Small Group Of Teachers Research Articles

The impact and career implications of an in‐service course for teachers

Abstract This study explores the feelings of a small group of teachers about a one‐year, full‐time, Diploma course from September 1985 to July 1986. The focus is on the impact of participation on their personal and professional development. Given that the impact or outcome of any new learning experience cannot be tied to specific time limits, the research is longitudinal. A series of interviews was conducted with the course members ‐immediately after the course finished; 6 months later; and, finally, 18 months later. Interviews were semi‐structured and conversational. The investigator had worked with the teachers as a course tutor and had established a close relationship with them. From the course members’ experiences and a review of allied research, it is argued that the value of in‐service provision is closely related to the extent to which participants are able and encouraged to use their experiences in their professional, working lives. The extent to which these experiences are used was closely relate...

The formation of a scholar: the stages on my way

Richard Walzer was born in Germany in 1900. After studying at the University of Berlin he taught philosophy there as a Privatdozent. He married Sofie, daughter of the well-known art publisher Bruno Cassirer, and in 1933, when the advent of Hitler to power began to create difficulties, they went to Rome, where he taught and pursued research in classical and Islamic philosophy, until once more discrimination against Jews compelled them to leave. They came to Oxford, where Richard became lecturer (in 1945) and later Reader (in 1960) in Arabic and Greek philosophy. He was a Fellow of St Catherine's College from 1962 until his retirement in 1970, and then an Emeritus Fellow. From 1956 he was a Fellow of the British Academy. In spite of the disturbances to his life and career caused by the political events of his time, he was able to finish and publish a considerable amount of research: editions of works by Heraclitus and Aristotle, two volumes of the Plato Arabus, edited with Franz Rosenthal and Paul Kraus respectively, two editions of books by Galen (On Medical Experience and On Jews and Christians), a volume of essays on the history of Arabic philosophy (Greek into Arabic), and a series of lectures on its earlier development, given at the College de France (L'eveil de la philosophie islamique). His major work, an edition and translation of al-Farabi's al-Mad7na al-fddila, with a commentary, was published after his death as Al-Farabi on the Perfect State. There is a bibliography of his published works in the Festschrift which was presented to him on his 70th birthday: Islamic Philosophy and the Classical Tradition, edited by S.M. Stern, A. Hourani and V. Brown (Oxford, Bruno Cassirer, 1972). A brief biography and an assessment of his work, written by D.A. Russell, appeared in the Proceedings of the British Academy, 73 (1987), 705-710. The talk which is here published was given to the Near East History Group at Oxford in March 1967. This was a small group of teachers of Islamic and Middle Eastern subjects which met regularly to discuss books and topics in Islamic history and to arrange occasional conferences. We invited Richard to talk to us about the way in which he became an Islamic scholar, and I have a memory of a dimly-lit room in All Souls' College (probably Samuel Stern's room), and of Richard holding his typescript very close to his eyes and reading from it in a firm, clear voice which expressed something of the deep feelings which the memory of his life and of his teachers aroused in him. I came across the typescript recently. He must have sent it to me; it is marked 'Please return some time', but it is clear that I never returned it. I think it is worth publishing now, a quarter of a century later, not only because it will bring back a memory of Richard Walzer to those who knew him, but also because it conveys, expressed in moving language, two lessons of permanent value. One of them is that of the importance of the connection between Greek and Islamic

Some Memories and Reminiscences of NAGT's Early Years

NAGT traces its beginnings to the late 1930s, when a small group of teachers in midwest colleges organized an “Association of College Geology Teachers.” As membership came to include teachers at universities and secondary schools, the word “college” was deleted from the organization's name (1946). Eventually, teachers in all parts of the country joined the Society, and, in 1958, its name was changed to “National Association of Geology Teachers.” Early plans for regional subdivisions were implemented in 1950 with the formation of an Eastern Section. Currently there are eleven regional sections. Since 1951 the national meetings have been held in conjunction with the annual meetings of the Geological Society of America. Similarly, some regional meetings of both NAGT and GSA have been scheduled together. Publication of the Journal of Geological Education was begun in April, 1951.

Interactie-Analyse en Onderwijsvernieuwing

Within the study of interaction in the classroom we might distinguish three perspectives: a linguistic one, one that is related to schoolpolitics and a practical one. Linguists often tend to concentrate only on the linguistic perspective. To restore the balance, in this contribution I'll lay stress on the practical perspective, while the schoolpolitical perspective will figure as significant context. With a "practical perspective" on the analysis of classroom interaction I do not mean to offer a list of instructions which teachers can (or must) apply in their classroom prac-tice, but to create the possibility for teachers to have a meaningful reflection at their own lessons. How this can be done I'll try to show by discussing some aspects of the so called "Paulusproject", a curriculum innovation project which emphazises the role of language in learning processes. Successsively attention will be paid to: - the backgrounds, aims and practice of the Paulusproject: At the St.Pauluslyceum in Tilburg a small group of tea-chers has developped during the last 7 years several pro-grams for various subjects (like history and biology) for pupils of the 7-th form (12,13 years old). In those programs one has tried to achieve an integration of subject teaching and language teaching. the way in which the profeet teachers reflect at their own practice: In the Paulusproject curriculum development has always been closely related to the reflection at the existing classroom practice. This reflection has been made possible by team teaching(a biologist and an Enlish teacher working together in one and the same lesson) and by re-cording the lessons on videotape. In general meetings the project teachers watched these videotapes and made "explorative analysis" of lessons. An example will be given of the way teachers used interaction analysis du-ring such a meeting. an example of practice oriented analysis of classroom interaction: Discussing a few fragments from biology lessons I'll try to show what I mean by an 'explorative' analysis. Although from a linguistic point of view such an ana-lysis may have various hooks and eyes, I'll suggest that for the progress of the project it has been of great value: it can be made rather quick by the teachers themselves and it maintains a high level of liveliness. some general conclusions: With reference to the experience we have had in the Pau-lusproject, I'll conclude with some remarks on interaction analysis, curriculum innovation and the description of innovation.

The Counselor's Role in Helping Teachers With Career Education Within an HRD System

The use by counselors of a Human Resources Development (HRD) model for preparing teachers to help in career education is discussed. In‐service workshops for a counselor and a small group of teachers are proposed, and a step by step procedure for implementing the model is presented.

The Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions (1904–14)

The purpose of this essay is to examine the emergence and development, between 1904 and 1914, of the Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions. A main conclusion is that the ATTI, in being mainly concerned with its members' employment interests, was implicitly a trade union despite continual protestations by both officers and members that the Association was a professional body and would not “degenerate into a mere trades union […]. For people of education, like teachers, […] it is wrong to begin at the salary end”. In the first place, therefore, this paper is an investigation into certain aspects of the early history of a white-collar union, in this case the organization whose membership was drawn initially from among a small group of teachers in local authority technical institutes in England at the beginning of this century. Secondly, however, insofar as the technical teachers of this period saw themselves as professional people for whom trade unionism was inappropriate, the case-study also, in passing, illustrates the common conflict over the goals sought by most teachers' organizations at some time during their evolution as to whether they “should be concerned only with professional matters or should also fight for better salaries”.

TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TO EDUCATIONAL CONTROVERSIES

This study is based on the expressed attitudes of practising teachers; it is claimed that this procedure may be more valid than the usual one of testing the attitudes of students or teachers on advanced courses. ‘Educational controversies’ refers to teachers’ attitudes to streaming, 11 plus selection and corporal punishment; scores on these scales were correlated with scores on the Oliver ‘Survey of Opinions’ scales and the ‘Study of Values’ scales. Suggested interpretations of the matrix of relationships are offered. A small group of teachers on a full‐time in‐service course completed the ‘educational controversies’ scales at the start and completion of their course: the scores changed to what is interpreted as a more ‘progressive’ pattern.