Teacher Professional Experience Research Articles

‘Teachers have to take the responsibility for everything’

This article focuses on the challenges and difficulties faced by the Lithuanian teaching profession in primary schools. It asks how the post-Soviet educational reforms in Lithuania have affected teachers and what the gendered implications for the teaching profession are in Lithuania. Two theoretical approaches were used: the first is a critique of neoliberalism, and the second is a feminist perspective concerned with the feminisation of primary school teachers. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with female Lithuanian primary school teachers with 25–45 years of professional teaching experience. The data reveals an intensification of teachers’ jobs, increased accountability and performativity, marketisation of student school placements, and job precariousness. Also, the study findings imply that low teachers’ salaries reduce the attractiveness of the teaching profession, yet the interviewees also found their jobs meaningful. The findings also reveal the perception of primary school teaching in Lithuania as a women’s occupation due to deeply engrained gender norms. The study, therefore, suggests that the neoliberal turn in education has harmed the Lithuanian teaching profession, undermining the role of teachers as professionals. The results underline a need to reconsider widely spread neoliberal educational developments for teachers to gain a greater sense of professional independence.

Development of Reading Skills for Thai Grade 1 Students Through Smart Training Application Innovation

This research aimed to create a smart training application innovation to develop Thai language reading skills for Thai grade 1 students, targeting an efficiency standard of 80/80. The study compared the reading abilities of Thai grade 1 students before and after using the application. These students were from the Network School of the Teacher Professional Experience Center, Faculty of Education, Loei Rajabhat University. Specifically, 13 students from Ban Na Si School were selected using purposive random sampling for the first semester of the academic year 2023. This school was intentionally selected due to its eagerness to implement this innovative approach. The study utilized two versions of the smart training application: one focused on words without tone marks and the other on consonant blend words. Four lesson plans were designed (two for each version), and a 20-question reading achievement test was administered. Through the E1/E2 value calculation and a t-test, it was deduced that the application surpassed the 80/80 efficiency standard, scoring 81.15/86.15. Furthermore, students exhibited a significant improvement in their reading skills after using the application, as evidenced by a higher post-study performance at a 0.05 significance level.

INVESTIGATING CHALLENGES FACED BY EFL TEACHERS AT BLIDA PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN ALGERIA

This study investigates the challenges faced by English as Foreign Language (EFL) primary school teachers in Algeria, specifically in Blida primary schools. The study uses a mixed-methods approach, including a questionnaire designed to gather information about various aspects of the teacher's professional experience and a Likert scale to measure the level of agreement or disagreement with statements related to challenges faced by primary school teachers when teaching EFL. The study finds that primary school English teachers in Blida face significant challenges due to limited access to resources and support from parents or school administration. Providing targeted professional development opportunities for classroom management training and support can help overcome these challenges effectively and improve EFL instruction at primary schools. The study also identified challenges with lesson planning and curriculum development, but most EFL primary school teachers in Blida do not feel restricted by inadequate access to instructional materials and resources necessary for effective classroom instruction. The study has several limitations, including a small sample size and the use of a questionnaire, but it makes an important contribution towards understanding how the best educators can overcome some of the obstacles they face while providing high-quality EFL instruction for their pupils.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0044/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Twenty years of teaching science communication — a personal reflection

In this commentary, I reflect on twenty years of teaching science communication at universities in Australia, Singapore and New Zealand. I discuss many of the challenges and opportunities for people working in the field. Some of the professional teaching experiences, challenges, and lessons I have learned may resonate with colleagues or help newcomers navigate the complexities of academic landscapes.

To T or Not to T: The Transmasculine Singing Voice on Hormone Replacement Therapy

ABSTRACT Because testosterone-based hormone replacement therapy (HRT) naturally lowers the mean fundamental frequency range of the singer’s voice, the transmasculine voice has historically been treated as a kind of “gold standard” for gender transition—take T, wait a year and voila: a male voice. However, the process of post-pubertal hormonal changes is far more complex than it superficially appears, particularly for the voice. Research on outcomes for transitioning voices is sparse, and anecdotal narratives about poor outcomes give both professional and serious avocational singers pause. This lack of readily available evidence-based research presents a challenge both to trans singers and the voice professionals working with them: given the uncertainty of vocal outcomes, should the transmasculine singer pursue HRT? This article seeks to provide an overview of current knowledge about HRT and the transmasculine voice, contextualize existing data from a singing-voice point of view and highlight the gaps in understanding—offering insight from a transmasculine voice professional’s personal transition and professional teaching experience.

Teacher noticing and its growth toward expertise: an expert\u2013novice comparison with pre-service\xa0and in-service secondary mathematics teachers

Although strong references to expertise in different theoretical approaches to teacher noticing have been made in the last decades, empirical knowledge about the development of teacher noticing from novice to expert level is scarce. The present study aims to close this research gap by comparing three different groups of mathematics teachers with different degrees of professional teaching experience—pre-service teachers at the master’s level, early career teachers, and experienced teachers—using data sampled in the frame of the research program from the Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M). Furthermore, the construct of teacher noticing is assessed in a differentiated way by analyzing different noticing facets. Findings confirm that three facets of teacher noticing can be empirically distinguished—perception of important classroom events, their interpretation, and decisions regarding further developments. The results reveal a considerable increase in professional noticing between master’s students and practicing teachers. However, in contrast to other studies, among examples from East Asia, a stagnation or decrease in professional noticing between early career teachers and experienced teachers could be observed. Overall, the study highlights the cultural dependency of expertise development regarding teachers’ noticing.

Examining children’s interpretations of teacher expectations in the literacy classroom

Teachers’ enactments of literacy pedagogies are recontextualisations not only of curriculum documents, but of system and school-based policies, approaches, frameworks and the demands of assessments. These external inputs combine with teacher professional experience, beliefs about teaching and the roles of teachers and learners to generate pedagogies unique to each context. While these pedagogies can generate rich teaching environments and offer genuine opportunities for learning that connect strongly with students’ out of school experiences, they also require the learner to understand what is expected and how things are done in this classroom. Teacher expectations are expressed through the learning experiences they design and the ways they talk about them, and it is in these interactions that learners develop understandings about what counts as literacy. Within the frame of Green’s (1988; 2012) 3D model of literacy, we draw on semi-structured interview data from teachers and students in the middle years of primary school to examine teacher intent and learners’ interpretations of classroom expectations for literacy learning. We extrapolate these findings in connection with the operational, cultural and critical dimensions of literacy, and consider the implications for learners as they engage with the demands of what it means to be literate today.

Development and Validation of a Scale to Explore Pre-Service Teachers’ Sense of Preparedness, Engagement and Self-Efficacy in Classroom Teaching

Raising the quality of initial teacher education can make an important contribution to raising the overall quality of the school system. In Australia, the National Framework for Professional Standards for Teaching is used as a common framework to set standards for the accreditation of teacher education programs. However, institution-wise assessments need to be carried out regularly to explore the quality of preparation pre-service teachers receive and to what extent they feel well prepared to enter teaching. This will enable teacher education programs to implement strategies to strengthen the link between university coursework and professional practice of pre service teachers. This paper discusses the development and validation of a scale to measure pre- service teachers’ perceptions of preparedness to teach, readiness to engage with the teaching profession and self-efficacy in teaching. The study also proposes a model describing the relationship among these variables. Data was collected from 235 final year pre-service teachers using a newly developed questionnaire at an Australian university. Data shows that the Pre service Teacher Professional Experience (PTPE) scale is a theoretically sound, gender invariant and psychometrically valid instrument. The implications of using the scale in teacher education programmes are discussed in the context of the findings.

Examination of Teacher Identities of Pre-service Teachers Within the Scope of Teaching Practice

The pre-service teachers, who are at the beginning of the process of acquiring the teaching profession, have the opportunity to experience teaching within the scope of teaching practices during their education. It is aimed to support their development as a teacher in this experiential process. In this research, teacher identities were examined along with the process in which the pre-service teachers gained their first professional teaching experience by practicing their theoretical knowledge. In this study, which was designed within the scope of phenomenological design, 30 pre-service teachers who took teaching practice courses were identified as participants with the purposive sampling method. Data obtained by the participants' online diaries, kept throughout their teaching practices, and the interviews aiming to determine the views and perceptions of the pre-service teachers were analyzed. It has been determined that their teacher identities were developed during their teaching practice with the help of cooperating teachers and supervisors in university. It was seen that the participants indicated their natural identity and pedagogical knowledge among their teaching identities.

Not Only Play: Experiences of Playing a Professor Character at College of Wizardry with a Professional Background in Teaching

This article investigates how participants that have played professor characters in the sandbox-style Nordic Larp College of Wizardry reflected on planning and conducting play-pretend lessons compared to their experiences of teaching in professional environments. Using the concepts of spillover, bleed, compensation, role conflict, and contrast, this article focuses on how such experiences can contain reversals of playful and serious motivational states. Data was obtained by interviewing nine participants from various countries: areas of subject expertise; amounts of teaching and larping experience; and levels of education (primary, secondary, tertiary, and vocational). Qualitative content analysis (Mayring 2002) was used to evaluate the guideline-structured interviews via a category system developed from a theoretical framework, combining the research findings of Fenstermacher et al. (2009), Apter (2008), Banner (1985), Biddle (1983 and 1979), Staines (1980) and Kando and Summers (1971). The results of this investigation show that all interviewees drew on their professional teaching experiences for planning and conducting play-pretend lessons at College of Wizardry. Despite the fictionality of the setting, interviewees identified several parallels, such as approaches to teaching and an awareness for student/player needs. Playing a professor at College of Wizardry with a professional background in teaching provided an opportunity to explore and experiment, due to the absence of expectations present in professional settings. Educators larping their role enjoyed more liberty, yet also encountered familiar real-world stress factors.

Addressing mentor wellbeing in practicum placement mentoring relationships in initial teacher education

PurposeUniversity-affiliated mentors serve as liaisons between schools and pre-service teachers during practicum placements, offering academic, administrative and relational support. In the context of academic workload intensification, increasing student numbers and the need to respond to issues as they occur in time-pressured environments, the wellbeing of mentors can become compromised. Mentor wellbeing is explored, highlighting corollary impacts of threats to pre-service teacher wellbeing on those who support them.Design/methodology/approachA descriptive single case-study explored mentor lived experiences of wellbeing during the pre-service teacher practicum placement and mentoring process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with mentors supervising pre-service teacher professional experience placements. Adopting a shadowed data approach, mentors shared their own experiences and reflected on the experiences of others. Data was analysed using thematic content analysis.FindingsMentor and pre-service teacher wellbeing experiences exhibited similar wellbeing indicators, including personal and professional stress, workload strains and ethical dilemmas. Many mentors felt invisible in terms of supports for their own self-care as the focus was on meeting practicum stakeholder and student support needs rather than their own wellbeing.Originality/valueChanges to professional experience practices must consider potential impacts on pre-service teachers, in-school supervisors and the university-affiliated mentors as the wellbeing of each is potentially impacted the wellbeing of others in this professional experience triad. Increasing emphasis on work-integrated learning experiences across multiple disciplines invites future comparison and contrast of wellbeing experiences.

Teachers’ Beliefs about Mathematics, Learning, Teaching, Students, and Teachers: Perspectives from Chinese High School In-Service Mathematics Teachers

This study serves two purposes. The first purpose is the development and validation of a Mathematics Teachers’ Beliefs Scale (MTBS). In addition to providing a valid and reliable MTBS instrument, this study provides information on the process of developing and validating the instrument, which shall be useful for the development and validation of similar instruments. The second purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and their teaching experience. Using a validated MTBS, this study assessed the beliefs of four groups of Chinese high school mathematics teachers with varying years of professional teaching experience: 1–5 years (n = 25), 6–10 years (n = 70), 11–20 years (n = 48), and 21+ years (n = 28). The MTBS is composed of 26 items distributed across five subscales spanning beliefs about mathematics, learning, teaching, students, and teachers. Among the four groups, the results of this study indicate that there were no significant differences in scores on beliefs about mathematics, mathematics learning, mathematics teaching, students, and teachers. Further item analysis revealed that longer teaching experience does not necessarily mean that a teacher holds reform-oriented views. However, teachers with 6–10 years of experience were most likely to hold a more dialectic view of mathematics.

Chemistry Teacher Isolation, Contextual Characteristics, and Student Performance

This case study explored chemistry teacher isolation through the compilation and analysis of contextual characteristics and student performance data of 895 public schools and 2321 chemistry teachers in New York State in 2011–12. Data on the teachers’ qualifications along with school characteristics were collected from several independent, publicly available data sources. Chemistry teacher characteristics included professional age, certification type (primary or secondary), and whether the teachers were isolated, that is, the only teachers of chemistry in their schools. School-level data included socioeconomic status, chemistry course-taking rates, and passing rates on the statewide high-stakes chemistry exam. Analysis revealed that more than half of public secondary schools in New York State had isolated chemistry teachers, and they were concentrated in urban schools and had less professional teaching experience. When examining the chemistry performance of students of isolated teachers in a multivariable model, it was determined that school-level socioeconomic status, chemistry-taking ratio, certification type, and professional age were predictors, accounting for 27% of the variance in scores. Results were consistent with mediation analyses indicating both teacher professional age and school test-taking ratio mediated the relationship between socioeconomic status and chemistry passing rate, suggesting that teaching experience and chemistry course-taking rates mitigated the effects of poverty on student chemistry performance. These findings have implications for education policy makers indicating that teacher preparation and induction programs should be re-examined to address: (1) teaching chemistry in isolation and (2) the relationships among school conditions, chemistry teacher retention, and high school chemistry students’ achievement.

Adopting a Janus perspective: moving forwards and backwards through our teacher professional experiences

ABSTRACTThe paper reports on collaborative journal writing and dialogue sustained by two education professionals with a view to engaging in meaningful reflective practice. The transition from journal writing to reporting in this paper was underpinned by knowledge of the place of reflective practice in teacher education and continuous professional development. Knowledge of the limited opportunities and time for meaningful continuous professional development, as experienced across the education sector, also informed a desire to share the writing experience with a view to encouraging other teachers to develop writing communities. As teacher educators, we relate how we came to write together and sustained a dialogue that provided us with newly framed insights into our professional lives and experiences. Our journalling told our stories and was very much in the spirit of evocative autoethnography. We describe how we naturally included sensory description related to the time and place of writing. We also used more evocative language, including the use of metaphors. Themes of critical reflection, reflexivity, embodied reflection and evocative autoethnography are therefore explored in the light of our writing experience. The journals and the associated dialogue highlight the values of such small and time constrained moments as informal professional development opportunities.

A Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) approach to pre-service teacher professional experiences in Australia: organisational friendships

ABSTRACTThis study explored how students (pre-service teachers) benefit from the support of having a peer with them during their first professional experience in preschool contexts, utilising a PAL (Peer Assisted Learning) approach. International students at a large Australian University were interviewed as part of this qualitative study. We found that peer engagement facilitated the development of friendships and social support among participants. Discussion is situated within a sociological framework of organisational friendship. This study extends conceptions of organisational friendships beyond managerial imperatives and peer relationships are highlighted as supportive, not competitive, engagements. The PAL approach highlights the benefit of collaborative professional learning.

TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES: CHALLENGES, PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Teaching a foreign language for specific purposes concentrates on the specific needs of the learners, focusing more on language in context and on the course participants` need to acquire a set of professional skills and particular job-related functions. The process of teaching foreign languages in a professional higher education institution is a unique and differs in many aspects, it is directed and addresses immediate and very specific needs, moreover the trend of educational paradigm nowadays is the competency building approach which in turn involves the development of learners` ability to apply existing knowledge and skills in order to solve specific practical work –related problems. The paper is the result of personal professional teaching experience as well as it contains theoretical analysis of teaching foreign language for specific purposes as well as authors reveal the current challenges that teachers encounter in the process of teaching language for specific purposes in the State Border Guard College of the Republic of Latvia.

The ‘foreign’ language teacher: negotiating the culture of a school when unfamiliar with the language of instruction

This article examines and theorises the experiences of 12 primary pre-service teachers at an Australian university, undertaking a two week professional teaching experience in Bangkok. This qualitative ethnographic study of our students’ and to some extent our own experiences draws on interviews, questionnaires and observations from the students, as well as reflective notes from two participating supervisors, and sets out to account for and understand the sources of the achievements and frustrations experienced by our pre-service teachers. The findings illustrate differences between the students’ overseas experiences and Australian-based experiences. These differences include organisational structures, teacher mentoring and cultural understandings, and the effects these had on the students. In particular, we distinguish the more readily observable structural nature of the schools in which the pre-service teachers were teaching, and the less visible cultural aspects that underlie these structures. We propose ways of helping students, as part of pre-departure briefings, to become more aware of these cultural underpinnings, with a view to helping them become more at ease negotiating intercultural workplaces.

Perspectivas teóricas para la educación ambiental en básica secundaria. Teoría y práctica

El presente artículo expone los antecedentes y conclusiones de una propuesta en Educación Ambiental —EA— sustentada en referentes teóricos que pueden enmarcar procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje en esta disciplina en básica secundaria, todo ello después de la revisión y el análisis riguroso de la didáctica en educación complementada con la experiencia profesional docente. Para poner en escena este marco conceptual se plantean y desarrollan actividades dentro del Proyecto Ambiental Escolar —PRAE— de la IED Ignacio Pescador como una manera de poner en práctica la teoría analizada. De este modo se logran resultados que validan el marco de referencia propuesto para producir conocimiento sobre la teoría didáctica —la cual va dirigida a formadores profesionales docentes que acompañarán el proceso de enseñanza de la EA en las instituciones educativas de básica secundaria— y el proceso de construcción de conocimiento en el alumnado.

Just add hours? An assessment of pre-service teachers’ perception of the value of professional experience in attaining teacher competencies

ABSTRACTThis study compared pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their professional competencies at two campuses of a large regional teacher education university, where one campus provided students 22% more hours of professional placement in schools and related educational settings. Students who had experienced more hours in schools and such settings were more positive about their, ability to apply their knowledge of students and how they learn, classroom management, professional knowledge and practice, and community engagement; however, when students felt well supported during professional experience, such differences diminished. Additional hours were not associated with pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their ability to apply subject content and teaching; plan, assess and report; and effective student communication. Researchers argued that this pointed to the crucial role of good classroom mentors in teacher professional experience but also the value of students’ tertiary teacher education in preparing them for classroom teaching.

Educação Especial, Educação Inclusiva e Pedagogia da Diversidade: Celebrar a diversidade! Exaltar a tolerância! Notabilizar o respeito! Proclamar a solidariedade!

Na articulação da Educação Especial com a Educação Inclusiva, este artigo objetiva problematizar como a Pedagogia da Diversidade tem perpassado a formação continuada das professoras e as práticas curriculares ditas inclusivas na escola contemporânea. A partir dos Estudos Foucaultianos em Educação e dos Estudos Culturais, a materialidade analítica constitui-se por relatos da obra “Atendimento Educacional Especializado no Brasil: relatos da experiência profissional de professores e sua formação”, derivada do Curso de Aperfeiçoamento/Extensão em Atendimento Educacional Especializado, ofertado por uma universidade pública do sul do país, na Rede Nacional de Formação Continuada de Professores na Educação Especial. Nessa materialidade analítica, o direito à educação reveste-se como direito à educação da diversidade, e este direito potencializa as operações do Atendimento Educacional Especializado na escola dita inclusiva. Nesse contexto, a Política Nacional de Educação Especial na Perspectiva da Educação Inclusiva aciona o preparo para o acolhimento e o trato da diversidade, de modo a intensificar a formação continuada das professoras, em detrimento da formação inicial, e produzir a informação, a opinião, a generalização, a rapidez e o pragmatismo do atual serviço da Educação Especial nesses cursos de aperfeiçoamento/extensão. Celebrar a diversidade! Exaltar a tolerância! Notabilizar o respeito! Proclamar a solidariedade! Por meio da tríade da tolerância, do respeito e da solidariedade, essa formação continuada e as práticas curriculares na escola dita inclusiva produzem modos de sociabilidade plurais, inclusivos no registro da governamentalidade neoliberal.