. Thus, Multigrade teaching can be more beneficial to learners when they apply strategies that promote the interest of the learners.