Session Information
10 SES 04 A, Research on Programmes and Pedagogical Approaches in Teacher Education
Paper Session
Contribution
This submission summarises and reflects upon continuing research undertaken in our professional roles as Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) tutors in secondary English at Newcastle and Durham universities. Relatively little research focuses on the written and oral comments made by university Initial Teacher Education (ITE) tutors on their student teachers’ observed lessons, despite our sense that these comments may have a powerful motivational – and by the same token, a potentially de-motivational – force, and are frequently used as evidence for progressing in and ultimately passing or failing the PGCE course. There seems also to be little cross-fertilisation between tutors working in different institutions, both within the UK and beyond. Our aim is partly to understand more closely what exactly goes on in the process of giving and receiving observational feedback on lessons taught by student teachers, and partly also to initiate some cross-institutional and international (especially, in the first place, European) mutual benefit.
The research is centred upon some key questions and areas for consideration:
· How effective is ITE tutors’ post-lesson observation feedback in developing student teachers’ understanding of their own teaching quality and repertoire?
· Are there any issues to do with pedagogy and related subject knowledge in this context?
· What of the language issues involved? How important is the relationship between written and oral feedback? What actually happens to the written feedback after it has been given?
· What is the relationship between formative, developmental aspects of such feedback, on the one hand, and its evaluative and authoritative role on the other?
· Centrally – how involved are the student teachers themselves, and what are their thoughts and feelings?
To do justice to these questions, and the issues and tensions which may lie behind them, we continue to interview PGCE English students from both universities. We also examine written feedback sheets, whole-course written and oral evaluations, and collected completed questionnaires – useful mainly in setting the agenda for more detailed interviews – from the two cohorts. The fundamental principle of our practice as ITE tutors, embodied in the research implicitly throughout, we share with Calderwood and Shorrock: ‘Student teachers learn a great deal about practice through talking about it, and often become more aware of aspects of their own practice as a result of such discussion. Talking about practice can also help student teachers clarify their vision of how they would like to teach…’ (1997: 200). As can be instantly seen, we make no claims for scientific validity deriving from a large research group or over a long period; rather, we hope that this research may give some sort of snapshot of how student teachers experience a significant aspect of their preparations for professional teaching. We hope also that there may be some pointers, implicit and explicit, for developing practice in the UK and beyond.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998) ‘Assessment and Classroom Learning’ in Assessment in Education 5 (1) p 7-75. Burns, K. (2006) ‘Promoting critical conversations: the distinctive contribution of higher education as a partner in the professional preparation of new teachers’ in Journal of Education for Teaching 32 (3) p 243-258. Calderwood, J and Shorrock, S (1997) Understanding Teacher Education: Case studies in the professional development of beginning teachers. London: Falmer Press. Edwards, A, Gilroy, P and Hartley, D. (2002) Rethinking Teacher Education: Collaborative responses to uncertainty. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Fullan, M. (2001) ‘What makes change work for teachers’ in Banks, F. and Shelton Mayes, A. Early Professional Development for Teachers. London: David Fulton. Furlong, J, Barton, L, Miles, S, Whiting, C and Whitty, G. (2000) Teacher Education in Transition: re-forming professionalism. Buckingham: Open University Press. Lock, R. and Soares, A. (2005) ‘Student teachers’ perceptions of mentors’ written lesson appraisals’. Unpublished paper presented to BERA Conference, University of Glamorgan, Sept 2005. MacIntyre, D, Hagger, H, Wilkin, M. (1993) Mentoring: Perspectives on School-based Teacher Education London: Kogan Page. Maxwell, B. (2005) ‘Feedback as a tool to develop professional capability’. Unpublished paper presented to the Society for Research into Higher Education Conference, University of Edinburgh, 13-15 December 2005. Moore, A. (2004) The Good Teacher: Dominant discourses in teaching and teacher education. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Spear, M, Lock, N and McCulloch, M (1997) ‘The Written Feedback Mentors Give to Student Teachers’ in Teacher Development 1 (2) p269-280. Stevens, D, Cliff-Hodges, G, Gibbons, S, Hunt, P and Turvey, A (2006) ‘Transformations in learning and teaching through initial teacher education’ in Literacy 40 (2) p97-106.
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