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1 – 10 of over 16000Giuseppe Tacconi, Vidmantas Tūtlys, Marco Perini and Genute Gedvilienė
The present study aims to reveal common and diverging trends in the development of pedagogical competences of vocational education and training (VET) teachers and trainers in…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study aims to reveal common and diverging trends in the development of pedagogical competences of vocational education and training (VET) teachers and trainers in Italy and Lithuania.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured survey was administered to Italian and Lithuanian teachers. The collected data were analysed and compared.
Findings
Results show that there are many common challenges and problems in the development of pedagogical competencies of the VET teachers in both countries; e.g.: the marginalisation of the VET teacher's work and working conditions, especially the dissatisfying wages and poor career opportunities, and the absent or weak institutionalisation of the VET teacher's qualifications and training.
Originality/value
The emerged results can be useful for directors of VET-centres and VET-schools to manage training and pedagogical growth of teachers both in Italy and in Lithuania. Moreover, the outputs can be considered as a set of suggestions also by the policymakers both at national and European level.
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Anna Henningsson-Yousif and Solveig Fredriksen Aasen
The purpose of this paper is to compare methods of working with pedagogical capital in teacher and mentor education. The authors make an account of the development of the concept…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare methods of working with pedagogical capital in teacher and mentor education. The authors make an account of the development of the concept of pedagogical capital and relate it to the theoretical context of practice theory. Empirical data will substantiate the theoretical discussion of teachers ' pedagogical capital.
Design/methodology/approach
Comparative analyses of the authors ' research and empirical data were undertaken.
Findings
Three dimensions of pedagogical capital have been identified: an experience content dimension, an analysis dimension and an acting dimension.
Research limitations/implications
The authors find potential in using and further developing the concept of pedagogical capital in its various dimensions and in relation to other similar concepts.
Practical implications
The authors ' methods could be used for school development purposes as well as in teacher education.
Social implications
The aim of the paper is to underline the value of the contributions people can make to society as a whole and as teachers in school, in particular. The recognition of the ability to analyse and contribute is the essence of this work.
Originality/value
The value of the paper is the introduction and development of pedagogical capital in an international context. The value is also the common analyses of educational work in Sweden and Norway.
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This paper tries to propose a pedagogical training program starting from the Romanian mandatory curriculum for higher education (HE) teachers, integrating education for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper tries to propose a pedagogical training program starting from the Romanian mandatory curriculum for higher education (HE) teachers, integrating education for sustainable development (ESD) competencies (UNECE, 2012) through infusion as a technique of curricular design dealing with cross-curricular subject integration. The purpose of this paper is to show how new ESD competencies can be implemented and integrated into the existent curricular formulations and how the current state of affairs can be improved and set toward sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research design is utilized, using desk research, content analysis, case study and, as validation for the new curriculum, structured interviews with key experts. First, an assessment of the quality of the Romanian HE pedagogical training program will be presented based on teaching quality assessments from international rankings. Second, integration of ESD competencies into the existing pedagogical professional development program, through a curriculum design, will be proposed.
Findings
The present Romanian teacher training curriculum does not nurture ESD competencies, and it does not have this purpose at all. However, it can be affirmed that this curriculum is in accordance with the newest pedagogical theories. It will be shown (through curriculum design) that it is possible to infuse ESD competencies into the present curriculum without many costs. The present architecture of the teacher training system can be described as a good practice example concerning HE professional development or as an alternative that is worthy to be taken into consideration for other countries with similar educational systems or by countries/universities that believe that pedagogical training addressing ESD should be completed early in one’s teaching career.
Research limitations/implications
As a general rule, many generalizations cannot be made based on qualitative research. Case studies have their limitations: they provide in-depth research on particular situations, and only some of their findings can be extrapolated. All HE curricula represent a particular vision and are all perfectible and subject to debate. The author hopes to have provided sufficient cause for the proposed curriculum.
Practical implications
The new curriculum has clear and practical implications, providing the answer to the question “how can we make pedagogical training better?”. Infusing ESD into the present teacher training program constitutes a practical solution, which carries great social impact.
Originality/value
A new curricular architecture is proposed, a new perspective on the efficiency of pedagogical training, in general, is taken into account and, as a good practical example, the present research is a token of inspiration.
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Teaching excellence remains a contested term in English higher education (HE). This paper begins by reflecting on its complex and sometimes blurred meaning, charting the…
Abstract
Purpose
Teaching excellence remains a contested term in English higher education (HE). This paper begins by reflecting on its complex and sometimes blurred meaning, charting the divergence between academic interests in the complexity and contextual questions relating to practice development and organisational and sectoral shifts which have been driven by managerialism, accountability and “top-down” ideas of change. The authors argue that this divergence, epitomised in the development of the teaching excellence framework, has led to a confused, if ubiquitous, use of excellence to identify organisational and sector-led ideas of what it means to deliver quality teaching. However, these frameworks have become progressively detached from the complexity of practice investigated by those interested in pedagogy. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper which brings together literature from teaching excellence, organisational science, time and HE to develop an alternative approach to pedagogic development.
Findings
Based on a critique of the current, confused conceptualisation of teaching excellence, the authors offer a different narrative which demonstrates how a reconsideration of the factors is important in developing critical and challenging teaching opportunities. Based on a “bottom-up” system focusing on dialogue, sustainability and “unhasty” time, the authors argue for a re-establishing of a holistic approach in HE providers based on emergent pedagogies as opposed to teaching excellence.
Originality/value
This paper demonstrates why teaching excellence has become conceptually fractured in an English context, and why a new approach to pedagogic development needs to be considered to establish a more positive and critical approach at both the institutional and sectoral levels. This paper outlines a possible approach to developing such renewal.
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Jörgen Holmberg, Göran Fransson and Uno Fors
The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of teachers’ reframing of practice in digital contexts by analysing teachers’ pedagogical reasoning processes as they…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of teachers’ reframing of practice in digital contexts by analysing teachers’ pedagogical reasoning processes as they explore ways of using information and communication technologies (ICT) to create added pedagogical value.
Design/methodology/approach
A design-based research (DBR) approach is employed, in which the on-site researcher collaborates with eight teachers of English as a foreign language in four Swedish schools over a period of two years. Multiple data sources are included for thematic coding and analysis. The technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework is used as a conceptual construct in the analysis.
Findings
The findings show that teachers’ pedagogical reasoning is a complex and multidimensional process and is closely integrated with teachers’ reframing of practice. Common characteristics in the teachers’ reframing of practice are identified. The results highlight the reciprocal relationship between developments in teachers’ pedagogical reasoning and TPACK development and the need for a distinction between general and specific, theoretical and practical TPACK.
Research limitations/implications
An increased focus on TPACK research on teachers’ pedagogical reasoning is required. DBR is a relevant approach for this.
Practical implications
The pedagogical uses of ICT identified as adding value could benefit teachers in other contexts.
Originality/value
Rich data from multiple design contexts are collected and analysed over time through DBR. The paper contributes new knowledge about the process of pedagogical reasoning and its relation to teachers’ reframing of practice. The paper also contributes to TPACK theory development.
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This chapter explores the use of Lesson Study (LS) as a strategy for co-constructing pedagogical knowledge and draws on data from a series of interviews with student teachers…
Abstract
This chapter explores the use of Lesson Study (LS) as a strategy for co-constructing pedagogical knowledge and draws on data from a series of interviews with student teachers. Sixteen student teachers, undertaking a postgraduate teacher training program in higher education in England, engaged in LS as an official assessment of their ability to jointly plan, deliver, and evaluate a lesson. LS is thus seen to promote an intense collaborative working relationship between participating student teachers that engenders fresh opportunities for learning. It is argued, then, that this approach can challenge the prevalent model of individually led professional development by facilitating a space for the co-construction of pedagogical knowledge. LS is also explored for its potential to bridge the theory-practice divide by enabling participant student teachers to generate theory from practice.
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Kongkiti Phusavat, Achmad Nizar Hidayanto, Pekka Kess and Jussi Kantola
This study aims to develop a pedagogy which would help a school become a workplace for learning and professional development. Essentially, this objective addresses the following…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop a pedagogy which would help a school become a workplace for learning and professional development. Essentially, this objective addresses the following critical question. How can a school become an attractive workplace where learning and professional development of teachers positively contribute to better teaching and learning for the students?
Design/methodology/approach
The research is considered as a case study. The pilot project or experiment has taken place at Mattayom Suwitserianusorn School which is part of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. Design Thinking and Finnish practices have been explicitly integrated into peer-learning community (PLC). Design Thinking, through the use of empathy, helps highlight the interrelationships among motivation, emotion and cognition of students. Follow-up meetings provide insights into teacher’s professional development and impacts on student’s learning. The verification is based on award and recognition gathered over the past years for students and the school.
Findings
PLC helps improve a school as a place for learning and professional development. The significance of integrating Design Thinking is extensively discussed. The project shows how co-teaching can be applied, given a proper selection of a problem. Higher motivation and better behavior among students are noticeable. The pilot project reinforces the importance of PLC in the current pedagogical development as it helps transform a school into workplace learning for both teachers and students. Blending Design Thinking helps strengthen the sustainability of PLC, as a lesson plan should be revised according to the students’ background and needs.
Research limitations/implications
The study responds to the call by several international studies for better pedagogical development and in-service training for teachers’ continuous learning and professional development. More vigorous comparisons with other schools will be needed to help verify the study’s findings. This is due to the need to have a longitudinal study of PLC’s impacts.
Practical implications
For teachers, an understanding of their common interests and the recognition on the need to learn from one another is important. For students, an understanding of their psychology and emotional intelligence through the use of Design Thinking is highlighted. Motivation, emotion and cognition of students are interrelated and can help transform a school into learning space.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the transformation of a school as a workplace for learning and professional development which is based on the aforementioned pedagogical development. Also, Design Thinking helps strengthen PLC as an alternative pedagogical practices.
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Oriented to ongoing student and university momentums for decolonial futures, the purpose of this paper is to interrogate the role and status of mainstream international development…
Abstract
Purpose
Oriented to ongoing student and university momentums for decolonial futures, the purpose of this paper is to interrogate the role and status of mainstream international development curricula and pedagogies by critiquing two absences in the sub-discipline’s teaching formulae: appropriations and assassinations.
Design/methodology/approach
The author draws from a decade of research on oil extraction in Central Africa, including ethnographic work with two communities in Cameroon along the Chad–Cameroon Oil Pipeline; four years of research (interview-based and unofficial or grey materials) on the 1983 August Revolution in Burkina Faso and assassination of Thomas Sankara; and five years of experience teaching international development in North America, Western Europe and North and Eastern Africa.
Findings
Through a critical synthesis of political and rhetorical practices that are often considered in isolation (i.e. political assassinations and corporate appropriation of Indigenous knowledges), the author makes the case for what the author calls pedagogical disobedience: an anticipatory decolonial development curricula and praxis that is attentive to the simultaneity of violence and misappropriation within colonial operations of power (i.e. “coloniality of power” or “coloniality”).
Originality/value
This paper contributes to debates within international development about the future of the discipline given its neo-colonial and colonial constitutions and functions with a grounded attention to how this opens up possibilities for teaching praxis and scholarship in action.
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Mousin Omar Saib, Mogiveny Rajkoomar, Nalindren Naicker and Cecilia Temilola Olugbara
The purpose of this paper is to identify and present a global perspective of digital pedagogies in relation to technology and academic librarians.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and present a global perspective of digital pedagogies in relation to technology and academic librarians.
Design/methodology/approach
The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) methodology was used in this study.
Findings
Based on the data, academic librarians must develop a foundational understanding of 21st century pedagogies and digital skills to teach in an online environment.
Originality/value
This review paper considers the emergent teaching role of the academic librarian within the digital environment. The themes in the findings highlight the importance of digital pedagogical knowledge and digital fluency of academic librarians as a teacher within the digital environment in higher education.
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Inquiry learning points is based on questions and requires students to work independently to solve problems. Instructors are facilitators of learning, not people who give right…
Abstract
Inquiry learning points is based on questions and requires students to work independently to solve problems. Instructors are facilitators of learning, not people who give right answers and instructions to learners. Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences Porvoo campus in Finland is a new concept for learning. The lecturers have changed from traditional ones to coaches aiming at new competences with new tools to enhance learning. Their own implementation of inquiry learning has been assessed by themselves with an ongoing self-assessment process as a part of the normal tasks of instructional teams. Self-assessment is a part of action research that aims to develop an organization and the work in it.
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