Postgraduate Teacher Education Research Articles

Role of Distance Education in Promotion of Women Education in Pakistan

Education plays a significant role in growth of mind and individual income as it helps an individual in contributing to society in a positive way. It positively affects the attitude of an individual in adjusting to the society and adds in economic and societal growth. The main objective of education is to reshape the personalities and attitudes of people to build a better society and grow the economy. In this way, women education becomes more important. There is a common saying, “If a man is educated, an individual is educated, and if a women is educated, the entire family is educated”. The distance learning mode of education has been recognized as a great resource to give equal access to education to the women from remote areas of developing countries including Pakistan. However, proper quality assurance systems are to be placed for distance and open education in order to avoid its misuse and to ensure uncompromised education. With this backdrop, the main objective of the present study was to assess the role of distance education in extending and promoting women education. The nature of the study was quantitative and survey type. The masters students {MA (Education)/MEd level} of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) enrolled for spring semester-2018 to spring-2019, all the tutors of postgraduate Teacher Education Programs of AIOU, academicians relating to distance education and formal education programs were the population of this study. Due to lack of resources, and constraints of time and scope of the study, it was limited to four regions that were randomly sampled. A total number of 300 students from relevant programs were randomly selected i.e., 75 students from each region. 100 tutors of relevant programs were randomly sampled by selecting 25 tutors from each region. Questionnaires were used as research instruments. SPSS was used for data analysis. The data were analyzed and interpreted by applying statistical method of percentage and mean scores. The results show that the distance education has positively contributed towards women education. It has also improved their social, social skills, communication skills and the skills required for employment and entrepreneurship. The results further show that distance education has benefited the remotely located women in the country. However, the quality aspects of distance education need to be addressed to enhance further benefits to women who opt for distance education.

Інфологічна модель бази даних інформаційної системи моніторингу процесу підвищення кваліфікації педагогів

The article presents relevant materials related to the design of an information system for monitoring the process of advanced training of teachers in a postgraduate teacher education institution. It was established that the implementation of this system is an objective necessity, due to the reform of the educational institutions and the desirability of automating the assessment of the quality of the provision of relevant services for the rapid adoption of managerial decisions on the regulation and correction of the educational process. To solve this problem, in the framework of our study, on the basis of the analysis of the relevant scientific and methodological literature, an infological model of the database is built, which is the core of the information system for monitoring the process of advanced training of teachers in postgraduate teacher education. In particular, a list of basic entities, their corresponding attributes and relationships between them is defined. The querying that can be implemented based on the presented model of the subject area under consideration are refined. In general, the constructed infological model of the database of the corresponding monitoring information system should provide an increase in the quality of the educational process in the institution of postgraduate teacher education by automating the planning of teacher training courses in accordance with the needs, and analyzing the results of the students' learning activities using mathematical statistics methods. At the same time, the publication determined that further studies may relate to the development of a datalogical model of the developed information monitoring system and the selection of appropriate software for implementing client-server data exchange technology.

ПСИХОЛОГІЧНІ УСТАНОВКИ, КОМПЕТЕНЦІЇ ТА ОСОБИСТІ ЯКОСТІ ВИКЛАДАЧА ЯК ФАКТОР РОЗВИТКУ МАТЕМАТИЧНОЇ ОБДАРОВАНОСТІ УЧНЯ


 
 
 The article deals with the problem of the role of professional competences, personal characteristics and psychological attitudes of the subject-teacher in the development of mathematical giftedness of students. The substantiation of the competence model of a teacher working with mathematically gifted children is presented. The urgency of the problem of formation of necessary competences for work with mathematically gifted students is substantiated. The three-level model of teacher's professional competence is considered as a set of key professional (reflecting the specificity of a certain professional activity, in our case - pedagogical) and special (reflecting the specificity of working in different conditions of professional activity with talented children) competencies.Within the competency model, the components of the cognitive, behavioral, and value components are examined. The role of the psychological ettitudes of the teacher in the motivational component of the educational process is substantiated. A number of problems of professional and personal development of teachers in the organization of teaching of mathematically gifted students have been identified. Recommendations are given for the construction of a postgraduate teacher education program aimed at the discovery and psychological and pedagogical support of mathematical talent.
 
 

Pedagogy of Experience in Teacher Education for Learner and Teacher Autonomy

Language teacher education programmes can promote autonomy-oriented change when they are based on a transformative rationale regarding learner and teacher development. This involves adopting an experience-based approach whereby dominant ideas and practices are problematized and opportunities are provided for teachers to learn about, experience, and inquire into autonomy-oriented language teaching practices. A proposal based on the analysis and construction of cases in post-graduate teacher education is presented, in which teachers analyse and design autonomy-oriented action research experiences and produce narratives of inquiry. Six teacher narratives are analysed, showing that experience-based teacher education may enhance teachers’ agency to challenge mainstream practices and explore learner-centred teaching, thus developing professional autonomy in seeking to promote learner autonomy.

Improvement of the student evaluation system based on the ICT use

Today, considerable attention is paid to the higher education quality issues. The problem is solved by using tests that should provide a reliable student evaluation. The article presents the technology for improving test tasks. It includes functional procedures that specify the test and test task improvement sequence. It is found that it is better to use specialized computer applications for their implementation, that is why this technology involves the use of the author program “Statistical Analysis of Test Results”. This program calculates the indicators – the item difficulty, discrimination, reliability and validity – according to empirical student testing data. The indicators help identify unsatisfactory quality test tasks and improve the student assessment means, as the program derives the recommendations. The steps set out by the testing result processing technology with the help of a statistical package increase the improvement process efficiency. The correlation and factor analyses help identify the tasks that put the highest load into the test score. These procedures influence on making a decision on the test task review need. The technology involves repeated checking procedures. The presented technology has been tested at Zaporizhzhya National University and Zaporizhzhya Regional Institute of Postgraduate Teacher Education. ANOVA has helped prove its effectiveness.

ЯК ВЧИТЕЛІ ОБИРАЮТЬ НАВЧАЛЬНІ КУРСИ. РЕЗУЛЬТАТИ ЕМПІРИЧНОГО ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ

The article presents the results of a study of individual strategies for choosing training courses by teachers of general secondary education institutions. The article substantiates the choice of research methods and means for processing the results; describes the methodology for preparing an in-depth interview guide, its conduct, and analysis. The experiment results confirmed the interconnection between the level of demonstration of the extrinsic negative element of motivation for professional development and the Yanis coefficient calculated from the data of the content analysis of the in-depth interview.In the process of research, the educational request of teachers, which is mainly focused on updating methods of action, is specified, which indicates (whether conscious or not) the insufficient effectiveness of traditional professional technologies.The identified selection strategies (focusing on the opinion of significant individuals and accounting for characteristics of professional activity) should be considered not only when developing new training courses, but also when promoting them at the educational services market. The research team prepared relevant recommendations for the developers. Based on the results of the study, the methodological recommendations were developed for the system of postgraduate teacher education. The experiment, which is conducted in 22 educational institutions in Kyiv (Ukraine) and covers more than 1,750 teachers, requires verification in other conditions (small schools in remote regions, regional and district centres) since in the program it is not highlighted the impact of the megalopolis on the activity of teachers, and other local factors that may be significant.

Innovative metamodels of interaction between participants of postgraduate teacher education

The article presents the analysis of two actual variants of interaction between teachers and learners in the system of in-service training, which are an interpretation of the idea of S. G. Vershlovsky about the innovative metamodel, the most popular in modern post-graduate pedagogical education.

Teacher competencies in supporting reading in English as a foreign language

<span style="line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;" lang="EN-US">Based on a small-scale survey and discussion with teacher-learners in a postgraduate teacher education program in Poland, this paper aims to investigate their understanding of ‘learning to read in L2 English’ and the current state of their competencies in teaching reading. Descriptors taken from the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages, EPOSTL, are used are used as criteria to analyze the qualitative data. It is found that while there appears to be awareness and indication of application of some competencies, the participants seem confused as to how to support younger elementary L2 learners in developing basic reading skills and may lack understanding of theories to underpin their practice.</span>

The Transformational Efficacy of Postgraduate Courses

Considerable literature exists pertaining to transformative education and academics seek to provide a transformative educational experience for students. The purpose of this research was to examine the perceptions of graduates from postgraduate teacher education courses concerning transformative efficacy with regard to the stated outcomes of the courses. The participants were Christian teachers and school principals from Christian schools across Australia who had graduated from accredited Master of Education or Master of Education (Leadership) courses. Data collection was by way of an online survey containing Likert scales and explanatory statements. The research found that most of the graduates identified transformation at a personal level, particularly in the theological and philosophical understandings that underpin classroom or school leadership practice in Christian schools. This enabled them to be able to critique the cultural artifacts with which educators must deal in their practice.

Postgraduate teacher education in post-Soviet countries

Postgraduate teacher education in post-Soviet countries

Beyond alienation: spatial implications of teaching and learning academic writing

ABSTRACTDespite existing work on the situated and sometimes alienating nature of academic writing practices, the implications of the specifically spatial nature of these practices continue to pose questions for teaching and learning in higher education. This paper addresses these questions through a study of the views and experiences of students and teachers of academic writing in postgraduate teacher education (n = 33). Specifically, it introduces a concept, xenolexia, which complements that of alienation by recognizing the dynamic nature of academic writing, texts and practices without reifying them. Discussing the fundamentally spatial nature of this dynamism, the concept of xenolexia is used to analyse perceptions of academic writing practices as 'foreign'. The features of this 'foreignness' are examined from the point of view of both teaching and learning, and lessons about identity and dynamism in academic writing are drawn for writing pedagogies in postgraduate teacher education contexts.

Lifelong Learning in Enhancing Professional Teacher Training in the European Countries

Abstract Research relevance is determined by the need to enhance teacher education, consolidate teachers’ further professional and personal development, increase the prestige of the teaching profession. The article focuses on enhancing professional training of teachers in the European countries under the conditions of lifelong learning. Based on the study and analysis of reseaches by Ukrainian and foreign scholars and some statistical information, the peculiarities of teaching and teacher training have been justified. Mentoring has been described as a way of transferring experience, knowledge, abilities and skills from one age group to another, or from one person to another. It has been found that mentoring aims to provide support and promote self-realization in professional activity. Lifelong learning has been defined as a programme for thinking and activity development. The statistical data on the needs of teacher development and thematic demand and supply in lifelong learning have been analyzed. It has been emphasized that modern trends in the development of lifelong learning for teachers in the EU countries include consolidation and rationalization of organizational structures with the purpose of developing the national systems of postgraduate teacher education based on scientific principles of organization and management theory, as well as orientation towards reaching the balance between the interests of all participants, partners, central authorities of education management, regional and local education authorities, school administration, teachers; stimulating innovative activities of teachers, etc. It has been concluded that taking into account European experience in organizing lifelong learning for teachers will allow Ukraine to enhance professional training of teachers, professionalization in self-education, their reflexive practice of searching for effective ways to integrate the latest technologies into the education process.

TRANSFORMATION OF EDUCATORS’ PROFESSIONALISM IN THE SYSTEM OF POST-GRADUATE TEACHER EDUCATION

The article analyzes the application of the theory of transformative education in post-graduate teacher education. Professional development of teachers, which is based on the principles of adult education, is influenced by education reforms, innovation environment and the transition to a digital society. This creates a situation of uncertainty for teachers and encourages their acquisition of new competences. Transformational education, initiated by US scholars, has gained popularity in Ukraine to direct post-graduate education to the development of professional culture and professional consciousness of teachers. One of the key concepts of post-graduate teacher education as a component of adult education is professionalism, which is referred to as a set of teachers’ competences that are formed in the system of university education and developed in the system of post-graduate education based on cultural, humanistic and democratic values to make teachers efficient in modern socio-economic conditions. Teachers’ professionalism transformation, which is understood as a qualitative change in their professionalism, due to their readiness to work in the conditions of the digital world and knowledge society, is a result of transformative education in the system of formal and informal adult education. The author also discusses the teachers’ professionalism transformation factors and the features, methods, objectives and outcomes of teachers’ transformative education.

Bringing languages to life: A longitudinal study of the development of creative practice in student teachers of modern languages

This article reports the findings of a longitudinal study exploring the process of learning to teach modern languages in the changing landscape of teacher education. It employs a postmodern critical ethnographic methodology to examine the experiences of a group of student teachers over the course of a one-year postgraduate teacher education programme in England. The focus is on how experiences in university and in school encourage or discourage the development of creativity. The schools inspectorate, Ofsted, is critical of lifeless teaching which fails to inspire young people to learn languages. However, the pressures of ‘performative’ requirements act as a discouragement to creativity. The data indicates that whilst student teachers express a desire to be more creative, they find it difficult to implement their ideas in school. A post-structuralist analysis of Marx’s theory of alienation is employed to argue that the early formation of professional identity is a process of acquiescence to oppressive external structures over which individuals have no control. The study concludes that it is possible to create spaces where the temporary suspension of alienation can allow individuals to put life back into language learning.

Organizational model of continuous learning of managers of network educational organizations in the educational environment of institution of postgraduate teacher education

Creation of educational institutions of the new type in Ukrainian educational network (supporting schools with the net of branches) and their associations (educational districts) needs from managerial staff the mastering of grounds of the matrix and network system of the management of educational institutions, and from postgraduate educational institutions – the new approaches to the formation of managerial professional competences.The features of organization of educational environment of postgraduate pedagogical educational institution for continuous teaching of managers of network educational organizations were revealed in the study. The model is built on the andragogical principles of managerial staff professional development. It includes four basic levels: educational institution, educational district, urban district (united territorial community), regional center of education development.The methods of corporative learning, Internet-technologies, cluster approach to the learning process organization, different forms of qualification improvement courses organization (traditional (full-time and full-time-correspondence learning), distant learning, dual learning, prolonged learning, accumulation learning by case-technologies and so on) are widely used in the model. The learning process is realized at a specialist’s main working place of and at a distance from it.The model has the signs of openness, innovation, cascade character, flexibility, variability (electivity and selectivity), matrix character and corresponds to the logistic principle of “knowledge just in time”

SCIENTIFIC-PROJECT CONSULTING AS AN INNOVATIVE FORMAT OF POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION

Introduction. Today the main social and economic advantage of Russia in global economy (we do not take natural wealth into account) is the human capital which development has to become a priority for all levels of an education system. The relevance of the article determined by the need to modernize the educational programs, technology and content of the educational process in the institutional space of postgraduate teacher education. It is one of the key factors in the development of the intellectual capital of a society, providing a transition to continuous, socially oriented, associated with global and domestic fundamental science education for all people and aimed at the formation of the creative socially responsible personality. The new mission of post-degree training «through all life», consisting in the advancing formation of intellectual potential of the country, demands search of new forms and methods of additional professional education. Aim. The aim of the article is to disclosure the essence of scientific-project consulting as an innovative format of teachers and scientific-pedagogical staff. Methods . The institutional approach is the basis of the study. In accordance with this approach, the development strategy and the areas of work of traditional and new institutions of post-degree education – Department of Pedagogy and Andragogy and the Center of Scientific and Design Consulting are designated. As methodological base of this type of consulting, it is offered to use provisions of the genetic-substantial theory of the developing education, in particular the principle of development regulating processes of continuous improvement of professionalism of experts of education and development of new functions by them in post-industrial society. Results. The conceptual model of a reflexive outline of management of process of formation of new professional positions of the teacher is constructed; its components are characterized. Scientific-project consulting as a backbone concept of model is defined as a specific innovative format of preparation of pedagogical and academic-teaching personnel capable to conscious design and transformation of own professional activity and education in general acts. Projecttransformative approach to implementation of analytical, organizational-administrative and scientific-methodical support of teachers concludes in the mechanism of realization of such consulting. The value of this format of additional professional education from the point of view of the joint practice-focused scientific search organization of the solution of problems in education system is shown. The forms of post-degree training which are most demanded within scientific and design consulting are described. Scientific novelty. In the field of pedagogical post-degree education consulting has not become a full standard rule yet. In general, educational consulting including development of techniques of management and planning of educational activity is applied to methodical maintenance of functioning and development of educational structures. Perspective scientific and project types of consulting in post-industrial society still have remained out-of-sight of a scientific pedagogical research. The authors of the present article make one of the first attempts on completion of this gap in the Russian education. Practical significance. Introduction of scientific-project consulting in the field of post-degree training of the top skills for the sphere education offers new opportunities of scientific-organizational and expert-consulting maintenance of innovative activity of members of an educational process.

Student teacher beliefs on grammar instruction

The role of grammar teaching in foreign language education is a controversial one both in second language acquisition (SLA) research and language pedagogy and, as a result, a potential source of confusion to student teachers. The objective of this study was to gain insight into the beliefs on grammar teaching of student teachers of English as a foreign language enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate teacher education programmes at Dutch universities of applied sciences. To this end a questionnaire was developed and validated based on four construct pairs from SLA literature: meaning- versus form-focused instruction, focus on form (FonF) versus focus on forms (FonFs), implicit versus explicit instruction, and inductive versus deductive instruction. Overall, respondents ( n = 832) were found to prefer form-focused, explicit, inductive instruction, and FonFs. However, higher-year undergraduates’ and postgraduates’ results showed a trend towards a preference for more meaning-focused and implicit instruction, and FonF. When learner level was factored in, however, these forms of language instruction were considered subordinate to more traditional form-focused approaches for teaching higher-level language learners.

How musical are primary generalist student teachers?

ABSTRACTCurrent inclusive pedagogical thinking advocates that learning should begin with what the learner can already do. As children bring rich musical experiences with them into school, primary generalist student teachers also bring rich experiences of music and music-making into their initial teacher education programmes. Yet debate still continues as to whether primary generalists can teach music. The research reported in this paper originated from the reflective practice of a primary generalist teacher educator. Through anecdotal evidence in her teaching, she found that the musical profiles of students undertaking a one-year postgraduate primary teacher education programme were changing. Younger students were beginning to discuss experiences of widening participation opportunities when reflecting on their own musical learning journeys. Moreover, the richness of musical experiences reported by the primary generalist student teachers each year was consistent. The current research resulted from a desire to document these experiences, and also to find a way to gather this information prior to the students starting their course in order to improve teaching; by finding out what the students could already do, teaching could be planned so as to practise and model effective inclusive pedagogy and use the allocated time for music in the best possible way. The paper opens with a review of recent research, raising new research questions as a result of a potentially changing student musical profile. The integration of reflective practice and research to form a research methodology is discussed, and a theoretical framework of what is meant by musical is given. The initial findings of the research are presented and discussed; the paper closes with an overview of the next stages of the research project and the implications for initial teacher education are identified.

Excavating an injustice?: nationality/ies, ethnicity/ies and experiences with diversity of initial teacher education applicants and entrants in Ireland in 2014

Diversifying the teaching population is of international concern. Ireland has experienced significant socio-demographic change in the last decades, but we lack adequate data on the backgrounds of student teachers, especially in relation to nationality and ethnicity. In this paper, we examine the nationality/ies, ethnicity/ies and experiences with diversity of Ireland’s 2014 undergraduate primary and postgraduate post-primary initial teacher education (ITE) applicants, entrants and non-entrants, part of the focus of the Diversity in Initial Teacher Education in Ireland national research project. The overwhelming majority of respondents claim Irish only nationality, and are of ‘White Irish’ ethnicity. Respondents’ constructions of their ethnicity privilege nationality and skin colour. The exclusionary constructions of ethnicity of those self-identifying as ‘White Irish’ reveal the heavy influence of Ireland’s post-colonial nationhood. A significant proportion reported having little or no experience with groups different to their own. We end by noting implications on policy, research and ITE programme levels.

Multidisciplinary approach to postgraduate teacher education – case study

Multidisciplinary approach to postgraduate teacher education – case study