Stephen Rowland explores the relationship between the turor (or facilitator) and the professional worker on post-experience professional courses. His emphasis in on the processes of reflection and enquiry in professional learning and is not content specific. Drawing upon his experience as a course tutor and the perspectives of students, he suggests an approach to professional learing which is firmly rooted in the experience and interests of the student.
This book, by closely recording and reflecting upon the work and play of a group of 9 to 11 year-old children in a primary classroom, develops an approach to teaching and learning which is based upon the ways in which children are able to exercise a controlling influence over their own learning activity. It also suggests the sharing and analysis of classroom experience should be part of a teacher’s day-to-day life. The material for the book was gathered during a year of classroom enquiry in which the author combined the roles of teacher and researcher, working alongside the normal class teacher in a primary school. Samples of the children’s work are carefully described and analysed in an attempt to get behind the overt behaviour of the children and reveal the purposes, concerns and thinking that underlies their activity.
This book addresses professionals across multi-disciplinary fields and provides an insight into the way in which students and teachers interrelate. An interpretive approach to teaching and learning is explored in this volume. It gives rise to a series of dilemmas for the tutor of professional people; dilemmas which arise from attempts to apply educational values in a social context- shaped by previous expectations of learning and institutional pressures. Such dilemmas are explored by interweaving accounts of teaching, the author's reflective fieldnotes as a course tutor, students' evaluative commentaries, and fictional accounts, in order to uncover how teaching and learning are experienced in these settings. They give rise to an understanding of the relationship between tutor and student which emphasises the control which the professional people are able to exercise over the development of their own understanding and practice. Following an outline account of an interpretive approach to teaching and learning, the chapters consider the stages of learning from negotiating the learning context, encountering the unknown, reflecting upon experience, developing new understanding, course evaluation and a reconsideration, professional competences which such courses might serve.
First Published in 1988. Throughout this book 'enquiring teachers' is taken to mean those who are students on courses, successful completion of which depends in part on their undertaking one or more enquiries into their own practice or that of their colleagues. This Introduction presents some definitions and then discusses the implications for teachers who become students on enquiry-based courses, for the schools and colleges in which they teach and for the colleges, polytechnics, universities and teachers' centres which mount and teach the courses.
Evidence-based teaching is fast becoming a new orthodoxy. There are many strong voices, including policy voices, advocating its adoption. Understanding the underlying principles allows you to better evaluate the benefits of different approaches to evidence-based teaching and how they relate to your own school context. This book provides a critical overview of different ways of thinking about professional learning as a social process through collaborative and collective activity, including the notion of professional learning communities and how these might be used to support teacher enquiry. It examines the opportunities and challenges this poses to teachers and school leaders, and includes practical advice on how to facilitate, engage with and evaluate collaborative teacher enquiry models.
′Wow, this book has some inspiring ideas... It comes at a perfect time as schools try to mesh school improvement with performance management, new standards for various career stages and staff development... Well written, with an attractive layout and a consistently clear voice, it draws on wide and up-to-date research and writing from all parts of the United Kingdom... There are no easy answers in this book, but plenty of powerful ideas that might help us ask useful questions about how CPD encourages a commitment to professional and personal growth, and increases self-confidence, job satisfaction and enthusiasm for working with children and colleagues. This is what being a professional is all about′ - Times Educational Supplement, Book of the Week Teaching professionals need to be able to successfully respond to change, and when necessary drive change within schools. To accomplish this, teachers need to be secure in their understanding of their place within the profession and their teaching identity. The focus of this book is upon enabling teachers to explore new ways of working with children, with colleagues and with communities. This book provides teachers working towards Advanced Skills Teacher or Chartered Teacher status, and those on other Continuing Professional Development courses, with an essential text to assist in this process of personal and professional reflection and development planning. The authors focus upon the social, cultural and political aspects of professional development, and explore issues of professional identity.
Assuming no prior knowledge of research methods and techniques, this book is the perfect companion for teachers at all levels undergoing professional development who need to enhance their formal reflection skills. Providing a detailed explanation of what action research is and its importance in terms of whole school development, this book invites the teachers to try out educational research for themselves and adopt an investigative attitude that will help improve and evaluate practice. It includes: * Support and guidance that help you tackle key issues * "Real-life" practical case studies that underline what action research is and how it can be effectively used.
To improve schools we need to improve teachers. This volume provides recent research evidence that suggests that current education policy is not Promoting Effective Teacher Education And That Teacher Education Policy has: failed to support the formation of professional partnerships in initial teacher education; has almost ignored the induction of newly qualified teachers; and has narrowed in-service education into support for the implementation of central policy.; The evidence gathered in this book is used to argue for new forms of teacher education in every phase, built upon the foundation of professional partnership between schools and institutions of higher education. It is suggested that the funding for such changes could be drawn from less effective forms of school improvement, such as National Curriculum development and school inspection. With the implementation of such changes, it is argued, good quality teacher education programmes would prosper and foster a broad concensus about educational development that is often absent.
This book has been written specifically for postgraduate students carrying out small-scale research projects in and around their work environments and for those undertaking research projects as part of their higher education courses. The book will also be useful to teachers, tutors, lecturers and trainers who want to use the concept of practitioner-based enquiry to enquire into their own institutional practices, and produce reports which can be submitted for academic credits leading to the award of certificates and degrees from universities and other professional bodies.
