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OGGIONNI, FRANCESCA. "La supervisione pedagogica. Quadri concettuali, pratiche e criticità." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10281/28149.
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Pedagogical supervision is a meta-reflective tool thanks to which professional educators can experience the generative potential of reflection, dialogue with colleagues and comparison between knowledge acquired on the field, theories founding their praxis and intervention strategies developed in relation to different subjects, contexts and institutional partners.
It is a vocational tool where thought and learning about educators’ professional identity and role, analyzed by focusing on premises, practices and praxis, looking for coherence between planning actions and intervention methodologies.
It is a fundamental tool in broadening educators’ professional culture, even though it is hardly recognized as essential and indispensable.
The present study starts from the belief that educators’ professionalism has to be thought and must make use of tools able to activate and oversee reflective and dialogical processes of (self-)evaluation and practical transformation, leading to the development of theories. Pedagogically centered reflection shared within work teams, services and organizations enables educators to review their praxis in terms of intentional aims and educational projects; but, above all, it makes them able to conceptualize knowledge acquired on the field and strengthen their own professional identity.
The scanty production of thought around pedagogical supervision is an indication of its complexity, as well as the pedagogue’s difficulty in recognizing and being recognized as "the" depositary of knowledge about education as a profession. This in turn leads to the consequent risk of delegating the task of expanding the interpretative framework in which educational events are included to professionals from different disciplines, thus losing sight of the specific pedagogical point of view and aims.
This study takes part in an open pedagogical debate, useful for increasing knowledge, but especially focusing on the significance and recognition of pedagogical supervision as a practice for supporting and enhancing educational professionalism, since it is an essential tool for the development of educators’ professional culture.
Supervision, first of all, has been observed as an object to clarify both on the level of praxis and meanings, making a methodological mixture between phenomenological approach and grounded theory. The research was carried out, therefore, keeping the plan of theorization and the plan of praxis in constant and recursive dialogue: literature analysis and comparison with subjects making use of supervision as a professional tool were carried out simultaneously, through frequent references and stimuli to further reflection and investigation.
Literature has provided information concerning the functions and the possible structures by which the supervision process can be accomplished; in order to extract from practices the multiplicity of contents, methodologies and reflections circulating within socio-educational services, a series of interviews were carried out with people variously involved in the supervision process: educators, representatives of organizations, professional supervisors.
Therefore, supervision was enriched with elements of concreteness taken from narrations of current experiences, that have further defined it as a dynamic process, modulated according to needs and functions defined by work teams, starting from the formulation of questions on meaning and from the negotiation of objectives and contents. Supervision is not focused on practical problems, although it produces significant effects on the praxis through the implementation of reflective processes that increase educators’ levels of awareness and professionalism. It is a support tool in the process of constructing a professional identity and role, transversal to different areas and contexts of intervention.
The professional figure of supervisor appears crucial, not only because his/her conceptual frameworks direct the focus of attention on education processes, but also because his/her methods of constructing the setting and management of working groups determine the course and the effectiveness of the supervision process. He/she has to show complete mastery in specific knowledge and transversal skills for whose acquisition, currently, he/she has assumed autonomous responsibility of self-training. However, a second level learning and training course (for which a structure hypothesis has been formulated) as well as a professional lifelong learning process are highly desirable.
Within socio-educational services, multiple meta-reflective experiences related to learning, counseling, coordination and research processes are performed; a comparison with supervision has been made, offering some thoughtful insights about potentially confusing overlapping areas.
Finally, in order to complete the attempt of analysis and recomposition of complexity, supervision has been replaced within the composite picture of places of reflection on educators’ professionalism, alongside team meetings, communities of practice and meaningful informality of daily comparison with colleagues and clients, as well as the need for self-reflective processes. These are thoughtful places in which educators can gain multiple skills and knowledge, broadening their professional culture.
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GIANOTTI, FABIO. "EDUCATORI DI PROFESSIONE E RESILIENZA: STORIE DI MOTIVAZIONE IN PROSPETTIVA FENOMENOLOGICA." Doctoral thesis, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10280/2992.
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La ricerca si occupa dei processi formativi degli educatori che lavorano con adolescenti. Nello specifico, l’oggetto delle ricerca intende mettere a fuoco come matura l’orientamento esistenziale degli operatori che si occupano di adolescenti e quale declinazione metodologica corrisponda, nella pratica lavorativa, a tale orientamento.
Muovendo da un’istanza teoretica di tipo fenomenologico, la prima parte dell’elaborato affronta le questioni relative all’impostazione metodologica. Nella seconda parte la ricerca avvicina il lavoro di alcuni educatori e psichiatri di rilievo per ricostruirne, attraverso le loro opere, gli orizzonti di senso.
Nella seconda parte la ricerca si avvarrà di un’indagine sul campo per sondare i passaggi significativi circa la crescita esistenziale di un campione di educatori.The research deals with educators’ formative processes. In specific, how youth workers’ existential orientation takes shape and which consistent methodological declination these actors find in educational practice. Moving from a phenomenological approach, in the first part, the study focuses on methodological problems. In the second part, the research investigates some authors (important educationalists and psychiatrists) to reconstruct, through their writings, their meaning horizons. At least the study detects professional and personal experiences of an educators’ sample to identify revealing passages about their existential processes.
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GIANOTTI, FABIO. "EDUCATORI DI PROFESSIONE E RESILIENZA: STORIE DI MOTIVAZIONE IN PROSPETTIVA FENOMENOLOGICA." Doctoral thesis, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10280/2992.
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La ricerca si occupa dei processi formativi degli educatori che lavorano con adolescenti. Nello specifico, l’oggetto delle ricerca intende mettere a fuoco come matura l’orientamento esistenziale degli operatori che si occupano di adolescenti e quale declinazione metodologica corrisponda, nella pratica lavorativa, a tale orientamento.
Muovendo da un’istanza teoretica di tipo fenomenologico, la prima parte dell’elaborato affronta le questioni relative all’impostazione metodologica. Nella seconda parte la ricerca avvicina il lavoro di alcuni educatori e psichiatri di rilievo per ricostruirne, attraverso le loro opere, gli orizzonti di senso.
Nella seconda parte la ricerca si avvarrà di un’indagine sul campo per sondare i passaggi significativi circa la crescita esistenziale di un campione di educatori.The research deals with educators’ formative processes. In specific, how youth workers’ existential orientation takes shape and which consistent methodological declination these actors find in educational practice. Moving from a phenomenological approach, in the first part, the study focuses on methodological problems. In the second part, the research investigates some authors (important educationalists and psychiatrists) to reconstruct, through their writings, their meaning horizons. At least the study detects professional and personal experiences of an educators’ sample to identify revealing passages about their existential processes.
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Marumo, Lesang Philadelphia. "The impact of in-service educator professional development programmes on grade 10 life orientation educators / Lesang Philadelphia Marumo." Thesis, North-West University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/8253.
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The post 1994 educational reforms in South Africa brought about a new thinking in the basic education system. The Curriculum 2005 introduces General Education and Training (GET) band comprising of Grades R-9 and Further Education and Training (FET) comprising of Grades 10-12. These changes necessitates that greater energy and investment be made in the development of appropriate programmes for professional development of educators at both pre-service and in-service levels in order to increase educator reorientation and competency in educating learners in the new education system.
The purpose of the study is to determine the impact of educator professional development programmes (pre- and in-service) on Grade 10 Life Orientation educators with regard to the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) in the Francis Baard District. The study also aims to determine barriers encountered in the implementation of in-service professional development programmes for Grade 10 Life Orientation educators. The study consists of a literature review concerning the National Curriculum Statement and professional in-service training programmes. A quantitative approach was followed to collect the relevant data. Grade 10 Life Orientation educators in the Francis Baard District form the population of this study.
Two distinct conclusions are drawn from the findings of the study, namely;
• Educators professional programmes (pre- and in-service) had very little impact on the knowledge, skills and abilities of Grade 10 Life Orientation educators for the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) in the Francis Baard District.
• Pre- and in- service educator professional development programmes attended by Grade 10 Life Orientation educators did not substantially improve their capabilities mentioned above to implement the National Curriculum Statement.
Four categories of recommendations are suggested, namely:
• The responsibility of the Department of Education towards the professional in-service training programmes.
• The teacher training institutions' responsibility towards the Life Orientation teachers.
• The formation of support groups in the different regions in the Francis Baard District.
• Further research should be conducted to improve successful implementation of educator professional development programmes ( pre- and in-service) on Grade 10 Life Orientation educators.Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011
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Bryant, Christopher L. "PROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION: THE VALUE OF MEANINGFUL CONVERSATION FOR THE STUDIO ART EDUCATOR." UKnowledge, 2017. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/art_etds/14.
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This thesis explores the strong support for collaboration in schools’ while synthesizing literature already conducted on the subject. The primary objectives of this thesis is to discuss possible scenarios as to why educators are not collaborating, explore characteristics and implementations of collaboration with three specific groups including colleagues, stakeholders, and practicing professionals, and identify four key benefits of collaboration which include improved health, pedagogy, autonomy, and time. Evidence supports the idea that teachers who work in isolation can hinder growth within their profession. Additional evidence provides conclusive evidence that supports the benefits of collaboration by adding responsibilities to key contributors by holding them accountable for student learning.
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Burton, Susan. "Self-perceived professional identity of pharmacy educators." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1008352.
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The philosophy of pharmaceutical care, which defines a patient-centred approach to practice, has been embraced and upheld by national and international pharmaceutical organisations for two decades. However, pharmacists have been slow to change their practice and implement a pharmaceutical care approach. It has been suggested that amongst other factors, short-comings in pharmaceutical education have contributed to this reluctance of the profession to transform practice. Efforts to address these short-comings in pharmaceutical education have focused on the curriculum and pedagogic practices, and not on the pharmacy educators themselves. Palmer (1998) asserts that “good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher”. In essence, "we teach who we are" and good teachers have one common trait: “a strong sense of personal identity that infuses their work”. This study identified, described and analysed the self-perceived professional identities of pharmacy educators within the South African context. This included ascertaining factors and contexts which contributed to participants’ self-perception of their professional identity. In an effort to understand the influence the educators have on practice and on changing practice and vice-versa, the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of participants regarding the philosophy and practice of pharmaceutical care, and pharmaceutical education were also explored. Situated within a constructivist-interpretive, qualitative paradigm and making use of methodological triangulation, this study was conducted in three phases, each employing a different qualitative method to collect data. The first phase made use of narrative analysis to gain an in-depth understanding of pharmacy educators’ perceived professional identities and to explore how their experiences, across various contexts, have formed their professional identities. In-depth individual narrative interviews were used to provide a forum in which the participants could reflect upon and tell their professional life-story. This phase of the study also made use of the exploration of metaphors to further investigate the participants’ professional identity and, more particularly, their images of themselves as “teacher” and role model for students. A maximum variation, purposeful sampling approach was used to recruit eight pharmacy academics - one from each school or faculty of pharmacy in South Africa, as participants in this phase of the study. The second and third phases explored more widely, the insights gained from the first phase and the formation of professional identity, attitudes, beliefs and practices of pharmacy educators in South Africa. Two focus groups were employed during the second phase and the study sample was broadened to include a further ten pharmacy educators. In the third phase, a purpose-designed, qualitative questionnaire was used to extend the study sample to all pharmacy educators in South Africa. A convenience sampling approach was used in both the second and third phases of the study. Thematic analysis and interpretation of the narrative interview and focus group transcripts and the questionnaire responses were conducted using qualitative data analysis software – Atlas.ti®. A multiplicity of self-perceived professional identities was described. However, all of these were multi-faceted and could be situated on a continuum between pharmacist identity on one end and academic identity on the other. In addition, six key determinants were recognised as underpinning the participants’ self-perception of their professional identity. These included three structural determinants: expected role; knowledge base; and practice, and three determinants relating to the emotional dimensions and agency of professional identity: professional status; passions; and satisfiers. The professional identity of the participants had been formed through membership of multiple pharmacy-related communities of practice and continued to be sustained through a nexus of multi-membership. There was extensive support by the participants for the concept of pharmaceutical care; however, it did not impact extensively on their role as pharmacy educators. Furthermore, many expressed concern around the use of the term ‘pharmaceutical care’: its definition; its lack of penetration into, and implementation within the practice environment; and even its relevance to the South African healthcare context. Many of the participants perceived the professional development of future pharmacists to be integral to their role as educators, and was often their source of greatest professional satisfaction. However, concern was also expressed at the dissonance that students were perceived to experience, sometimes, because of the incongruities that they are taught and what they experience in practice. This study has afforded pharmacy educators in South Africa an opportunity to understand better “who” they are as professionals, and to reflect on their role as educators and as role models for future pharmacist. Moreover, the findings contribute to a collective understanding of the professional identity of pharmacy educators and socialisation of pharmacy students into the profession. The insights and recommendations emerging from the study have the potential to make academic pharmacy a more attractive career choice which may have positive implications for the future attraction and retention of pharmacists to academic posts within universities.
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Samson, Florence Georgina Down. "The personal/professional lives of women educators." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape10/PQDD_0009/NQ41502.pdf.
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Sharp, Sara J. "Standardized Professional Development Content Validation for Educators." Thesis, Walden University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3646183.
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Educators in a low socioeconomic urban school district have been concerned with the quality of professional development (PD) training provided by the district. This issue affects students, parents, and teachers. Guided by the educational philosophy of inquiry and community, which hold that empowering teachers with validated PD could improve teacher pedagogy and perhaps academic outcomes, this project study examined (a) what benefits a standardized professional development content validation program for the 21st century can provide and, (b) what standardized professional development content validation for the 21st century looks like. A sequential exploratory mixed-methods design was used on a purposive sample of 8 teachers, who participated in semistructured, open-ended interviews. A quantitative questionnaire collected perceptions of teachers at the school. Interview data were analyzed via an inductive analysis approach, and survey data were analyzed via descriptive statistics. The findings of this sequential mixed methods research revealed that the content of PD activities often lacked structured validation for teachers to master important skills in their content area, new skills were undiscovered, and their pedagogy was underdeveloped. The outcome was a 3-day workshop designed to provide PD content validation for educators in 1 district in Washington State. Positive social change implications include teachers who can engage students in an informed, confident, professional manner, and increased teacher satisfaction at the research site as well as in other rural schools. Implementing this workshop will provide useful knowledge for policymakers, educators, and other researchers who are looking for a clearer definition of PD content for the 21st century.
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Hovatter, Rhonda. "Ohio Physical Educators’ Perceived Professional Development Needs." Ashland University / OhioLINK, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ashland1243865667.
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Lanman, Sarah Ann. "Counselor Educators: Clinical Practice and Professional Identity." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1313686817.
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Reynolds, Richard John. "The professional self esteem of teacher educators /." The Ohio State University, 1992. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487776801323251.
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Beyers, René. "Professional discretion of educators in preventing negligence." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/75175.
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This research builds on and contributes to work in the field of educators' professional discretion and the prevention of negligence. Existing literature suggests that many educators are still unaware of how the law operates regarding policy requirements and their in loco parentis obligations. This is demonstrated by the number of litigations and how an educator's liability regarding negligence has grown. In South Africa, numerous authors have made contributions in relation to learner safety and educators' duty of care. An educator is tasked with duty of care and to use professional discretion appropriately. At the same time, educators should be mindful to minimise their exposure to lawsuits. However, not much appears to have been done in this country to establish how educators can maintain a respectable balance between professional discretion and policy requirements without being negligent.
The purpose of this study was, thus primarily to explore ways in which educators can reconcile professional discretion and legal and policy requirements to prevent negligence. The study utilised a qualitative research approach underpinned by an interpretive paradigm. Data collection was done by the means of qualitative collection techniques, namely semi-structured interviews supported by an analysis of relevant court cases. Twenty participants from two primary and two secondary public schools in the Tshwane South school district in Gauteng participated in the study. Two of these schools were fee-paying schools and two non-fee-paying schools. Five participants from each school were identified and invited to participate in this study and consisted of the principal, a member of the school management team (deputy-principal or head of department) and three educators. Each of the participants had different legal obligations, discretions, responsibilities and accountabilities as far as negligence is concerned.
The conceptual framework for this study, was based on Dworkin’s (1978:31) ‘doughnut’ metaphor for the concept of professional discretion. Based on an adapted version of Dworkin’s ‘doughnut’ metaphor, findings confirm that some educators feel restricted in their decision-making and limited in their professional discretion due to the legal and inflexible policy framework regulating their work. It came to the fore that the understanding and interpretation of certain school policies were dealt with differently by the participants due to their varied levels of experience, knowledge and training. The findings illuminated the fact that the participants did not fully grasp the
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concept of professional discretion. In making decisions and exercising judgement, these participants may not be comfortable in their knowledge experience or personal intuition. Educators’ capacity and ability to apply discretion is influenced by a number of external and internal factors. These factors restrict an educators’ autonomy space, which could ultimately lead to the inability to apply appropriate discretion. This could lead to a form of paralysis to uphold a high standard of care in dire situations and could lead to negligence. Therefore, in order to achieve a high standard of care and not be negligent, educators should not only have the ability to apply appropriate discretion, but also have the freedom to do so.
Key terms: professional discretion; duty of care; in loco parentis; negligence; law of delict; standard of care; school safety policies.Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020.
DST-NRF Innovation Master’s Scholarship. UNIQUE GRANT NO: 117504
Education Management and Policy Studies
MEd
Unrestricted
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Sharp, Sara J. "Standardized Professional Development Content Validation for Educators." ScholarWorks, 2011. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/1173.
Full textAbstract:
Educators in a low socioeconomic urban school district have been concerned with the quality of professional development (PD) training provided by the district. This issue affects students, parents, and teachers. Guided by the educational philosophy of inquiry and community, which hold that empowering teachers with validated PD could improve teacher pedagogy and perhaps academic outcomes, this project study examined (a) what benefits a standardized professional development content validation program for the 21st century can provide and, (b) what standardized professional development content validation for the 21st century looks like. A sequential exploratory mixed-methods design was used on a purposive sample of 8 teachers, who participated in semistructured, open-ended interviews. A quantitative questionnaire collected perceptions of teachers at the school. Interview data were analyzed via an inductive analysis approach, and survey data were analyzed via descriptive statistics. The findings of this sequential mixed methods research revealed that the content of PD activities often lacked structured validation for teachers to master important skills in their content area, new skills were undiscovered, and their pedagogy was underdeveloped. The outcome was a 3-day workshop designed to provide PD content validation for educators in 1 district in Washington State. Positive social change implications include teachers who can engage students in an informed, confident, professional manner, and increased teacher satisfaction at the research site as well as in other rural schools. Implementing this workshop will provide useful knowledge for policymakers, educators, and other researchers who are looking for a clearer definition of PD content for the 21st century.
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Bitter, James. "The Counselor Educator as Person and Professional." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2009. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/6087.
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Graham-Johnson, Judith. "Incorporating equity dynamics in professional development| Building Educator Cultural and Professional Competency." Thesis, Fielding Graduate University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3629593.
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Since the statement of then -Secretary of Education Paige on the "soft bigotry of low expectations," the necessity of holding "high expectations" appears to be generally accepted as an important factor in student achievement. Secretary Paige asserted that not all teachers hold high expectations of their students, yet the possibility of such thinking is not typically acknowledged among educators. Instead there appears to be a presumption that all teachers do hold high expectations for their students and there is no evidence that this assumption is ever questioned. The assumption that high expectations are universally held negates belief that expectations should be part of the professional conversations in which educators engage and precludes the topic from being included in the professional development programs in which school staffs are engaged.
My review of literature includes learning from the other social sciences on beliefs, cultural assumptions, and expectations. This dissertation examines the development of negative stereotypes and manifestations of those stereotypes in the educational experiences, past and present of African Americans, as representatives of those segments of the population who have historically been under-served by education.
The results of the survey conducted as part of this study indicate that expectations are rarely included in professional development programs. Additionally, the results demonstrate a lack of consistency among districts in approaching similar challenges. Finally, a model developed to increase the effectiveness of professional development is proposed.
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Qureshi, Naima. "Professional development of teacher educators : challenges and opportunities." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2016. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/79421/.
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This study examines the challenges and opportunities for the professional development of teacher educators in a leading teacher education university in Pakistan. It underpins the participatory and sociocultural perspectives of learning to gain insight into teacher educators’ learning. This research deployed a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach, using questionnaires followed by semi-structured interviews. Interviews were conducted with teacher educators, heads of the departments, campus principals and higher management personnel. The study highlights the fact that the teacher educators do not have any formal permanent system of professional development. The findings further reveal the diverse professional characteristics of teacher educators in terms of experience in teaching, research and professional qualifications, which lead to varied learning experiences and professional challenges to teacher educators in their respective roles. Beginner teacher educators with no professional qualification and inadequate teaching and research experience face more challenges in meeting the demands of the higher education settings. Teaching appears to be the major professional role of teacher educators in comparisons to curriculum design, mentoring or engagement in research. This study raises a number of issues regarding professional adequacy and entry requirements of teacher educators, as well as the status of the field of teacher education in Pakistan. A key finding of this study is the contested context of the University as a workplace, which inhibited the professional relationship of teacher educators. This resulted in a balkanized culture, which challenged the learning of teacher educators. In addition, inequitable and insufficient access to resources, lack of professional support from management and excessive workloads limited the opportunities for learning. The study also highlights the fact that teacher educators are relying more on peer and self-learning. However, peer-learning was not evenly observed across all campuses. This research improves our understanding of Community of Practice showing that the concept needs to consider power, culture and disentangle the relationship between working conditions and learning. It also gives insight to the conceptualization of workplace affordances by seeing that such affordances are both personal and institutional. In terms of looking at Eraut’s ideas of informal learning, this research adds to our understanding that it is not just learning and contextual factors (institutional factors) which affect the learning of the individuals but also their professional context. In this research, professional context includes professional experiences (teacher educators’ repertoires in teaching and research), qualifications, their differentiated roles and positions. By doing so the research has added to the discourse of informal learning and provides an empirical study in the field of teacher education. In addition, this research provides deeper insight of teacher educators’ learning, and can assist in designing and strengthening the professional development opportunities for teacher educators in Pakistan.
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Qiu, Chao. "The professional development of teacher educators in Shanghai." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2015. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6798/.
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Teacher educators have increasingly been considered as a crucial occupational group for improving educational standards by the Chinese government, but they are under-researched. Currently, many teacher educators in different teacher education institutions in Shanghai are not identified as teacher educators. Therefore, their contribution to teacher education is not sufficiently valued and support for their professional development is limited. A better understanding of what identities teacher educators have is necessary in order to help define their diverse professional development needs and provide the support necessary for them. However, from the study’s findings it became clear that ‘identity’ is often misunderstood as ‘role and responsibility’ in the Chinese context. Therefore, this study refocused more on exploring the roles and responsibilities, experiences, understandings, and beliefs that guide the professional learning and practices of teacher educators in three different types of institutional settings (university-based, college-based, and teacher training school-based) in Shanghai. This study used a mixed-methods design, utilising both quantitative and qualitative data concurrently, using fifteen teacher educator interviews (nine individual interviews and six group interviews) and the online Teacher Educator Survey (n=252). All data were analysed in a systematic way. The discussion of the findings draws particularly on the policies on teacher educators in Shanghai, on research on the professional development of teacher educators across the world and on the theory of organisational culture that involves how individuals respond to policy in particular settings. This study produced a number of key findings: the teacher educators in Shanghai were identified as an attractive professional group, in which the professionals had a strong sense of commitment and willingness to stay. The roles of Shanghai’s teacher educators and the related expertise, career pathways and motivations, were determined by their different organisational cultures, which were affected by both national and regional policy directions. Teacher educators in Shanghai made strong demands on both the purposes of, and the approaches to, professional development and these were diversely manifested and were highly consistent with the different professional roles, policy directions and organisational cultures. Although Shanghai’s teacher educators were provided with satisfactory ‘physical support’ for their professional development, the non-physical support did not seem sufficient. This study provides evidence of the complexities of teacher educators’ roles, responsibilities, and professional development, which may be of benefit for teacher educators, teachers’ associations, leaders of teacher education institutions and policy makers internationally, as it highlights the importance of understanding and supporting the need to build, sustain and improve teacher education. At a theoretical level, the contribution of this study is a more nuanced understanding in terms of a model of teacher educators’ roles; of the different impact of organisational culture on teacher educators depending on their institutional type; and of their expressed professional commitment and loyalty.
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Theodocion, Kelley E. "Middle School Educators' Perceptions of Online Professional Development." ScholarWorks, 2011. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/1006.
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Numerous researchers have investigated distance education in postsecondary settings, but there is a paucity of research regarding the design and delivery of online professional development for K-12 educators. The goal of this mixed methods sequential exploratory study was to examine attitudes of middle grades educators toward an online professional development course held for teachers employed by one suburban school district in the southeast region of the United States. The theoretical framework is Knowles's theory of adult education (andragogy). The research questions addressed perceptions of connectedness and learning in an online professional development course. A structured interview protocol was used to collect qualitative data from 5 participants; data were coded and analyzed into 6 typologies. The Classroom Community Scale (CCS) that assessed perceptions of (a) connectedness and (b) learning effectiveness among 23 participants provided quantitative data to complement the interview findings. Mean ranks were used to prioritize 10 items within each of the 2 CCS subscales. Overall, participants felt like they could rely on others in the course yet were uncertain that others could depend on them. The study also identified a preference for immediate feedback and activities that required collaboration. These findings can be used to inform the design of online professional development courses for K-12 educators. This study contributes to positive social change by showing that online opportunities may allow teachers to collaborate with colleagues without the restrictions of time and travel by creating a community of learners through Web 2.0 tools.
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Pettet, Kent Lloyd. "Educator perceptions of the optimal professional development experience." Thesis, Indiana State University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3604444.
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The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the educator’s perception of the optimal professional development experience. Research studies have concluded that the biggest indicator to predict student achievement is teacher effectiveness (Aaronson, Barrow, & Sander, 2007; Marzano, 2003; Sanders & Horn, 1998; Wong 2001). Guskey (2000) stated, “Never before in the history of education has greater importance been attached to the professional development of educators” (p. 3). School districts continue to face reduced budgets and continue to expend resources on professional development. In addition, states such as Indiana have recently changed their evaluation system to encourage more professional development at the school and district level. A survey was created to analyze educator perceptions of professional development in five Midwest states: Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky. The survey collected basic teacher demographic data: gender (male/female), licensure (elementary K–5, secondary 6–12), years of experience (0–5, 6–10, 11–15, 16–20, and 20 or more), and position type (teacher/principal). The survey consisted of 35 questions that focused on educator perceptions of professional development. In all, 396 educators from 18 school districts across five Midwest states responded to the survey instrument. A statistical analysis of the responses provided composite mean scores and standard deviations. A factorial ANOVA was used to test the first hypothesis. An independent samples t-test was used to test the second, fourth, and fifth hypotheses. A one-way ANOVA was used to test the third hypothesis. There was a significant difference between position type (teacher/principal) and licensure (elementary K–5, secondary 6–12) on their perceptions of professional development. Principals responded with a higher perception of professional development than teachers. Elementary licensure, K–5th grade teachers, also responded with a higher perception of professional development. There was no significant difference between gender (male/female) and years of experience (0–5, 6–10, 11–15, 16–20, and 20 or more). Educators responded that their perception of the most effective forms of professional development were having more time to work with colleagues (86.6%), using a professional learning community model (85.7%), and attending conferences and workshops (84.9%). In addition, educators had a higher perception of the effectiveness of professional development at the school level versus the district level.
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Taunyane, Tladi Petros. "An educational law perspective on educator professionalism / Tladi Petros Taunyane." Thesis, North-West University, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/1215.
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This research study deals mainly with the educator professionalisation in the post democratic
South Africa, paying attention to the role of a professional council in promoting
educator professionalism. The status and image of teaching in this country seem to have
been viewed From the racial and cultural differences of communities previously. The
democratic dispensation brought an end to this unfair racial and cultural discrimination in
the education system through the establishment of a non-racial professional council for
educators (i.e. SACE).
The research aims are to determine:
- The characteristics of a professions and those needed for educator professionalism;
and - the role of the a professional council in promoting educator professionalisation.
In order to attain the above-mentioned research aims, a literature review and an empirical
investigation were undertaken.
The literature study was used to clarify concepts such as occupation, semi-profession,
profession, professionalisation and professional status. Secondly, characteristics or common
features associated with traditional models of professions (ie. accounting, law and
medicine) were discussed from a theoretical point of view. Lastly, the literature study
highlighted the establishment of professional councils for educators in other parts of the
world, including South Africa.
The different forms of legislation and policy documents applicable in education were
discussed. In order to determine the extent to which teaching adheres to or fulfils the
characteristics associated with a profession, teaching was tested against these
characteristics. The history of the establishment of SACE was briefly discussed and the
objectives or role of this organisation in educator professionalisation concluded this chapter.
The empirical research was conducted by using the questionnaire as a measuring instrument.
The advantages and disadvantages of the questionnaire as measuring instrument were
highlighted. The target population comprises of 239 educators from a total population of 2070 educators in Lejweleputswa and Northern Free State Education Districts -Free State
Province. The data collected in the investigation was processed through the SAS computer package to establish frequencies and percentages of responses mean scores ranking, t-test procedures and the effect sizes. The results were then presented tables, analysed and interpreted in accordance with the literature study.
The literature study revealed that like all other occupations, teaching aspires to attain
recognition and status as a profession. It was also revealed that teaching partially satisfy
characteristics associated with professions. The empirical study revealed that the
employment of un- or under qualified educators is still prevalent in South African schools.
In the last chapter, Chapter 5, conclusions from the literature review and empirical
investigation were drawn. The recommendations with regard to the role of SACE in
educator professionalisation were provided. Finally based on the research, future research
studies in SACE and educator professionalism were recommended.Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.
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Davey, Ronys Lee. "Career on the Cusp:The Professional Identity of Teacher Educators." Thesis, University of Canterbury. School of Literacies and Arts in Education, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/4146.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis aims to take a step or two towards a theoretical model of where teacher education ‘stands’ as a social practice, a career, a discipline, and a profession. It does this through the specific lens of ‘professional identity’, a concept often referred to in the teaching and teacher education literature but one that is also often ill-defined and seldom made the empirical focus of the studies reported.
Taking as its starting point a definition of professional identity as ‘the valued professional self’, the thesis recounts the findings of a phenomenological study of the professional self-image and identities of nine preservice teacher educators from six different institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand. The research involved a grounded analysis of the transcripts of some 39 extended interviews with the teacher educators, conducted over a five-year period.
The period during which the thesis was written has been one of considerable educational change in New Zealand, and one little short of an upheaval in relation to the institutional structuring of teacher education nation-wide. During the period of the study colleges of education with a century and a half of history as independent, stand-alone and specialist institutions, have gone through a complex process of merging with their local universities, while neo-liberal reforms of all tertiary institutions have placed particular strains and constraints on the pedagogical structures and processes that are typically implemented in teacher education programmes. Being on the brink of a new era in teacher education has thus brought teacher educators’ identity - their place in the educational world and what it is that they and their field fundamentally ‘stand for’ - both into relief, and for some, into question.
The teacher educators in the study followed a path into teacher education typical in New Zealand but perhaps increasingly untypical in many other countries - from practitioner to academic - and in one sense it is an account of how they severally and collectively have come to terms with their own identities as professionals during that journey and at a time of considerable institutional turmoil. But the research also attempts to get beyond their individual stories to address broader issues of how one might best ‘get at’ a professional identity in the first place, as a matter of interview analysis and method, whether or not there are some distinctive but common elements that might distinguish the professional identity of the particular group we call teacher educators, and if there are, then what those distinctive characteristics might be.
The research studied the teacher educators’ professional identities through several related lenses or perspectives that taken together might be seen as constituting or covering the key facets of the phenomenon we call a professional identity. It interrogates their storied accounts of how and why they became teacher educators: their professional motivations, goals and career histories. It also examines through a snapshot in time what they saw as the occupational scope of their jobs and the various roles they undertook, and the relative emphasis or value priority given by individuals to each job or role. Through a third lens, it describes and theorises the particular knowledge base(s), pedagogies and professional expertise they felt they needed to do the job effectively, and what they saw as teacher educators’ distinctive ‘expertise’. Using metaphor analysis, it also explores the emotionalities associated with the various personae they found themselves ‘being’ as teacher educators - the highs and things that gave them ‘heart’, along with the tensions, incongruities and dilemmas associated with ‘being’ teacher educators. A final perspective explores their sense of collective identity as a professional community and the various other professional groups with whom they felt more, or less, collective affinity.
The thesis concludes by proposing a conceptual model of teacher educators’ professional identity as an identity that overlaps with that of teachers in schools as well as with that of academics in other fields, but which is nevertheless distinguishable from both these. In particular, it is simultaneously more multifaceted in scope than the former and more performative in nature than the latter. The study suggests that teacher educators’ professional identity may be particularly characterised by the comprehensiveness of its specialist expertise, by a strong sense of ethical commitment and other-centredness, by a conception of teacher education as the embodied enactment of its own knowledge-base and expertise, and, ultimately, by an abiding ambivalence about teacher educators’ and teacher education’s place in the world - the professional discomfort that characterises working across ‘the spaces in between’.
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Bawden, David. "Teaching knowledge organization: educator, employer and professional association perspectives." Thesis, City University London, 2005. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.492218.
Full text
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Horsburgh, Joanna. "Becoming a medical educator : understanding a complex professional identity." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2018. https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/becoming-a-medical-educator(2a6eba2a-9ba9-4bbd-9271-615370f8755e).html.
Full textAbstract:
In the last 10-15 years there has been a significant increase in the number of medical doctors completing Master’s level qualifications in education. This Research Based Thesis (RBT) aims to explore the professional identity development of these individuals who work across the differing communities of practices (Wenger, 1998) of medicine and education. This thesis explores the diverse nature of both the medical and educational practices that these participants engage in and how this impacts on their identities as medical educators. In particular, it aims to explore the similarities and differences between different groups of medics in how they develop their medical educator identity including how participants from different specialities broker their identity between different communities of practice. Some of the key factors that are influential in the shaping of professional identity of medical educators are thereby explored. In particular, gender is used as a lens through which to explore issues of power and hierarchy that may impact on identity development. Drawing upon a social constructivist approach, 15 semi structured interviews were conducted with clinically qualified medical educators all of whom had completed, or nearly completed, a Master’s in Education (MEd). The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed prior to being thematically analysed (Corbin and Straus, 2015). An orientation exercise was also undertaken in which medical Royal College websites and education articles within medical journals were analysed to better understand the values and assumptions about education that were presented within a small selection of medical specialties. The key findings focused around the diversity of education activities that participants engaged with including how these activities were viewed by others as both low and high status. Participants often experienced tensions in brokering between education and medicine communities, and these tensions ranged in type and complexity given differences between and within these communities. Some factors that impacted on participants’ medical educator identity included how integrated their education and medicine roles were, completion of their MEd qualification and how this was viewed by others, the amount of identity capital they held, and issues around gender. This research shows how developing a professional identity as a medical educator is complex and challenging.
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More, Teboho Edward. "The role of the principal in educator professional development." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/60964.
Full textAbstract:
The study investigated how principals discharge their responsibilities with regard to educator professional development and what factors, if any, assist or hinder principals in the execution of their responsibilities for educator professional development. The following research question informs this study: "What role do principals play in educator professional development in secondary schools in Gauteng Province?" The theoretical framework used in this study is that of human capital theory. In the words of Van Loo and Rocco (2004:99), human capital theory is "an economic approach to the evaluation of the costs and benefits of the investment in skills and knowledge", and in this regard, it implies investment in people themselves in education and training with a view to enhance economic productivity and competence, in this case, educational output.
The study followed a qualitative research design wherein data were collected through semi-structured interviews with principals and two educators in four secondary schools, two fee-paying and two no-fee paying schools, in Gauteng Province. The sampling method used was convenience sampling because of practical constraints, namely, time and costs, involved.
This study found that principals do play a role, though not appropriately, in educator professional development in secondary schools. In some schools, it was found that proper management of professional development programmes was non-existent, and this led to educators being not clearly sure of what role their principals play exactly in their professional development. Principals indicated that most professional development activities were carried out by the district offices. Some principals were not certain of what the scope of professional development entails and in this way, they were not quite sure where exactly development was required. It became evident that the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS), as a developmental tool, was reported not to be efficiently implemented in most schools in this study, and challenges faced were also attributed to poor management of the process by the Staff Development Team (SDT), including the principals.Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016.
Education Management and Policy Studies
MEd
Unrestricted
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Moore, Eric T. "PHYSICAL EDUCATOR PERCEPTIONS OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY." UKnowledge, 2018. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/edsc_etds/41.
Full textAbstract:
The objective of this study was to explore the perceptions physical educators had of a phenomenon: professional development (PD). Specifically, the study sought to understand the following question: how do physical educators perceive PD? Said in the spirit of phenomenological research, this study aimed to explore the lived experience of PD from the perspective of elementary physical education teachers. Subsequent research questions included: (a) How do physical educators perceive PD in relation to their physical education program’s role in public health?; (b) What perceptions, including potential barriers and facilitators, do physical educators have of PD?; and (c) In what ways do physical educators use PD to improve upon both teaching practices and student learning? Participants included ten elementary physical education teachers employed in the same county in the Southeast United States. A lengthy, open-ended interview between the researcher and all ten participants was the only source of data. Data were analyzed using a phenomenological approach, more specifically Hycner’s phenomenological five-step data explication process. The data explication process revealed four common themes as well as a variety of sub-themes across all participants. The four themes were analyzed to gain a true understanding of the lived experiences of physical educators’ PD. Those themes were: (a) PD for Professional Growth – A search for meaning; (b) Accessibility, (c) I Matter!, and (d) Relationships. Overall the study highlights the integral and often-personal role PD has in the lives of the study’s participants. The insights from this study may inform education policy makers, school districts, school administrators, and designers of educator PD to improve the overall PD experience of practicing educators.
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Webster, Susan. "Professional pathways for teacher educators in further education practice : a framework to support professional learning." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/13073.
Full textAbstract:
This project evaluates a proposed framework designed to support professional learning for teacher educators, focusing on Post Compulsory Education & Training, and particularly practices in Further Education. The intention of the framework is to enhance practice and promote professional recognition for people who support others in becoming or developing as teachers: teacher educators. The project proposal is that this can be achieved through engagement with processes of professional learning (Timperley, 2011) in the form of professional pathways, defined here as professional and individual learning journeys supported by principles and research-based recommendations within a recognised framework of underpinning factors. The theoretical framework for the project is interpretative, based on transformative learning (Cranton, 1994, 2002; ; Mezirow, 1997) with a constructivist epistemology and reflexive ontology (Door, 2014). It builds on previous research (Exley & Ovenden-Hope, 2013) using new data to develop initial ideas through a methodology of creative praxis, representing practices and approaches where reflexive, innovative thinking and impact on the world are equally important. The intention is to arrive at a robust, flexible and well-considered framework designed to support the professional formation and development of prospective, new or experienced teacher educators practicing in the Further Education sector.
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Anderson, Michael. "Journeys in Teacher Professional Development: Narratives of Four Drama Educators." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/665.
Full textAbstract:
Ongoing teacher professional development is an essential part of the wellbeing of the schooling system and successful outcomes for students. In the past, teacher professional development has been used to describe an often 'top-down' method of training to meet systemic needs while taking little account of teacher's individual needs. This approach often conceptualises the teacher's life as a dichotomy with the personal and the private separated and unrelated. In contrast, teacher professional development in this study is conceptualised as a journey that includes encouraging and discouraging turns. The journey is explored through the experiences of two primary and two secondary drama educators using Hargreaves and Fullan's (1992) organisers: teacher development as knowledge and skill development; teacher development as self understanding and teacher development as ecological change. The study focussed specifically on teachers of drama. Of the four educators two were beginning teachers, one primary and one secondary and two were experienced teachers, one primary and one secondary. The teachers were interviewed over twelve months. Narrative vignettes were developed from the interviews. As the context for these teacher journeys was pivotal, the influences on the teaching of drama in New South Wales were investigated. This included an exploration of the major issues that have influenced the development of drama education both internationally and in Australia. The concluding reflections from this study suggest that there is strong interaction between teachers' personal and professional lives. Teachers' personal circumstances, family histories and schooling backgrounds all have an important influence on their work as teachers. Significantly, issues related to drama education's history and current context reflected these teachers' classroom realities. The teachers argue that they understand their professional development needs best and should have influence and ownership of their own professional development experiences. They found aspects of their tertiary training and teacher induction unsatisfactory. The two beginning teachers in this study struggled to survive the difficulties of their first year and both seriously considered leaving teaching. The teachers describe self understanding through distinct phases of development that are made unique by each teacher's personality and context. The teachers saw subject identity and pedagogy as important to their professional identity. They report that times of crisis often lead to positive changes in their professional development journeys. The ecology for these teachers was made up of several complex issues that are resistant to change and there were a number of impediments reported by the teachers that arise from their teaching ecologies. Two of the teachers have used a change of context to improve their satisfaction and confidence levels. Two teachers described beneficial experiences with supervisors in the school setting. If beneficial ecological change is to occur, education systems must attend to the needs of teachers and provide opportunities to teach unimpeded by systemic obstacles. The study calls for changes in professional development and for the recognition of the multilayered nature of the teachers' journey. The study calls for a reconceptualisation of teacher professional development that recognises each teacher's ecology and self understanding. The renewed impetus for arts education will only be successful if the complexity of the teachers' journey is recognised and systemic obstacles are removed.
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Anderson, Michael. "Journeys in Teacher Professional Development: Narratives of Four Drama Educators." University of Sydney. Policy and Practice, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/665.
Full textAbstract:
Ongoing teacher professional development is an essential part of the wellbeing of the schooling system and successful outcomes for students. In the past, teacher professional development has been used to describe an often �top-down� method of training to meet systemic needs while taking little account of teacher's individual needs. This approach often conceptualises the teacher's life as a dichotomy with the personal and the private separated and unrelated. In contrast, teacher professional development in this study is conceptualised as a journey that includes encouraging and discouraging turns. The journey is explored through the experiences of two primary and two secondary drama educators using Hargreaves and Fullan's (1992) organisers: teacher development as knowledge and skill development; teacher development as self understanding and teacher development as ecological change. The study focussed specifically on teachers of drama. Of the four educators two were beginning teachers, one primary and one secondary and two were experienced teachers, one primary and one secondary. The teachers were interviewed over twelve months. Narrative vignettes were developed from the interviews. As the context for these teacher journeys was pivotal, the influences on the teaching of drama in New South Wales were investigated. This included an exploration of the major issues that have influenced the development of drama education both internationally and in Australia. The concluding reflections from this study suggest that there is strong interaction between teachers' personal and professional lives. Teachers' personal circumstances, family histories and schooling backgrounds all have an important influence on their work as teachers. Significantly, issues related to drama education's history and current context reflected these teachers' classroom realities. The teachers argue that they understand their professional development needs best and should have influence and ownership of their own professional development experiences. They found aspects of their tertiary training and teacher induction unsatisfactory. The two beginning teachers in this study struggled to survive the difficulties of their first year and both seriously considered leaving teaching. The teachers describe self understanding through distinct phases of development that are made unique by each teacher's personality and context. The teachers saw subject identity and pedagogy as important to their professional identity. They report that times of crisis often lead to positive changes in their professional development journeys. The ecology for these teachers was made up of several complex issues that are resistant to change and there were a number of impediments reported by the teachers that arise from their teaching ecologies. Two of the teachers have used a change of context to improve their satisfaction and confidence levels. Two teachers described beneficial experiences with supervisors in the school setting. If beneficial ecological change is to occur, education systems must attend to the needs of teachers and provide opportunities to teach unimpeded by systemic obstacles. The study calls for changes in professional development and for the recognition of the multilayered nature of the teachers' journey. The study calls for a reconceptualisation of teacher professional development that recognises each teacher's ecology and self understanding. The renewed impetus for arts education will only be successful if the complexity of the teachers' journey is recognised and systemic obstacles are removed.
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Lake, Jeremy Paul. "Evaluating a Graduate Professional Development Program for Informal Science Educators." Scholar Commons, 2017. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6722.
Full textAbstract:
This study is an examination and evaluation of the outcomes of a series of courses that I helped build to create a graduate certificate. Specifically, I wanted to evaluate whether or not the online iteration of the Informal Science Institutions Environmental Education Graduate Certificate Program truly provided the long term professional development needed to enhance the skills of the formal and informal educators participating so that they could contribute meaningfully to the improvement of science literacy in their respective communities.
My role as an internal evaluator provided an extraordinary opportunity to know the intent of the learning opportunities and why they were constructed in a particular fashion. Through the combination of my skills, personal experiences both within the certificate’s predecessor and as an educator, I was uniquely qualified to explore the outcomes of this program and evaluate its effectiveness in providing a long-term professional development for participants.
After conducting a literature review that emphasized a need for greater scientific literacy in communities across America, it was evident that the formal education enterprise needs the support of informal educators working on the ground in myriad different settings in ways that provide science as both content and process, learning science facts and doing real science. Through a bridging of informal science educators with formal teachers, it was thought each could learn the culture of the other, making each more fluent in accessing community resources to help make these educators more collaborative and able to bridge the classroom with the outside world. This bridge promotes ongoing, lifelong learning, which in turn can help the national goal of greater scientific literacy.
This study provided insight into the thinking involved in the learners’ growth as they converted theory presented in course materials into practice. Through an iterative process of reviewing the course generated content, I was able to piece through the many layers of this two year long program to examine the growth of these individuals over time.
While all participants showed growth completing the certificate program, those who could fully invest themselves in the experiences seemed to have gained the most. These cases indicate the Informal Science Institutions Environmental Education Graduate Certificate Program was effective at enhancing the careers of formal and informal science educators. Additionally, it suggests informal science educators, although busy with their professional obligations and personal lives, can be successful in a formal graduate program designed to meet ISE needs as explicated in Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits (Bell, Lewenstein, Shouse, & Feder, 2009). The emergent model indicating connections among a person’s personal life, professional life, and graduate study may also have implications for other professionals desiring to enroll in graduate school. For example, science teachers in university graduate programs may also benefit from applying this model to their lives.
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Fornaro, Elisabeth Grace. ""It's Like Professional Food": Sustaining Urban Educators Through Service-Learning." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2018. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/497461.
Full textAbstract:
Urban EducationPh.D.
This dissertation examined the assumptions and motivations that shape teachers’ participation in a service-learning practice and community of practice and how their participation affects their professional practice and identity. Framed by Santoro’s (2013) model of teacher integrity, defined as an educators’ ability to teach in alignment with their commitments, it presents an understanding of challenges to participants’ integrity, and how they mitigate those challenges. Heuristically, this project can be understood as the study of two components conducted using an ethnographic perspective over the course of 16 months: (1) the study of the community of practice and (2) the study of how its characteristics manifest in practice. It involved 100 hours of participant observation, 31 interviews, and the collection of artifact data. Data promote service-learning as a vital pedagogy by shedding light on its potential to sustain urban educators whose integrity is challenged by discourses, policies, and practices that emphasize competition and social efficiency rather than more holistic understandings of education as a civic and social good. Findings show how and why urban educators’ professional and personal commitments are intertwined with beliefs about social justice and democracy. Because of their work with student populations underprivileged and marginalized by systemic situations, meeting students’ social and emotional needs, honoring student voice, and teaching citizenship skills were important to participants. Conditions in their urban schools— a lack of curricular autonomy; insufficient time and resources to meet students’ needs; and deficient support systems— challenged participants commitments. As a result, participants were pushed to participate in service-learning and a service-learning community of practice. In addition, several characteristics of the community of practice pulled participants to participate: a framework for integrating quality service-learning into school- or school district-mandated curriculum; pedagogical and emotional supports specifically needed by urban teachers; and recognition that countered discouragingly negative perceptions of urban teachers. These resources and supports helped urban teachers’ fulfill their professional and personal commitments, validated their work, and sustained them in the profession.
Temple University--Theses
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Hillard, Wonda Y. "An Art Educators' Perception of an Art Professional Development Workshop." ScholarWorks, 2019. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/6578.
Full textAbstract:
There are no guidelines in South Carolina for developing workshops that reflect the needs of art educators, and there are no tools to evaluate and support their professional development. The problem is a lack of informative, substantive, and academically oriented art inservices that are standards-based and focused on the enhancement of pedagogy, teaching strategies, and content. The purpose of this case study was to explore participants' perceptions of an art professional development workshop as an approach to examining art standards, instructional strategies, and policy changes. Dewey's experiential theory served as the conceptual framework. A purposeful sample of 10 art educators who attended a district-sponsored professional development workshop participated in this study. After the workshop, data about educators' perceptions of the inservice were collected through a beta test and a focus group with 2 participants, 1 open-ended questionnaire with 8 participants, and a workshop observation with 20 participants. Data were analyzed using comparative analysis to identify patterns in the data. Member checking and triangulation were used to verify the data and control bias. Five themes emerged from the data: adult-centered hands-on learning, professional development experiences, grants, collaboration and networking, and best practices. This study contributes to social change by showing the importance of on-going adult-centered, research-based, hands-on professional development for educators addressing visual art standards, practice, instructional strategies, policy changes, and the facilitation of student-centered activities.
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Nate, Rebecca Diane. "Predicting the Perceived Importance of Professional Advocacy Among Counselor Educators." ScholarWorks, 2015. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/594.
Full textAbstract:
The goal of this nonexperimental quantitative research study was to determine if the professional identity of a counselor educator (CE) predicted their perceived importance of professional advocacy. Social identity theory (SIT) constituted the framework for this study, which asked whether CEs would follow the established norms of the dominant professional group and thus consistently perceive the importance of professional advocacy. The Professional Counselor Advocacy Inventory (PCAI) was used to measure CEs' perceptions. The data of 92 participants were analyzed in SPSS 21 using an ordinal regression. Specialization, age, gender, primary setting, and years of experience were the predictor variables, and multiple elements of perceived importance were the outcome variables. While CEs overwhelmingly agreed that professional advocacy as a general concept was important as indicated by majority responses, there was less agreement on the importance of other elements, particularly concerning insurance coverage and job attainment. Of the five predictor variables examined, only gender and age produced significant results on study inquiries related to insurance, employment, and self-advocacy. The findings do not support SIT in the context of professional advocacy among CEs and additional research may be needed to determine if other variables predict the level of importance CEs assign to professional advocacy. As the results of this study demonstrated only age and gender produced a significant effect, this research could contribute to social change by sparking conversation about advocacy patterns and efforts in CEs, which may ultimately contribute to policy change and improve the reputation of the counseling and counselor education fields for its members and clients.
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Ellis, Maureen. "The personal and professional development of the critical global educator." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2013. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10018010/.
Full textAbstract:
The fragmented origins of global education in the UK and the development of Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship separate from Citizenship Education mean that today the umbrella term ‘global education’ still covers a host of humanistic educations. In line with Huckle’s arguments for investment in Citizenship Studies and Bonnet’s ‘Education for Sustainable Development as a frame of mind’, this thesis adopts the acronym GCESD for Global Citizenship Education as Sustainable Development. An acknowledged challenge for GCESD in its many forms is lack of explicit philosophical and theoretical foundations, resulting in low academic status, reduced prestige and peripheral impact. Though neglected by neoliberal instrumentalist discourses, a rich tradition of mainstream philosophy and theories does exist offering integrity to a conceptualisation of a critical global educator. Critical Realist philosophy, Critical Social Theory, psycholinguistic Frame and Positioning theories, supported by cognitive and sociolinguistic research, provide insights into the inherently political nature of education; meanwhile, Critical Discourse Studies and Critical Pedagogy present strategies for analysis and application. Engestrom’s Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), centring consciousness and agency, encapsulates the synthesis. Embodying this ‘vision’, an Interview Schedule, provides critical global educators with a tool for self- and negotiated-evaluation. Analysis of eighteen semi-structured interview transcripts points to factors which determine the personal and professional development of the critical global educator. In an increasingly heteroglossic world, the thesis argues for the crucial importance of Critical Discourse Studies as educators in every discipline honestly engage the individual learner's stream of consciousness. It asserts that consistent critical global education requires education policy which develops transition coherently, from personal transmission of global citizenship through transactional professional ‘response-ability’, to transformational political justice for all.
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Randall, Victoria Katherine. "Becoming a primary physical educator : sourcing professional knowledge and confidence." Thesis, University of Winchester, 2016. http://repository.winchester.ac.uk/915/.
Full textAbstract:
Despite a number of reforms to education, concern over teachers’ knowledge and confidence to teach physical education persists. This thesis examines the process of becoming a primary physical educator at the initial stage of a teacher’s career. The aim of which is to consider the ways beginning teachers source their professional knowledge and the implications this has on their confidence to teach. The study argues for a clear articulation of the subject’s knowledge-base and proposes a framework for the development of knowledge in primary physical education initial teacher education. Participants were drawn from a range of providers in England and were in the final year of their programme. The research adopted a mixed method approach using an online survey to obtain quantitative data and interviews to elicit constructs about beliefs from four case-study participants. The study identified that beginning teachers had perceived high levels of confidence across the subject’s knowledge-base, but areas of most and least confidence were varied and personal to the individual. The sourcing of knowledge was mainly drawn from school and university settings, but in many cases personal interests and prior experiences formed a central role in sourcing content knowledge when no opportunity was presented. Despite the varying routes that exist to become a primary physical educator, this research argues that all beginning teachers require a breadth of knowledge during initial teacher preparation, with university and school partnerships offering explicit roles in developing professional knowledge to a secure level. It further argues that it is through a focus on individual teacher transformation, not merely reflection that will ensure inherent challenges faced by primary physical education will be addressed.
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Oosthuizen, Lizette Clarise. "Designing a strategy to bring about a greater professional confidence for educators by improving their involvement in their own continous professional development." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1012145.
Full textAbstract:
To ensure the professionalism of the teaching force, it is vital that the growing gap between the knowledge educators acquired during their years of training and emerging knowledge about teaching and education during their teaching careers be closed. The continuous professional development (CPD) of educators is a much-debated issue, the general consensus being that it is imperative that educators themselves become directly involved in their own CPD. School leadership should therefore establish what educators find meaningful and invest in CPD programmes that respond to their needs. Educator development is considered as productive when the educators are involved in planning, decision-making, implementation and evaluation around the CPD programmes offered to them. As an office-based educator responsible for educator development and training, educators‟ perceived lack of interest in their own CPD prompted me to investigate how their professional confidence could be boosted through improved involvement in their own CPD. The research question that underpinned this study was: What are the perceptions of educators in the Uitenhage area of their involvements in their own CPD and how to find a strategy to enhance their professional confidence through such involvement? This study adopted the interpretive research paradigm, as the aim was to understand how educators understood their involvement in their own CPD. The qualitative research methods employed, allowed me to share the experiences of my participants. The research sample consisted of Integrated Quality Management Systems (IQMS) coordinators, as members of the school development team (SDT) responsible for educator development, from twelve primary schools in the Uitenhage District. In Phase 1 of the study, data were collected through questionnaires as well as individual and group interviews. Phase 2 consisted of a workshop for the participants, focusing on the key issues identified from the completed questionnaires and interviews. From the data analysis, five themes emerged, namely the contribution by the school, school management team (SMT), Department of Education (DoE) in the educators‟ CPD; the role of the individual educator in his/her own CPD; the factors influencing the effective implementation of educators‟ CPD; the skills and competencies that educators need to acquire through CPD; and the role of the IQMS process in the CPD of educators. Based on the research findings, a strategy was designed to guide educators to increase their professional confidence through improved involvement in their own CPD. Specific recommendations were formulated, such as that adequate time should be allocated for the CPD of educators; school leadership should make a concerted effort to motivate educators to become involved in CPD programmes; and educators should be encouraged to learn collaboratively through their involvement in communities of learning. The conclusions from this research are that educators should be life-long learners, actively involved in their own CPD and that schools, SMTs and the DoE should assist them by providing the necessary support, resources and guidance through enabling conditions conducive to a culture of learning.
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Robinson, Linda Marie McDonald. "Perceptions of Preservice Educators, Inservice Educators, and Professional Development Personnel Regarding Effective Methods for Learning Technology Integration Skills." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2002. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3316/.
Full textAbstract:
This study examined educators' preferences for learning technology integration skills in order to provide the education community with justifiable data concerning the need for educator training alternatives. A survey was distributed to compare preservice educators, inservice educators, and professional development personnel's perceived effectiveness of eight training methods (N=759). The four research questions examined were: Do differences exist among preservice educators, inservice educators, and professional development personnel in the perceived effectiveness of different methods for learning technology integration skills? (2) Do differences exist among preservice educators, inservice educators, and professional development personnel in the perceived effectiveness of different methods for learning technology integration skills when categorized by age? (3) Do differences exist among preservice educators, inservice educators, and professional development personnel in the perceived effectiveness of different methods for learning technology integration skills when categorized by total hours of instruction? (4) Do differences exist among preservice educators, inservice educators, and professional development personnel in the perceived effectiveness of different methods for learning technology integration skills when categorized by locus of control? All groups were measured for similarities and differences in preferences on credit classes, workshops, open computer labs, technology personnel support, peer support, online help, printed documentation, and trial and error. In addition, those training preferences were cross-referenced with age, training hours, and the locus of control personality factor. MANOVAs and post-hoc analyses were performed for each major research question as well as trends in the data were examined. This study indicated that the most effective training methods were technical support, peer support, and credit courses. The least effective training methods were online help, printed documentation, workshops, and computer labs. Age, amount of training hours, and locus of control score did not provide as much information as did educator type when predicting training preference. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that educator training programs be revamped to include the methods that the educators themselves have affirmed as effective for learning technology integration skills. This assures that teachers are prepared to integrate technology into the curriculum and students are prepared for a technological society.
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Ascetta, Kate Elisabeth. "The Features of Effective Online Professional Development for Early Childhood Educators." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10608077.
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The purpose of this current study was to examine the effect of a preschool teacher intervention around the use self-monitoring and the online learning modules. The interventions were delivered online using: online learning modules that provided exemplars of the operationally defined instructional language supports. The study included 12 Head Start classrooms, with 21 lead and assistant teachers who were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: (a) graphed feedback based on self-reported data, or (b) written feedback based on performance data from videos. An experimental research design was conducted to evaluate the treatment effects for teachers and children (n = 107). The results suggested that regardless of condition, the majority of teachers increased their total frequency of language facilitation strategies. Additionally, the results suggest that teachers’ receptive vocabulary skills and their role in the classroom (lead or assistant) may mediate the effect of the professional development intervention.
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Reushle, Shirley. "Inquiry into a transformative approach to professional development for online educators." University of Southern Queensland, Faculty of Education, 2005. http://eprints.usq.edu.au/archive/00001494/.
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This study investigates professional development for online educators within a transformative learning framework. A qualitative, action research method was adopted that captured data from interactions between the researcher and participants, and which allowed the generation of theory that could guide future design efforts. The project was conducted online from Australia during 2002 and 2003 with two groups of participants drawn from a Singapore polytechnic. Data were analysed utilising content analysis of transcripts, interviews, and observations, with the researcher being an active participant in the project. The findings which differentiated online from traditional educational contexts, and which therefore are significant in terms of future design considerations were that since interactions were all text-based and visible, participants were careful to provide reasoned, reflective contributions. Furthermore, the archived interactions were available for inspection by all participants, giving rise to more articulate and constructive dialogues while maintaining evidence of the human "presence". Other findings related to supporting an online community of adult learners by recognising the individuality of each learner and their specific needs in terms of their experience, need for relevance and flexibility in the learning activity, and valuing the sense of human connectivity. Offering of peer support through a peer learning partnership model was found to be an effective way for learners to support each other in a trusting, respectful, empathetic, non-threatening manner. Findings indicated that the provision of exemplars, or models of good practice, supported situated, authentic activity, and contributed to positive, motivated learners. The dynamic (constantly changing, growing, adapting) nature of the Internet required facilitators to be continually evaluating the learning situation in order to promote and nurture an atmosphere that supported the development of new ideas, the challenging of old, the exploration of alternatives, and support for changes in perspective and action. Evidence suggested that the use of the Internet for learning and teaching could go some way towards addressing the challenges of prejudice, discrimination, and celebrate the notion of difference. From these findings, the literature, and the personal experience of the researcher, ten design principles were formulated and, if considered in light of local contextual characteristics, offer a framework for transformative approaches to professional development for online educators. Further research to address the application of this framework to other discipline areas, and other educational settings, is recommended.
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Bamber, John. "Towards a discursive pedagogy in the professional training of community educators." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/3263.
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The author’s previous research into the learning experiences of mature, workingclass students undertaking a professionally endorsed qualification in Community Education, was overly negative in its view of the students whilst underplaying the role of curriculum in their learning. Reinterpreting their undergraduate experience more positively leads to thinking about how their educational needs could be reconciled with the programme’s aim to produce critically competent graduates. Four principles derived from the Habermasian concept of communicative action can inform thinking about an appropriate pedagogical approach. The first directs attention to the acts of reciprocity that underpin learning. The second focuses attention on how knowledge can be constructed through redeeming claims. The third signals the necessity of safeguarding participation and protecting rationality in argumentation, and the fourth points to the idea of competence as a constructive achievement. Taken together, the four principles express the ideal of a discursive pedagogy in which teachers and students socially construct knowledge appropriate to the subject area. Because it involves active participation based on a commitment to open communication and argumentative reasoning, approximating the ideal conditions of a discursive pedagogy could address the student’s learning needs whilst meeting the programme’s aim. Anticipating and considering the likely issues and challenges involved in attempts to realise these idealised conditions suggests ways in which a discursive pedagogy could be given practical form.
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Wise, Riley. "The construction of professional identity in early educators with master's degrees." Thesis, Mills College, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1557360.
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This study examines the professional identities of early educators with master's degrees in the United States. While other democratic nations have begun to move toward fully funded early care and education that offers qualified teachers a living wage, early education in the U.S. continues to be vastly underfunded and inconsistently regulated. Through semi-structured interviews with five teachers I identified specific ways in which highly qualified early educators have constructed professional identities within a marginalized profession. Results indicate that the attainment of a Master's degree in Early Childhood Education [ECE] positively influences teachers' abilities to take a leadership role, reflect critically on the field, and participate within the broader public sphere to enact change. Implications of this study highlight the pivotal role that early educators with master's degrees play in shaping the future of ECE in the U.S.
Keywords: Early Care and Education, professional identity, professional status, reflection, leadership
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Chatraphorn, Suparp. "Learning efforts and professional teaching practices of vocational home economics educators /." The Ohio State University, 1989. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487673114113447.
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Tolan, Linda A. "Career concerns, pathing, and professional development of high-school technology educators /." Link to Dissertation, 2008. http://eprint.cc.andrews.edu/39/.
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Lekome, Botsang Patricia. "Professional development of primary school educators through the developmental appraisal system." Pretoria : [s.n.], 2007. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-09122008-152948/.
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Ascetta, Kate. "The Features of Effective Online Professional Development for Early Childhood Educators." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/23113.
Full textAbstract:
The purpose of this current study was to examine the effect of a preschool teacher intervention around the use self-monitoring and the online learning modules. The interventions were delivered online using: online learning modules that provided exemplars of the operationally defined instructional language supports. The study included 12 Head Start classrooms, with 21 lead and assistant teachers who were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: (a) graphed feedback based on self-reported data, or (b) written feedback based on performance data from videos. An experimental research design was conducted to evaluate the treatment effects for teachers and children (n = 107). The results suggested that regardless of condition, the majority of teachers increased their total frequency of language facilitation strategies. Additionally, the results suggest that teachers’ receptive vocabulary skills and their role in the classroom (lead or assistant) may mediate the effect of the professional development intervention.
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Walter, Woodrow James. "Books in Religious Adult Education Valued by Professional Religious Adult Educators." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1996. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc935810/.
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This research focused on discovering the most valued books in adult religious education through a survey of professors of adult religious education and in bibliographies of recent dissertations in adult religious education. Three groups of adult religious educators participated in the survey: the religious adult educators who are members of the adult sections of the Association of Professors and Researchers of Religious Education and North American Professors of Christian Education, and professors of adult religious education in Southern Baptist theological seminaries. In addition the author surveyed the adult religious education dissertation bibliographies for the period 1980-1995 to discover the most frequently cited adult religious education books. The author developed a listing of 312 adult religious education books published in English. Then a jury of three experts in the field choose seventy-seven books which they valued. From this list the three groups of professors choose books according to three criteria: textbooks they used in adult religious education courses, books they recommended as additional reading, and books they valued in the field.
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Thomas, Louise M. "Certainties and uncertainties : ethics and professional identities of early childhood educators." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2009. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/27648/1/Louise_Thomas_Thesis.pdf.
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This study is an inquiry into the professional identity constructions of early childhood educators, where identity is conceptualised as social and contextual. Through a genealogical analysis of narratives of four Queensland early childhood teachers, the thesis renders as problematic universal and fixed notions of what it is to be an early childhood professional. The data are the four teachers’ professional life history narratives recounted through a series of conversational interviews with each participant. As they spoke about professionalism and ethics, these teachers struggled to locate themselves as professionals, as they drew on a number of dominant discourses available to them. These dominant discourses were located and mapped through analysis of the participants’ talk about relationships with parents, colleagues and authorities. Genealogical analysis enabled multiple readings of the ways in which the participants’ talk held together certainties and uncertainties, as they recounted their experiences and spoke of early childhood expertise, relational engagement and ethics. The thesis concludes with suggestions for ways to support early childhood teachers and pre-service teachers to both engage with and resist normative processes and expectations of professional identity construction. In so doing, multiple and contextual opportunities can be made available when it comes to being professional and ‘doing’ ethics. The thesis makes an argument for new possibilities for thinking and speaking professional identities that include both certainty and uncertainty, comfort and discomfort, and these seemingly oppositional terms are held together in tension, with an insistence that both are necessary and true. The use of provocations offers tools through which pre-service teachers, teachers and teacher educators can access new positions associated with certainties and uncertainties in professional identities. These new positions call for work that supports experiences of ‘de-comfort’ – that is, experiences that encourage early childhood educators to step away from the comfort zones that can become part of expertise, professional relationships and ethics embedded within normative representations of what it is to be an early childhood professional.
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Thomas, Louise M. "Certainties and uncertainties : ethics and professional identities of early childhood educators." Queensland University of Technology, 2009. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/27648/.
Full textAbstract:
This study is an inquiry into the professional identity constructions of early childhood educators, where identity is conceptualised as social and contextual. Through a genealogical analysis of narratives of four Queensland early childhood teachers, the thesis renders as problematic universal and fixed notions of what it is to be an early childhood professional. The data are the four teachers’ professional life history narratives recounted through a series of conversational interviews with each participant. As they spoke about professionalism and ethics, these teachers struggled to locate themselves as professionals, as they drew on a number of dominant discourses available to them. These dominant discourses were located and mapped through analysis of the participants’ talk about relationships with parents, colleagues and authorities. Genealogical analysis enabled multiple readings of the ways in which the participants’ talk held together certainties and uncertainties, as they recounted their experiences and spoke of early childhood expertise, relational engagement and ethics. The thesis concludes with suggestions for ways to support early childhood teachers and pre-service teachers to both engage with and resist normative processes and expectations of professional identity construction. In so doing, multiple and contextual opportunities can be made available when it comes to being professional and ‘doing’ ethics. The thesis makes an argument for new possibilities for thinking and speaking professional identities that include both certainty and uncertainty, comfort and discomfort, and these seemingly oppositional terms are held together in tension, with an insistence that both are necessary and true. The use of provocations offers tools through which pre-service teachers, teachers and teacher educators can access new positions associated with certainties and uncertainties in professional identities. These new positions call for work that supports experiences of ‘de-comfort’ – that is, experiences that encourage early childhood educators to step away from the comfort zones that can become part of expertise, professional relationships and ethics embedded within normative representations of what it is to be an early childhood professional.
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Cranitch, Christina S. "Professional identity: Shaping attraction, retention, and training intentions in early childhood education and care." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2017. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/112813/2/Christina_Cranitch_Thesis.pdf.
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Across Australian long day care centres, thousands of early childhood (EC) educators face enduring challenges adversely impacting their pay, conditions, and workplace retention. Despite such challenges, significant numbers of EC educators continue to work in their roles over the long-term. Data was collected from 18 study participants and viewed through a professional identity framework comprising the dimensions of continuity, belonging and attachment, status and esteem, and mastery. The analysis shed light on the reasons underlying EC educator decisions to continue working in long day care centres within the broader context of historical and current policy approaches.
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Jay, Jason T. "Faculty Orientations in ESL Professional Development." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2020. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/8148.
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The role of teacher educators is vital to education, but when the population of public-school students shifts, or progress and advances in knowledge of the field or knowledge for teaching emerge, teacher education faces challenges. One such challenge involves a continuing increase in the proportion of second language learners entering primary and secondary schools, English learners (ELs) in this case. In such situations, teacher educators often do not have deep knowledge of second language acquisition or how to integrate attention to ELs within their regular courses. One response to this challenge is to provide professional development (PD) for teacher education faculty. This qualitative study explored how faculty responded to a PD focused on developing understandings of second language acquisition with opportunity to consider how it might be taken up in their own teaching of teachers. We interviewed eight teacher education faculty members about their learning and their response to participating in this PD effort. Using data analysis methods specified by Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña (2014), we gained a better understanding of how faculty responded to the PD in general and how it contributed to their positioning as participants within the PD. The importance of this study is that it can help professional development coordinators and facilitators understand the importance of positioning or orientation of participants as they begin a learning experience. Future research could examine ways in which learning opportunities can be designed to take into account the variability in these orientations.
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Ji, Jiao. "Understanding science museum educators in China and their self-concept as professionals." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/54877.
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Museum educators are critical human connectors who have a crucial influence in fulfilling the educational mission and social responsibility of museums. However, studies focusing on museum educators have mostly been conducted in museums based in Western cultural contexts. The voice of museum educators from non-Western museums are often ignored, marginalized, or underrepresented. Moreover, empirical studies of Chinese science museum educators are nearly non-existent. Informed by a Communities of Practice (CoP) perspective and Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), this interpretive case study investigated 23 Chinese science museum educators’ self-concept as museum education professionals and their perceived needs for future professional development. The research focused on museum educators’ perceptions of their self-concept as museum education professionals, and how these perceptions were influenced by the local social and cultural context in which they work. This study used semi-structured face-to-face interviews as the primary method of data collection. These were complemented by informal conversations between participants and the researcher, as well as the researcher’s self-reflective journaling. The study's findings indicate that Chinese science museum educators’ self-concept as museum education professionals is multifaceted and contextual. Their self-concept includes their perspectives on work motivations, job responsibility, work competency, current professional development pathways, and desires for future professional development. Moreover, museum educators’ self-concept varies across different contexts. The sociocultural factors within the Chinese museum context that shape their self-concept as professionals include: a) a highly hierarchical organizational culture, b) an authority-centered political structure, c) a highly competitive education reality, d) a hybridized educational philosophy that blends constructive teaching and the traditional teacher-centered didactic teaching pedagogies, and e) the contradictions emergent in the process of building a professional community and connecting with different stakeholders relevant to museum education work. The research findings elucidate Chinese science museum educators’ self-concept regarding who they are as professionals and their place within the larger museum professional community. The revelation of contradictions within Chinese science museum educators’ perception of themselves as professionals will help shape future research, develop pathways to professionalization of museum education work, and build a professional museum educator community in ChinaEducation, Faculty of
Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of
Graduate