The Participation in Successful Educational Actions as an Opportunity for Excellent Initial Teacher Training

Author(s):

Itxaso Tellado(presenting / submitting)Noemí Martín Casabona Carme Garcia Yeste Regina Gairal Casadó

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 09 B,

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-10

11:00-12:30

Room:

208.Oktatóterem [C]

Chair:

Milosh Raykov

Contribution

This paper presents the research evidences on the participation of teacher education university students as volunteers in successful educational actions, by means of the experience of a Spanish university in the initial training of teacher education, contributing to receive a training of excellence as well as improving the context in which the voluntary work takes place.

With this purpose, the main aim has been to demonstrate how the participation of university students in successful educational actions internationally recognized contribute to an initial academic training of greater quality at the same time that improves the academic results of the school students and the coexistence in the educational centres in which they have participated.

Theoretical framework

The importance of initial teacher education

Research demonstrates that teachers and their training decisively influence on the learning and the academic results of students (Cochran-Smith & Zeichner, 2005; Darling-Hammond, 2010) having greater effects on the students, than, the socio economic status. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that it is a quality experience and pursue a pre-service teacher training of excellence.

Korthagen, Loughran and Russell (2006) show how the new century has revealed the importance of the research on initial teacher education. In the last Education, Youth, Culture and Sport council meeting on effective teacher education (Council of European Commission, 2014) it was reaffirmed the importance of achieving a high quality initial teacher education.

Recent research (Hobjilă, 2012; Korthagen et al., 2006) express the gap between theory and practice, highlighting the need to establish connections between the two. International reports (OECD, 2011) highlight the initial teacher education as a path to enter the profession and the platforms for teacher development; and highlight the need to improve the relationship between the training institutions and the schools with the aim of providing to future teachers a more integrated experience.

Therefore, research is key to learn which type of initial teacher education provides better results and has the largest social impact, since in some cases teacher education students have a perception on the meaning of what is to be a good teacher based in their own previous experiences as students; experiences that may not be objectively examined (Stenberg, Karlsson, Pitkaniemi and Maaranen, 2014).

Initial teacher education based on successful educational actions

Research demonstrates the need to offer both a training of high quality, based on scientific evidences (Flecha, Racionero, Tintoré, and Arbós, 2014) as well as that teacher education students have to be able to observe and participate in schools that are developing practices of quality (Darling-Hammond, 2010).

The international scientific community has the knowledge and information on which are the actions that are achieving a greater success in promoting learning for all students, independently of their background or context; these are the successful educational actions which are universal and transferrable, after the study of successful schools around Europe (INCLUD-ED Consortium, 2009).

Therefore, the participation of the teacher education students in the educational centres that are implementing such successful educational actions signifies an improvement in their training and in the academic results of the students of the given educational centres.

In addition to the benefits denoted for the teacher education students training, the participation of these individual in the school classroom, signify interactions that enrich the learning of children, given that the social context is a key element for the cognitive development (Vygotsky, 1980). As stated by Darling-Hammond (2010), there is a close relationship of reliance between students’ learning, knowledge and actions developed by teachers.

Method

The methodological framework of the research is based on the Communicative Methodology (Puigvert, Christou & Holford, 2012; Gómez, Puigvert & Flecha, 2011; Munté, Serradell & Sordé, 2011). It is a methodology that includes the voices of the researched people and becomes a critical tool in the development of relevant social research based on evidences. This involves that the given interactions between researchers and subjects contribute to create knowledge that helps to overcome situations of inequality and to transform reality. The participants have been involved in the research process from the beginning until the end. They contributed with their oppinions, proposals, etc. throughout the research there has been an egalitarian dialogue between the research team, the teachers and the teacher education students. The study presented in this paper is part of the results of a research project conducted by the University Rovira i Virgili during the academic years 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. In this research participated teacher education freshman students that participated as volunteers in 3 educational centres that are Learning Communities (Ríos, Herrero & Rodríguez, 2013). These centres were selected because being Learning Communities means to apply successful educational actions. The sample of the fieldwork was selected from university students in the teacher education program of the University Rovira i Virgili; and from educational centres of primary and secondary schools that are Learning Communities who have had university students participating in diverse successful educational actions that were being conducted. The teacher education students selected were 11, aged between 18 and 20 years old who at the time of their participation were freshmen at the university. From those, 10 were female and 1 male. In all the cases the students received initial training on successful educational actions in which they were going to participate as volunteers. The teachers of the Learning Communities participating in the fieldwork of the research were 6, 5 were female and 1 male. In all the cases, all the teachers had more than 5 years of experience in the selected educational centre. The data collection has been qualitative and was conducted by means of 3 different types of techniques in order to be able to triangulate the results obtained: semi structured interviews with a communicative orientation, assembly observations with the teacher education students and a non structured questionnaire of open questions.

Expected Outcomes

The results present on the one hand, the improvement in quality of the training received by the teacher education students and on the other hand, the contribution to the improvement of academic results of the school students because of the participation of teacher education students in the successful educational actions of the participating schools. In addition, other results not included in the two prior categories surface but that are considered relevant: the improvement of the coexistence in the classroom, a greater knowledge of other contexts (cultural and socio economic among others), the contact from the first year at the university with the educational reality and the development of the critical ability for the teaching practice. The main conclusions are the following: - It is indispensable that the initial teacher education of future teachers should be of quality and taking into account excellence. - An initial teacher education has positive effects on the learning of children. - It is necessary that initial teacher education of future teachers take place in educational centres recognised by its practices as well as that includes the participation of the community. - The participation of undergraduate students of the Teacher Education Degree in successful educational actions that takes place in educational centres defined as Learning Communities represents an opportunity for their own training as well as for the improvement or the academic results of the children with whom they work and improves coexistence. So, the research conducted allowed us to point to the need of a initial teacher training of quality that allow to fulfil the objectives of the European Commission (2010) in its European Strategy 2020, among which highlights the quality of education. Only from scientific evidences will be possible to provide a training of excellence that in addition can provide social impact.

References

Cochran-Smith, M., & Zeichner, K. (2005). Studying Teacher Education. The Report of the AERA Panel on Research and Teacher Education. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Council of European Commission. (2014). Conclusions on effective teacher education. Brussels: European Commission. Darling–Hammond, L. (2010). Teacher Education and the American Future. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(1-2), 35-47. doi: 10.1177/0022487109348024. European Commission. (3-3-2010). Europe 2020. A European strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Brussels: European Commission. Flecha, R., Racionero, S., Tintoré, M., & Arbós, A. (2014). Actuaciones de Éxito en la Universidad. Hacia la Excelencia Tomando las Mejores Universidades como Modelo. Multidisciplinary Journal of Educational Research, 4(2), 131-150. doi: 10.4471/remie.2014.08. Gómez, A., Puigvert, L., & Flecha, R. (2011). Critical Communicative Methodology: Informing Real Social Transformation Through Research. Qualitative Inquiry, 17(3), 235-245. doi: 10.1177/1077800410397802. Hobjila, A. (2012). Effective/ineffective in pedagogical practicum – mentors’considerations on the initial training of pre-school teachers. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 33, 318–322. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.01.135. INCLUD-ED Consortium. (2009). Actions for success in schools in Europe. Brussels: European Commission. Korthagen, F., Loughran, J., & Russell, T. (2006). Developing fundamental principles for teacher education programs and practices. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22(8), 1020–1041. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2006.04.022. Munté, A., Serradell, O., & Sordé, T. (2011). From Research to Policy: Roma Participation Through Communicative Organization. Qualitative Inquiry, 17(3), 256-266. doi: 10.1177/1077800410397804. OECD. (2011). Teachers Matter: Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/48627229.pdf Puigvert, L., Christou, M., & Holford, J. (2012). Critical Communicative Methodology: including vulnerable voices in research through dialogue. Cambridge Journal of Education, 42(4), 513-526. doi: 10.1080/0305764X.2012.733341. Ríos, O., Herrero, C., & Rodríguez, H. (2014). From Access to Education From Access to Education The Revolutionary Transformation of Schools as Learning. International Review of Qualitative Research, 6(2), 239–253. doi:10.1525/irqr.2013.6.2.239.239. Southgate, E., Reynolds, R., & Howley, P. (2013). Professional experience as a wicked problem in initial teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 31, 13-22. Stenberg, K., Karlsson, L., Pitkaniemi, H., & Maaranen, K. (2014). Beginning student teachers’ teacher identities based on their practical theories. European Journal of Teacher Education, 37(2), 204-219. doi: 10.1080/02619768.2014.882309. Vygotsky, L.S. (1980). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Author Information

Itxaso Tellado (presenting / submitting)

University of Vic, Spain

Noemí Martín Casabona

University of Rovira i Virgili

Pedagogy

Tarragona

Carme Garcia Yeste

University of Rovira i Virgili

Regina Gairal Casadó

Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Reus

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