School-based Teacher Training Research Articles

Challenges and Opportunities for School-Based Teacher Training in Zanzibar

This research delves into the Challenges and Opportunities for School-Based Teacher Training in Zanzibar, employing a comprehensive mixed-methods approach. The study engages both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, incorporating questionnaires and interviews to gather insights from 110 participants. The sample comprises teachers actively participating in the program, head teachers, and program facilitators, selected through random and purposive sampling methods. Utilizing interviews for head teachers and facilitators, and questionnaires for teachers, the data collection process was meticulous. The quantitative data underwent analysis through statistical software, while qualitative analysis deciphered insights from the interviews. The results underscore overwhelmingly positive perceptions regarding the program's impact, as 95.6% of respondents expressed strong support. Significantly, 51.1% highlighted the imperative to prioritize teaching methodology and assessment methods, while 45.5% advocated for the integration of ICT into teaching practices. However, the research also unveiled challenges faced by the program, including financial constraints, inadequate teaching aids and equipment, and deficiencies in facilitator skills. The study puts forth actionable recommendations, emphasizing the necessity for needs-based training programs, continuous development for facilitators, and augmented budget allocation for materials, technology, and participant allowances. These improvements aim to fortify the efficacy and sustainability of school-based teacher training programs in Zanzibar.

Factors Influencing the Acceptance of Mobile Collaborative Learning for the Continuous Professional Development of Teachers

The COVID-19 epidemic has not only triggered a worldwide health catastrophe, it has also affected learning processes all over the world. While COVID-19 was in its initial wave of transmission, educational systems around the world witnessed bitter experiences in the form of the closure of institutes or a shift to distance (or online) learning techniques. The delivery of quality education was affected the most where the educational system was already weak due to the unavailability of effective teachers’ professional development programs and the lack of the integration of technology. This study extends the conventional continuous professional development (CPD) model of in-service teachers adopted in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. The extensions are based on the integration of mobile technology and support for collaborative learning and ongoing assistance, which are missed in the current traditional model. To assess the acceptance and use of the app, an Mobile collaborative learning (MCL) based CPD acceptance framework is designed by combining chosen components from a generally recognized Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) and other well-recognized acceptance models for the acceptance and use of the technology. In the context of CPD, a total of 14 constructs have been selected which include performance expectancy; effort expectancy; facilitating conditions; hedonic motivation; mobility; knowledge acquisition; content and information quality; on-the-job support; reward; behavioral intention; engagement; interactivity with peer & experts; self-management and collaborative learning. Based on these constructs; a total of 13 hypotheses were developed with 55 measurement items. A total of 494 teachers participated in a two-week training session using the designed app. Based on the activity, a questionnaire was designed and distributed among the participants using WhatsApp groups during the academic year of 2021–2022. Out of 494 participants; 472 participants correctly filled in the questionnaires, which were selected for analysis. The data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 21; and, for Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis, IBM AMOS version 21 was used. According to the results, all thirteen hypotheses were found statistically significant showing the positive impact on the acceptance and use of the CPD app. The results of this study promote teachers’ and experts’ engagement and participation in CPD activities which not only improve the knowledge and skills of the learners but also impact their long-term professional development and success. This research may help the teachers’ training and related institutions to make better choices and develop a mobile collaborative learning system for school-based teacher support and training programs. As a basis, this study may also be used in other provinces of Pakistan and beyond to make it a CPD standard.

School-Based Practices and Preservice Teacher Beliefs About Urban Teaching and Learning

ABSTRACT Researchers have long recognized the importance of what teachers need to know, be able to do, and how their beliefs influence their professional decision making and practices. We also know that context matters in clinical practice. The purpose of this study is to explore the nuance between practice, belief, and context. We examine whether change in preservice teacher (PT) beliefs about teaching diverse populations occurred while in a school-based teacher preparation program. The teacher preparation program under study is a one-year post-baccalaureate alternative certification program targeting school-based teacher training through school-university partnerships. Interview notes and transcriptions of PTs’ thoughts on urban teaching and learning were qualitatively analyzed and compared using a matched-case design. We found that the purposeful theoretical and pedagogical framework used in the teacher preparation program (in this case, culturally responsive teaching [CRT]) provides PTs with a tool to direct their teaching during school-based practices and a lens to learn with while engaging in school-based practices. Learning with and through CRT filters supports PTs’ increased awareness in sociopolitical factors forging feelings of hope and agency. The study builds on research supporting the use of clinical practices and the importance of nurturing effective teacher dispositions for urban teaching and learning.

Mechanisms of the tailoring workshops for teacher sustainable development: A case study of a middle school in Shanghai1

Tailoring workshop (TW), a school-based teacher training program, has been developed in China on the basis of the Teaching Research Groups (TRGs) to better focus on teacher’s genuine needs, improve their problem-solving ability, and inter-subject collaboration. Literature on teacher workshops predominately roots in western settings whereas scant attention has been paid to those in Asian contexts, especially China. Therefore, a qualitative method was performed with teachers from a middle school in Shanghai to unveil how the TWs were formed, conducted, and how they functioned effectively. Drawing on Dewey’s pragmatic theory as the analysis framework, the findings yielded a formation process with four stages and examined the mechanisms in four dimensions, namely, dynamics mechanism, organizational structure, role of teachers, and learning mechanism. The study argues that, the TWs prioritize teacher’s genuine needs and problems encountered in practice, encourage teachers to identify problems, seek resources and conduct research with collective wisdom for resolutions. These features make it significantly different from the traditional TRGs with ‘top-down’ approach and other training programs in reliance upon short-lived, external lectures. The TW mode, in this sense, can be deemed a promising endeavor to facilitate teacher’s sustainable development in echoing the ever-changing education domain.

The Effects of a Site-based Teacher Professional Development Program on Student Learning

This study investigates, through a mixed method design, the effectiveness of a professional development program on teacher knowledge and student learning in order to systematically improve student achievement in elementary literacy. A large urban school district partnered with a local university to provide intervention in a Title 1, low-performing elementary school. Measures included teacher knowledge and practices based on surveys, classroom observation, and student achievement data. Teachers self-reported their perspectives on school-based teacher training in terms of its significance, requirements, challenges, and possible solutions to teacher training. Schools were selected based on their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in reading/ language arts’ status. Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is a measurement defined by the United States federal No Child Left Behind Act that allows the U.S. Department of Education to determine how every public school and school district in the country is performing academically according to results on standardized tests. The collaboration effort involved supporting the school’s goal of enhancing reading, language arts, and math achievement of students by providing interventions targeted towards grades 4 and 5.

Teacher self-efficacy and its sources in physical education teaching training experiences

During initial training, aspiring teachers should learn how to deal with the high cognitive, emotional and behavioral demands generated by teaching. At the same time, they need to develop and strengthen their personal belief that they will be capable of handling said challenges. In the physical education context, these demands can be even more challenging, given the environment and conditions in which classes are taught. This study aimed to analyze teacher self-efficacy belief as to teaching physical education, and its construction from situations experienced during school-based teacher training. A total of 87 future teachers (54% women; average age = 21.8) from a public university in the state of São Paulo completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). To describe sources of teacher self-efficacy, reflective portfolios composed as the final product of a supervised internship were analyzed. The student teachers showed moderate to high self-efficacy belief, which was primarily supported by teaching experiences and verbal persuasions. The relevance of teacher self-efficacy for teacher training, particularly in physical education early training processes, is discussed.

The religious and worldview dimension of intercultural education: the Council of Europe’s contribution

ABSTRACTThis article traces the Council of Europe’s work on teaching about religions and non-religious worldviews, regarded as an important contributor to intercultural education. It explains why studies of religions came late in the Council of Europe’s educational work and traces the development of a project which led to a Recommendation from its Committee of Ministers on teaching about religions and non-religious worldviews. It summarises follow-up work by the Council of Europe and the European Wergeland Centre, which led to the publication of Signposts. It outlines new research on themes identified in Signposts and discusses the relationship between intercultural education and studies of religions, in the context of the Council of Europe and responds to criticisms of its work. An account of the development of a new teacher training module, based on Signposts, is given. The module can be adapted for use in Council of Europe member states and in different settings, including university and school-based teacher training. An account is given of the work of the module’s writing group, its structure and chapters, the piloting undertaken and how it could develop. Finally, this article introduces the concept of ‘dialogical liberalism’, aiming to promote dialogue and discussion, rather than imposing equality.

School-based Teacher Training in Jordan: Towards On-school Sustainable Professional Development

Abstract Despite the challenges to develop school-based sustainable teacher training and development and the diverse demands to execute this type of teacher professionalism to achieve sustainable teacher development, this new trend seems indispensable both for Jordanian teacher education and many other similar world educational systems. The present qualitative study robustly relied on a set of self-reports developed by 12 doctoral students who took a teacher education course at the University of Jordan in the second semester, 2017. They self-reported on their perspectives on school-based teacher training in terms of its significance, requirements, challenges and possible solutions to develop this route to teacher training in a country which like several other educational systems worldwide was dominated by an academic theory-based route to teacher preparation and qualification. Their self-reports were analysed and their patterns concerning the reasons behind adherence to school-based teacher training and the facilities to promote it and the challenges for school based teacher training were collected and meticulously probed. The findings of the study noticeably advocate school-based teacher training as a major route to teacher training. The participants of the study obviously considered this training route a method to transfer training experience to the teachersí classroom instruction. Some recommendations were proposed calling for adopting this new training approach and conducting further research in this emerging paradigm.

Beginning teachers’ perceptions of mentors and access to communities of practice

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore beginning teachers’ perceptions of the role of the mentor in the early stages of developing a professional identity. The beginning teachers in the authors’ study are defined as having been awarded qualified teacher status at the end of an initial teacher education programme or having completed their first term as a new teacher with responsibility for a class of pupils. Design/methodology/approach The research design was a qualitative, inductive study. The concepts of communities of practice, legitimate peripheral participation and power dynamics within a community underpinned this study. The data set was collected over a period of 18 months, through six focus groups and 40 questionnaires with beginning teachers across 34 schools altogether. The data set was analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). Findings The findings indicated that the ways in which mentors use their power to recognise (or not) the legitimacy of beginning teachers as being part of the school community influences the development of beginning teachers’ professional identities. The thematic analysis of the data indicated the different types of support that mentors may provide: “belonging”, “emotional”, “pedagogical” and “space”. Research limitations/implications Further research into how mentors perceive their role in supporting new entrants into the profession is needed. Originality/value These findings are pertinent in England, as the increase in school-based initial teacher training provision will intensify the role of school mentors. These findings will be of value to other countries that are moving towards an increase in school-based teacher training.

香港培训科组主任领导力的经验

作为学校中层的科组主任，是一个多角色的混合体，既要教学，又要管理和领导科组，但却得不到相关的职前培训，故有些香港学科组主任在管理和领导上会感到力不从心。加上，很多学校每年都有新晋升的科组主任，提供有效培训以支持中层人员的管理和领导力成长，已成为香港教育界持续关注的内容。香港初等教育研究学会于2012至2013年获优质教育基金拨款推行“提升小学科组主任的领导力”计划，目的是向科组主任提供系统培训、校本诊断、校本教师培训、友校参观和行动学习等专业活动，以提升他们领导科组的能力，从而优化其科组管理和促进校务发展。这篇文章的主旨是回顾上述香港专业发展计划的经验，并从剖析计划历程中显示参与科组主任在专业社群学习的成长。 As a middle manager of school, subject-head is a mixture of more than one role, and not only has teaching tasks, but also needs to manage and lead the team, but they lack of related pre-service training so that many subject-heads feel powerless in the management and leadership. In addition, there are many newly subject-heads of schools every year, so providing effective training to support the management and leadership for the growth of middle managers has got sustained attention from Hong Kong’s education sector. “Enhancing the Leadership of Subject-Heads in Primary Schools” Program, which was funded by the Quality Education Fund in 2012-2013, has been implemented by Hong Kong Primary Education Research Association, which aims to provide professional development to subject-heads through systematic training, school-based diagnosis, school-based teacher training, schools visits and the action learning, to enhance their ability to lead team and manage the development of the subject. This article reflects the learning process of the participative subject-heads within this program and shares the experience of professional development in Hong Kong schools.

Mentoring student teachers; a vulnerable workplace learning practice

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of mentoring as a workplace process. The mentees are post-graduate student teachers hosted in placement schools. The research aims to explore the experiences of key participants in a policy context where the role and scale of school-based teacher training is expanding rapidly.Design/methodology/approach– This is an interpretative case study of mentoring practices assigned to a secondary level initial teacher training partnership, with the mentors being subject teachers working in school departments which host post-graduate student teachers. The case study was investigated over two years and included focus groups, interviews, questionnaires and content analysis. Participants were student teachers, their mentors and both school-based and university-based tutors.Findings– Positive experiences of mentoring are not universal. Mentoring interacts with the required processes of monitoring and reporting and in some cases the power structures associated with these processes conflict with the less performative aspects. However, when mentors are offered evidence of student teachers’ perceptions and theoretical constructs of mentoring as practice they can start to recognise that it can be enhanced.Practical implications– The quality of mentoring in initial teacher education will take on even greater significance in jurisdictions, such as England, where the role of workplace learning is strengthened as a result of changes of government policy.Originality/value– The outcomes of this study will be relevant to policy makers, school-based mentors and system leaders for teacher education – whether school or university based.

Rethinking Research in Teacher Education

ABSTRACTThe expansion of school-based teacher training is impacting on the practice of universities, schools and trainees. University tutors and managers were interviewed on how they experienced working in partnership with schools and how this impacted on the composition of their work. They variously reported on how their sense of professional purpose had been challenged as a result of changing expectations. Their involvement in research is used as a barometer for these changes. The teacher educators are depicted as wavering between governmental regulation (master discourse) and professional imperatives (university discourse), where the latter comprise an uneasy alliance of expertise in school and academic rigour. Through depicting the unsettlement of practice and accounts of it (hysteric discourse), the study points to possible resolutions that might be achieved through more systematic resistance to external demands (analytic discourse). The university teacher educator identity results from attempted resolution of these conflicting demands.

The selfish giant: narration and language instruction in a multicultural pre-primary class as a model for teacher change and development

Within the framework of multicultural education, a school-based teacher training program was implemented in a public preschool in Nicosia, Cyprus, where a large number of migrant pupils were enrolled. The main goal of the program was to create a basis for reflection and interaction among the teaching staff about issues related to the social and learning development of migrant pupils. The approach was based on a model for teacher change which focuses on enactment and reflection. Specific methodological aspects were applied in a session related to language instruction, which was carried out and observed by the school teaching staff. The main conclusion was that most of the migrant pupils reacted positively: they played an active role and their participation increased. This teacher training program enabled the teachers to realize how they, as professionals, are influenced by their own experiences and they also recognized the limits of their competences and expertise.

School-based Teacher Training and the Development of Literacy in Low-achieving Schools

School-based Teacher Training and the Development of Literacy in Low-achieving Schools

Agency and conformity in school-based teacher training

Concern has been expressed that the current climate in schools militates against trainee teachers’ self-directed development. This article explores the issue of trainees’ capacity for self-direction through the analysis of interviews with 32 trainees, investigating their perceived proactive social strategies. Three proactive strategies were identified: ‘tactical compliance’, personalising advice, and seeking out opportunities to exercise control. It is argued that these strategies are indicative of trainees’ drive to establish a personal teaching identity through self-directed development and the creation of individual development agendas. The article concludes by emphasising the importance of the development of proactive social skills in beginning teachers.

Learning from School-based Teacher Training: Possibilities and constraints for experienced teachers

This article presents findings from a study of teachers' development conducted in a large English 'comprehensive' school during a period of intense educational reform. In particular, it considers the ways in which experienced teachers contributed to and claimed benefit from a new national system of school-based initial teacher training (ITT). In addition to outlining the professional development possibilities for experienced teachers involved in school-based ITT, the article highlights a range of factors that appeared to constrain this development. By drawing on the English experience, the paper considers the implications of recent Danish policy related to school-focused teacher education, both in terms of the potential benefits for experienced teachers from involvement in such training, as well as more generally in terms of the quality and appropriateness of such forms of teacher preparation.

Mentors' Perceptions of Their Roles in School-based Teacher Training in England and Germany

This research project is located in the present context of raising standards in initial teacher training. It is designed to identify similarities and differences in the way in which teachers perceive themselves in the role of 'mentor' in school-based teacher training in England and Germany. The aim of this study is to compare and evaluate concepts and procedures in mentoring with reference to the cultural and structural framework determining each setting. It focuses on the mentor's role in terms of 'adviser', 'trainer', 'partner', 'friend', 'assessor' and examines the extent to which these aspects of mentoring influence the development of beginning teachers. Following a qualitative approach, data collection took place by means of questionnaires and recorded interviews. By giving mentors their own voice in the form of direct speech statements, the data represent a range of individual perspectives. Aspects of similarity and difference between the two systems are used to raise generic as well as culturally specific issues and are discussed in relation to one another and to other research findings. Through the evaluation of the different approaches to mentoring it is hoped that further insights and a deeper understanding of the mechanisms involved can be gained.

Learning to Teach or Learning to Manage Mentors? Experiences of school-based teacher training

In the late 1990s teachers acting as mentors play a key role in initial teacher training (ITT). This article reports the findings of a study which examined student teachers' perceptions of 'good' practice in mentoring. Given that certain parallels have been drawn between the nineteenth-century pupil-teacher scheme and school-based ITT, the work of Lave and Wenger (1991) who see apprenticeship as central to learning was used as a framework for analysing the data. The study highlighted the significance of the affective in student teachers' school-based learning. But it also highlighted the significance of the affective in mentors' practice: e.g. mentors' feelings of vulnerability. The way in which students responded to mentors in this respect - how far they were able to 'manage' their mentors - ultimately contributed to the success of students' placements. The article concludes that the possession of mentoring skills alone will not guarantee that students receive appropriate support.

The National SCITT

This paper describes a new national programme aimed at placing highly-qualified students in the best schools in the country for the whole of their primary PGCE training year. Students on this scheme are members of the National SCITT (school-centred initial teacher training) in Outstanding Primary Schools programme. The National SCITT is focused on four main functions: primarily the preparation of new teachers, but in the course of this work staff development for all partners, inquiry directed towards the improvement of practice, and the continous improvement of learning for the children in SCITT schools. The paper sets out the arguments for school-based teacher training and relates those arguments to the National SCITT.

New Qualifying Requirements for the Mentoring of Student Teachers in the Netherlands

SUMMARY In 1997, courses at Dutch teacher education institutes were changed so that students nearing completion of their courses are now expected to teach without immediate supervision over a period of a few months. The introduction of this more school-based teacher training has been introduced to minimise the ‘practice shock’ that the beginning teacher (ieraar in opleiding--hereafter lio) often experience. This paper describes a study of 83 mentors and 12 institute teachers on the consequences of this change for the content as well as the process of mentoring of students in the final stages of their teacher education.