Teacher Training Curriculum Research Articles

Foundation phase pre-service teachers’ experiences of teaching life skills during teaching practice

Background: In South Africa socio-economic problems such as poor health conditions, juvenile delinquency, high rates of school dropout and teenage pregnancy are increasing. Therefore, it is vital to prepare foundation phase (FP) pre-service teachers to fortify children with basic life skills (LS) that will help them to cope with real-world challenges and demands. Aim: The study is aimed to explore the experiences of pre-service FPLS teachers during their teaching practice. Setting: This qualitative case study was conducted in the FP department of a teacher-training institution at a South African university. Methods: Twenty final-year pre-service teachers were purposively selected to participate in semi-structured interviews and reflective writing exercises. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data, and the classification of the emerging themes was informed by Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. Results: The findings revealed pre-service teachers’ experience of support from mentors, a struggle with implementation of FP curriculum, realities of classroom interaction, inefficient language of interaction for the FP classroom, and a lack of awareness of the importance of LS as a subject. Conclusion: The study argues that to improve the pedagogy of future LS teachers, a review and reform of the LS teacher-training curriculum are necessary. This curriculum needs to provide more extensive micro-teaching that promotes teachers’ general proficiency in the home languages of their learners and equips them with effective teaching strategies. The implementation of the LS curriculum needs to be regularly evaluated to ensure that these skills are imparted to young learners for their individual benefit and for the benefit of society.

Turkish Parents, Teachers, and Faculty Members Opinions and Experiences on Safety Skills Instruction for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Although sometimes neglected, safety skills instruction should be considered as important a teaching area as others (e.g., self-care, academic, communication skills) because these skills can lead to more independence in a less restrictive environment. The researchers designed this study to reveal the opinions of Turkish parents, teachers, and higher education faculty members regarding safety skills instruction for children with an autism spectrum disorder.They interviewed parents (n = 11), special education teachers (n = 16), and higher education faculty members (n = 11) and analyzed the resulting data descriptively. Findings showed both parents and teachers lacked information about safety skills and how to teach them. Higher education faculty members advised using evidence-based practices in teaching safety skills and stated that safety skills instruction was not covered in the special education teacher training curriculum in the programs in which they taught. Implications and future research needs are discussed.

Digital Teaching Competence Evaluation of Pre-Service Teachers in Spain: A Review Study

Digital teaching competence is one of the main teacher training needs today. However, teacher training curricula show a significant gap in this area. The objective of this study is to carry out a systematic review of scientific articles published between 2011 and 2020 that analyze the digital teaching competence of pre-service teachers who are mainly studying in Spanish universities. The reviewed studies show that there is great heterogeneity in the theoretical frameworks and instruments employed. Pre-service teachers point out that they have certain digital skills, but they lack pedagogical skills to digitally enrich the teaching-learning processes. These aspects present challenges in research, educational policy, and teacher training curriculum development.

大学における家庭科教員養成 カリキュラムの縦断的研究 ―高等学校家庭科教員の教科内容・指導の認識・実態の比較から―

大学における家庭科教員養成 カリキュラムの縦断的研究 ―高等学校家庭科教員の教科内容・指導の認識・実態の比較から―

Müzik öğretmeni yetiştirme programlarının analizi: Müzik alanı ders program tasarılarının yapısı

In this research, 2007 music teacher training program prepared by the Council Higher Education in Turkey and Education Faculty music teacher training program changed under adaptation, quality and accreditation to Bologna process in the field of 2018 European higher education were analysed. In this study characterised as a “field study” regarding the environment it was carried out, “descriptive” in terms of method and specifically “document analysis”, it was investigated to what extent music teacher training curriculum designs complied with program development principles, and relationships regarding courses defined within the scope of the program and the goals of the subject areas of music education. It has been found out that there were not sufficient number of members in the curriculum development committee based on “certain criteria” when amended Music Teacher Program Design was created, and there are contradictions between the scope of the curriculum and definition of courses, and there are significant number of theoretical courses in the curriculum. When examining the goals of courses specified related to the Music Teacher Field, allowing teachers to have in-depth understanding and knowledge on their field, in the four-year program, it was determined that the indicators related to “repeatability”, “permanence” and “progressivity” were very low/poor/insufficient. To conclude, suggestions were made related to the studies on reorganisation, update and amendment of the music teacher training curriculum (2018).

Integration of HIV and AIDS into Primary Curriculum: Teacher Training Curriculum

Integration of HIV and AIDS into Primary Curriculum: Teacher Training Curriculum

Gender Responsive Pedagogy and Early Childhood Teacher Education: A Study of Pre-primary School Teachers in Nairobi County, Kenya

Gender responsive pedagogy, sometimes referred to as gender sensitive or gender flexible pedagogy is a key area recognised in 2015 Sustainable Development Agenda. In this 21st Century, teachers continue to play a key role in the teaching and learning process, while being expected to transmit gendered values, knowledge and skills to learners in the most responsible and appropriate way/s. In addition, pre-primary teachers are charged with the responsibility of caring and rearing children in schools. This means that teacher’s ideas and beliefs whether gendered or not are more likely to impact on the pre-primary school children's lives differently. Since children in their formative years nurture values, attitudes, life skills and virtues given to them by teachers, it means that teachers with gendered knowledge are likely to shape children’s mindset in a positive way. The idea of integrating gender responsive pedagogy in teacher training curriculum is well stipulated in both national and international frameworks. In this paper the author will present and discuss findings of a study done among teachers in public pre-primary schools in Nairobi County. The aim of the current study was to examine the extent to which teachers are grounded on gender pedagogical discourses during their pre-service teacher training programmes. Findings reveal that although majority of pre-primary teachers are aware of gender issues, they seem to have limited knowledge on how to use gender responsive pedagogy. In this era of globalisation and with the introduction of Competency Based Curriculum in Kenya, there is a need to critically re-evaluate teacher’s in-service and pre-service training programmes in order to ascertain proper inclusion of gender related topics, courses or units, a way of facilitating achievement of gender equity and equality.

Os meandros da educação e da aprendizagem em meio à pandemia covid-19: os desafios e as lições

O presente estudo tem por objetivo apresentar as lições que estão surgindo como possíveis ações a serem empreendidas pelos gestores escolares, professores e legisladores de políticas públicas durante o fechamento das escolas devido à Pandemia COVID-19. Os aspectos abordados são do campo da educação, alinhavados com a educação a distância e no aprendizado do alunado nesse período em questão. A abordagem foi qualitativa, com pesquisas documental e bibliográfica como técnicas exploratórias iniciais. A coleta de dados foi via survey on-line, cujo link foi encaminhado às redes sociais deste autor na internet. O artigo está estruturado em quatro seções principais: a primeira trata da metodologia; a seguinte apresenta o quadro teórico; a terceira discute a educação e a pandemia; e a última seção apresenta as análises dos dados levantados. Ao final, as seguintes lições foram destacadas, em especial: (i) os professores não estavam preparados para o ensino remoto; (ii) democratizar o acesso a? internet e conduzir orientações de aprendizado e aulas por meio do uso da televisão aberta, telefone e rádio; (iii) incluir, no Projeto Político Pedagógico e nos currículos, alternativas de ensino, aprendizagem e avaliação para um período escolar anormal; (iv) avaliar as Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais e os currículos de formação dos professores com a inclusão de disciplinas obrigatórias ligadas a tecnologias educacionais; e (v) rever os marcos regulatórios da EAD para sua utilização na educação básica. A passagem das atividades formais e presenciais para a virtual, infere-se que trará diversas consequências, em especial deverá haver aumento nas desigualdades educacionais.

ОТРАЖЕНИЕ ТАКСОНОМИИ СВЯЗЕЙ ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКОЙ ТЕОРИИ И ПРАКТИКИ В ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЙ ПОДГОТОВКЕ БУДУЩЕГО УЧИТЕЛЯ

On the basis of the conducted histri-semantic and morphological analysis of the scientific concepts of modern pedagogy «method», «methodology», «methodology», «technique» and «technology» their correlation is considered in the article, which allows to expand the ideas about the relationship of pedagogical theory and pedagogical practice. The author proposes the idea of a taxonomic approach to establishing the structure and unity of the pedagogical theory and practice of organizing the educational process. The taxonomic units which pairwise establish the interrelation of pedagogical theory and practical pedagogical activity at different levels of hierarchical co-subordination are revealed. These include: methodology — technology; method — technique; method — method of creative self-realization of a teacher in professional activity. It is shown how the theoretical scientific preparedness of an educator is reflected in the teacher's mastery at different stages of its development. The possibilities of taking into account the hierarchical structure of interrelationships of pedagogical theory and pedagogical practice in perfecting the content and structure of general pedagogical training of a future teacher, expressed in the State educational standards of higher professional education in pedagogical specialties are revealed. The taxonomic model of the curriculum of teacher training, taking into account its hierarchical structure and level interrelationships of theoretical and practical professional training of a future teacher is proposed. The scientific conclusions of the article contributes to finding the keys to solving some of the methodological issues of modern pedagogy associated with the problems of development of the scientific apparatus of modern pedagogy, as well as contributing to the solution of problems associated with the practical organization of teacher training. The scientific article is addressed to scientific and practical workers of education, students of specialized secondary and higher educational institutions, all those interested in the modern problems of pedagogical science and educational practice.

Opening Black-Box of Teaching-Practice: Pre-service Teachers’ Learning from the Hidden Curriculum Perspective

The main purpose of the study is to reveal the hidden learning-outcomes gained through teaching practice of pre-service teachers regarding hidden curriculum (HC) perspective. After a nine-week teaching practice course, the pre-service teachers (n=11) attended to a single case study. An interview related to their in-class learning experiences was implemented. Finally, based on the HC, a deductive content analysis was conducted. Results indicated that totally 11 learning themes were determined. Even though themes have a complex structure on their own, they explicitly show that hidden learning outcomes reflect three basic learning domains as “learning to learn (LL)”, “learning the profession (LP)” and “learning to be an expert (LBE)”. As a conclusion, the results have been discussed in terms of HC, teachers’ professional development, the teaching profession, metacognition, and official teacher training curriculum (OTTC) perspectives.

Research and practice of teacher training curriculum: Aiming to build an effective relationship between subject content and subject education

Research and practice of teacher training curriculum: Aiming to build an effective relationship between subject content and subject education

Utilization of ICT for maximizing learning outcomes of practical sports courses in a physical education teacher training curriculum

Utilization of ICT for maximizing learning outcomes of practical sports courses in a physical education teacher training curriculum

Prácticas de acompañamiento de profesores tutores en carreras de pedagogía: análisis de los dispositivos de aseguramiento y certificación de la calidad de los aprendizajes terminales

In the last 25 years, the traditional theoretical, academic, and disciplinary education has given way to theoretical-practical and pedagogical perspectives and orientations that have been strongly incorporated in the curriculum of initial teacher education, positioning the practical training as one of the key components. On the other hand, within the framework of the System of Quality Assurance and the accreditation processes, the graduation profiles and the learnings proposed in it, have become the focus of attention, stressing the coherency of the study plans and formative experiences regarding the expected achievements. This study investigates how training at the final practicum dialogues with the assurance and certification of the learning involved in the graduate profiles of teacher education programs. To achieve this objective, an exploratory-descriptive and comprehensive research approach was used, with a multiple case studies design that delves into twelve teacher programs at two universities in central Chile. The results report: limited presence of practical activities in teacher training curriculum which does not exceed 10%; a peripheral, ambiguous and overloaded role of final practice tutors; the meetings of the student in practice with the tutor mainly address idiosyncratic topics; the accompaniment that the tutor gives the student in practice translates into a constant presence at school.

Efficacy of Teachers’ In‐Service Training for Increasing Their Knowledge of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Eastern Region, Saudi Arabia

The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a training programme in increasing teachers’ knowledge of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia. The sample comprised 124 teachers from schools in the said region, and these teachers were divided into two groups: (1) experimental group with 62 teachers and (2) control group with 62 teachers. The quasi-experimental approach was employed for collecting data; the Cognitive Awareness Scale of ADHD (Melhem, 2020) was also employed. It consists of 37 items distributed into three domains, namely, general knowledge, characteristics and diagnosis and treatment. Results revealed that the effectiveness of the training programme in increasing teachers’ ADHD knowledge was in favour of the experimental group. Moreover, no statistically significant differences were observed in the increase of the levels of ADHD knowledge amongst the teachers in the experimental group due to the variable of teaching experience. That is, the levels of ADHD knowledge of teachers from the experimental group are the same according to their teaching experience. In sum, the training programme significantly increased the levels of ADHD knowledge of teachers from the experimental group. Moreover, educational institutions in Saudi Arabia should include ADHD training programmes in teacher-training curricula in Saudi Arabia.

Online language teacher training – Challenges and new perspectives

As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, the education sector faced a major challenge, struggling to provide continuity by shifting to online teaching and learning. This study presents the process of the shift to online teaching and practice in language teacher training, working with a group of translation and interpretation students enrolled in a teacher training programme as well. With the help of an interview, we asked our students to reflect on their personal experience related to the following issues: advantages and disadvantages of online and offline language teaching; eventual changes in student autonomy; changes in the role of the teacher; future perspectives of language teaching following the shift to online education; and the difficulties they encountered in this period. We intend to use the results in designing an up-to-date curriculum for language teacher training, considering possible paradigm shifts in language teaching in the near future. Keywords: Online, language teaching; blended learning; adaptive learning; teacher training.

Research on home economics teacher training curriculum that approaches general-purpose skills by focusing on the essence of the subjects

Home Economics is a mandatory subject in Japanese schools. While the subject teaches valuable life skills, few understand the significance and the science behind this important topic. Professor Akiko Suzuki from the Graduate School of Our Humanities and Social Sciences at Hiroshima University, believes in the value of developing and teaching Home Economics in schools to prepare the children of today for the challenges of tomorrow. Akiko has been working on the curriculum for training Home Economics teachers at the University. In such an uncertain global environment, with the home becoming the centre of not only family life, but also work life, Home Economics is even more important than ever before. Suzuki believes that, through this work, her team can have a big impact on improving and supporting teacher training to provide students with lifelong skills and competencies.

Bringing Entrepreneurship into Visual Arts and Music Classrooms: An Evaluation of Basic Education Arts Curriculum Implementation Strategies

ABSTRACT This qualitative case study investigated the extent to which the Basic Education arts curriculum in Botswana, specifically visual arts and music, prepared learners for entrepreneurship. It involved ten teachers and twenty students who were purposively selected and interviewed. Education policies were also examined to diagnose their status in promoting entrepreneurship skills. The findings revealed no evidence of learners’ exposure to entrepreneurship skills in both primary and junior secondary school music education while in visual arts it was only taught to junior secondary level three students. Students felt inadequately prepared to become professional artists during lessons. Thus, the study recommends inclusion of entrepreneurship education in all basic education arts disciplines and in teacher-training arts curriculum to prepare teachers to integrate it when teaching the arts.

Avoiders and Embracers: Attitudes towards L1 Use by Indonesian EFL Student Teachers

This study compares the attitudes of Indonesian student teachers to the use of Bahasa Indonesia (BI) in primary and secondary school English classrooms to that of the instructors in their teacher training programmes. It also examines the metacognitive orientations the student teachers have towards its use in their future teaching. Questionnaire responses by student teachers finishing their final-year practicum (N=75) from seven university programmes showed two distinct attitude sets toward BI use. Approximately 40% were ‘Avoiders’ who intended to use BI never or only occasionally, while another 20% were ‘Embracers’ who intended to use it regularly or often. There was a demonstrable relationship between the intended use and the practice and attitudes of the instructors the students had in the teacher training programme. Avoiders were more likely to have programme teachers who avoided BI use, while Embracers were the opposite. The student teachers also displayed a strong sense of agency in approaching future BI use. Although more explicit attention to the topic in the teacher training curriculum was welcomed, the majority also felt confident they could deal on their own with the challenges presented by future BI use. Potential effects on responses of practicum class size and school level were examined, but neither was significant. An important finding from the study for teacher training programmes is the effect, intentional or incidental, that teacher educator behaviour may play in shaping student teacher attitudes.

Teacher Training in Austria in the Last Decade—The Development of and Challenges for an Inclusive School System

This paper outlines the journey of reforming teacher training in Austria from special education to inclusive education in the light of recent political developments, international legislation and recommendations. After a historical overview of special education teacher training, this study discusses the developments that had an impact on the current teacher training for inclusive education in Austria. On the basis of content analysis of relevant policy documents, regulations, reports, and statements, the paper analyzes the impact of the political changes in the country as well as of international movements on the curriculum, policies, and practices for teacher training for special needs education and inclusive education over the course of time. The text-based analysis revealed that while Austria has diligently followed international recommendations and agreements, it was nevertheless criticized for its failure to successfully implement already piloted practices on a large scale.

특수교육요구(SNE)를 지원하기 위한 특수교사의 교수역량 및 교원연수 교육과정 요구도 분석

특수교육요구(SNE)를 지원하기 위한 특수교사의 교수역량 및 교원연수 교육과정 요구도 분석