Primary Initial Teacher Education Research Articles

'Do We Really Need to Know This?' The challenge of developing a global learning module for trainee teachers

This article explores some of the challenges of developing a module on global learning with primary initial teacher education (ITE) students studying at a UK university. The research, which employed a mixed methodology, involved around 550 students and eight members of staff over a three-year period. The findings indicate that many students developed their thinking about global issues, albeit on a surface level. A small but significant minority proved much harder to reach. The discussion highlights the complexities of global learning, the significance of underlying values and beliefs, and the impact of the wider professional and cultural context. A key issue that emerges is the importance of recognizing barriers and inhibitors to global learning.

Teaching assistants and teacher education in England: meeting their continuing professional development needs

Teaching assistants are often the constant adult in classrooms in England today and find themselves working closely with student-teachers. This paper explores the role of teaching assistants in the training and assessment of primary initial teacher education students and considers their continuing professional development (CPD) needs in relation to this. It has arisen out of a research project funded by the government’s Training and Development Agency for Schools, from which a mentor training package was developed and implemented, aimed specifically at teaching assistants. Elements of this CPD are delivered to a discrete cohort; others are multi-professional and as such develop collaborative practice. This paper reflects on this CPD initiative and considers its future development.

Problem Solving and Emotional Education in Initial Primary Teacher Education

Our work is based on two premises. The first is that affective factors (beliefs, attitudes, and emotions) influence teaching and learning mathematics, and problem solving in particular. The second is that initial teacher education is an important element in the process of improving overall educational practice. On this basis, our research group has been working on evaluating the influence of affect in mathematics problem solving for prospective teachers, and on designing and implementing a program of metacognitive intervention that integrates cognitive and affective factors. The present communication describes our research in this line.

Gender balance in primary initial teacher education: some current perspectives

The drive to recruit more male primary teachers has been a longstanding aim of many Western countries. Within England the Training and Development Agency for Schools has undertaken a 10‐year marketing campaign to increase the numbers with limited success. Researchers have attempted to analyse the reasons for this failure, considering many areas, for example, the feminisation of the teaching profession, the low status of the primary teacher and concerns about child protection. This paper discusses the findings of a research study undertaken by a group of providers of ITE (initial teacher education) aiming to examine current issues relating to the recruitment and retention of male students in primary ITE. Many similar studies have researched only the male ‘voice’. However, in an attempt to explore any differences in contributory factors, the research reported here examined views of both successful male and female trainees on ITE courses and their course providers. The findings indicated that gender was overwhelmingly seen as irrelevant by trainees themselves. Where there was a significant difference to other studies it was that there was no significant gender difference observed in relation to concerns about child protection. The study also identified successful strategies for retention and completion. Within these there was however a gender divide and the research highlighted that some strategies were seen as particularly supportive for male trainees. Where this is the case it is important that providers/policy makers acknowledge these and continue to address particular groups’ needs.

Ethnogeography: towards liberatory geography education

In the context of education in England, an argument is put forward that Geography, as it is conceptualised in the National Curriculum, does not connect to either primary school pupils or their teachers. Reasons for this are explored and a proposal is made for a new paradigm for primary geography: ethnogeography. This proposal parallels work on ethnomathematics, which provides a political agenda to the study of maths and itself draws from Paulo Freire's politicization and consciousness raising through adult literacy. This pattern is applied to learning in geographical education. Drawing on the findings of a recent research project, a case is argued for ethnogeography and the implications for primary Initial Teacher Education courses, learners and the curriculum in primary schools and are considered.

Teacher‐writer memoirs as lens for writing emotionally in a primary teacher education programme

This article examines student teachers’ experiences of writing emotionally through the lens of teacher‐writer memoirs. The participants were 99 postgraduate student teachers on a sociology of teaching module in an initial primary teacher education programme in the Republic of Ireland. Analysis of journal responses indicated how student teachers shaped and reshaped their emergent identities through discourse, memory, emotions, and personal biography and along a values‐action continuum. Individual freedom was evidenced in moving towards danger and new ways of doing things. Conformity was evidenced in maintaining the status quo and familiar ways of doing things. Implications for teacher education renewal and reform are discussed.

Equipping future arts educators for primary schools of the 21st century: an Australian point of view

This article discusses two interrelated themes. First, that arts education plays a valuable role in developing the skills required by successful individuals of an increasingly sophisticated knowledge economy; and second, that arts education programmes in initial primary teacher education courses should be linked to, and compatible with, the needs of future schools. If young people are successfully to develop skills, knowledge and understandings that prepare them as productive citizens of the creative economy, then those enabling that development should understand and in turn be able to demonstrate and foster these capacities.

Constructions of professional knowledge among student and practising primary teachers: paradigmatic and narrative orientations

The way in which professional knowledge is presented in initial teacher education (ITE) in England and Wales is significant. Not only is it emblematic of the way teaching itself is conceived, but it is likely to influence the way that students engage with their development. The following analysis therefore describes and critiques the kinds of knowledge presented within the predominant model of primary ITE in England and Wales. Bruner’s concepts of paradigmatic and narrative modes of thought are used to frame this analysis. Firstly, the presentation of professional knowledge within different dimensions of primary ITE is examined: in the curriculum; in higher education institutions; and in school. Next, life history research from the last 20 years is used to explore what practising teachers have seen as significant in the formation of their professional knowledge in order to create a critical perspective on the kind of knowledge evident in ITE. Various tensions between paradigmatic and narrative orientations towards knowledge located within both ITE and within teachers’ lives are explored and ultimately seen as contributing in complex and ambiguous ways to what Clandinin and Connelly refer to as a ‘professional knowledge landscape’ (1998). Ultimately, it is argued that recognizing this notion of a ‘professional knowledge landscape’ is useful in framing the kind of teacher professional knowledge required in ITE. The implications of this for primary ITE programmes are also discussed.

Constructions of caring professionalism: a case study of teacher educators

This article investigates the professionalism of a group of women teacher educators working on initial teacher education (ITE) courses for intending primary school teachers in England. The article draws on data from an empirical study in the education departments of two universities. At the time of the research, these universities had just undergone major changes to the ways in which their ITE courses were organized and taught. The data show how the women teacher educators challenged these changes to their established ways of working and the implied threats to their constructions of caring professionalism. The article analyses how and why the changes affected the women’s senses of professionalism, drawing on Davies’ concept of gendered inclusion in professional life. It also discusses how and why these women’s form of professionalism developed within these institutional settings by identifying a cumulative convergence of discourses within the field of primary ITE.

The Provision for Personal, Social, Health Education (PSHE) and Citizenship in School-based Elements of Primary Initial Teacher Education

This small-scale research study looks at the PSHE/Citizenship framework and the opportunities for student teachers to understand and experience within school the relationship between values, personal and social development and learning. A questionnaire was given to two sets of student teachers on their final school-based placements. The research suggests that there needs to be greater recognition of the centrality of multi-cultural awareness and understanding within the political literacy section of the PSHE/Citizenship framework. This is the counterpart to a previous study of the opportunities for values education within the university-based elements of Primary Initial Teacher Education (Mead, 2003).

DEPTH – Developing Professional Thinking for Technology Teachers: An International Study

The tools to help teachers reflect on their professional knowledge are few in number, and often difficult to utilise. This paper reports on a study conducted with both primary and secondary technology initial teacher education students in a number of different countries who were given the same teacher-knowledge graphical framework as a tool to support reflection on their own professional knowledge. We wanted to investigate if, despite the different country contexts, student teachers of technology could take advantage of their experience with graphic visualisation to help them articulate abstract notions such as aspects of their developing teacher knowledge. We discovered that the graphical tool acted as a framework that enabled them to set out their subject knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and `school' knowledge and was useful in helping them become more self-aware. In this paper, the framework itself is introduced, the way it was presented to the novice teachers is outlined and the relative impact of such `self awareness' on their understandings, enabled by the framework, is then discussed.

Initial Primary Teacher Education Students and Spirituality

In recent years there has begun to be a resurgence of interest in educating the whole child in response to an over emphasis on basic skills teaching. In the study reported in this article, initial primary teacher education students at a regional Australian university were asked to explore and discuss their beliefs about the notion of spirituality. A survey was one of the instruments used and the responses obtained were placed into one of five categories or dimensions of spirituality. These included spirituality and self (reflection); religion; nature (environment/universe); relationships; and major life events (birth/marriage/death). Each of these categories are discussed in relation to a similar study conducted in the United Kingdom. Some implications for teacher educators and their initial primary teacher education students are discussed. These implications are able to help both groups work towards a more spiritually sensitive curriculum which seeks to recognise spiritual development as integral and central for providing a holistic education for all children.

Sharing Roles and Responsibilities in Initial Teacher Training: Perceptions of some key players

This paper examines perceptions of roles and responsibilities in primary and secondary initial teacher education following a sustained period of increase in the involvement of schools. The paper reports findings from a survey of higher education staff, school-based mentors and student teachers, which sought information about their perceptions of roles and responsibilities. A postal survey was followed up by telephone interviews. We found broad levels of agreement between all three partners in the training process and across primary and secondary phases. We found no evidence of a wish on the part of schools to assume greater responsibility for training student teachers. All three parties involved in the survey were able to articulate clearly areas of student professional development where they see complementary roles for school and higher education.

Preparing Primary Teachers to Teach Art & Design Effectively

This paper is an account of an action research project funded by the Teacher Training Agency and co‐ordinated by the Institute of Education, University of London. It critically considers the features, methodology and main findings of an enquiry into the nature of art and design components of courses of primary initial teacher education in nine institutions of higher education in the U.K. The project provides evidence to support ways in which primary teachers can effectively transform their subject knowledge in art and design into subject‐specific pedagogical knowledge. The value — for the participants — of a collective case study approach to research, along with some wider implications for art and design courses in initial teacher education are also identified.

NTTC under the microscope: problems of change in primary teacher education in Lesotho

This paper reviews the introduction of a new primary Diploma in Education at the National Teacher Training College. As the only institution responsible for initial primary teacher education in Lesotho, it carries much responsibility for bringing about change and improving the quality of teachers. The introduction of the Diploma in Education (Primary) (DEP) in 1998 was to meet this challenge. The paper draws from several sub-studies of the Multi-Site Teacher Education Research (MUSTER) Project 1 1 MUSTER (Multi-Site Teacher Education Research Project) is a collaborative project co-ordinated from the Centre for International Education at the University of Sussex Institute of Education, UK. Financial support for the three-year project was provided by the British Department for International Development (DFID). , using a variety of research methods. It describes the new curriculum, how it is taught, and how students perceive it, and identifies several contradictions and disjunctions both within the programme and within the college. The paper concludes with a discussion about how curriculum reform can be managed in such a teacher training college.

Men, Pre-service Training and the Implications for Continuing Professional Development

Through a case study of male students undertaking primary (elementary) initial teacher education (ITE), this article explores the views and concerns of men about operating (successfully or not) within a female dominated professional field. It is a context in which the discourse of male dominance is inverted, temporarily, in order to better understand socioeconomic and cultural constraints that, for these men, contribute to gender disparity and inhibit their inclusion in the educational workplace. The article concludes with a discussion of professional development as an arena in which these constraints might usefully be addressed

No Man's Land: Caring and male student primary teachers

Sixteen male student primary teachers on a primary Initial Teacher Education course were interviewed and their understanding of 'care' explored. Analysis of the data suggests that male student primary teachers have specific gendered understandings of 'care'. Teacher educators need to take account of this in primary Initial Teacher Education courses and to provide students with opportunities to reflect on their understanding of 'care' in relation to their work as primary teachers, and the part gender plays in shaping that understanding.

Necessary but not Sufficient: reconceptualizing primary teacher education

Initial primary teacher education should be designed to cater for the socially, culturally and linguistically diverse populations found in schools. They rarely are. As a result they tend to promote social reproduction rather than social transformation. Using vignettes drawn from our work on the New South Wales Ministerial Advisory Council for the Quality of Teaching we demonstrate the need to re‐explore the fundamental purposes and goals of preparing teachers to meet the needs of all children in our primary schools. We propose a reconceptualization of teacher education around a cultural studies perspective as a productive way forward which would allow integration rather than compartmentalization of knowledge and which encourages a search for truth in which tolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty feature such that knowledge is understood as relative and fallible.

Men into primary teaching: Who goes where?

This article explores the position of men vis-à-vis women in primary teaching and initial teacher education (ITE). It highlights contradictions in patterns of achievement through identification of exceptional male success once qualified as primary teachers and apparent relatively high failure and withdrawal rates during ITE.

Student teachers in primary schools: the views of pupils

Primary initial teacher education courses in England have recently undergone radical reform particularly in relation to the time that students spend in schools. Primary pupils in schools working with student teachers from Homerton College, Cambridge were interviewed to find out what they thought about their student teachers, what impact the student teachers had had on their learning, what qualities they felt teachers should have and what understanding they had of the process by which people train to become teachers. The findings are discussed, and consideration is given to the implications for the future development of the partnership between primary schools and Higher Education Institutions.