Professional and Vocational Education Research Unit

My 'Best' Teacher

Peter Gossman — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 03:07:12 PDT

This article reports the analysis of 59 articles entitled 'my best teacher' printed in the UK Times Educational Supplement January 2000 - August 2003. The research identifies the common qualities/characteristics of ‘best’ teachers, compares the field of endeavour of the interviewee with the discipline of their 'best teacher' and examines 'light-bulb' moments; times when teachers especially inspired their students. A qualitative thematic analysis of the interviews in the articles has been utilised. The most frequently identified personal qualities contributing to a ‘best teacher’ are also reported. Finally, a model to illustrate dimensions of a 'best' teacher is presented.

Developing new academic developers: doing before being?

Barbara Kessington-Miller et al. — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:14:02 PST

A small group of new academic developers reflected on their induction into the profession and wondered if things could have been done differently. The researchers decided to question the directors of three tertiary academic development units about how they recruited new developers, what skills and competences they looked for and how they inducted new appointees into the role. This article interrogates the interview data, employing Winter’s ‘dilemma analysis’ to tease out the ambiguities, judgments and problems inherent in the issues of employing new academic developers. Finally, the authors discuss ways of enhancing the induction experience for new academic developers.

Implementing Competencies and their impact on Social Education

Thoby Miller — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:05:56 PDT

This paper examines the benefits and problems of implementing a system of competencies, with particular reference to social education in the UK. It recognises the potential value of National Occupational Standards as a means of promoting public esteem and recognition by other professionals, providing a framework for the discussing and enhancing practice and a means of maintaining quality and standards. However, the narrow instrumental emphasis on outcomes involves a lack of emphasis on the process of learning, marginalises professional values and ignores the context in which learning takes place. Consequently National Occupational Standards are only useful when used in conjunction with a broad-based education and training programme, which encourages creative practice and innovation and is aimed at producing fully-reflective and self-critical practitioners.

A Microgenetic Study of the Tutoring Process: Learning Centre Research

Richard E. Morehouse et al. — Fri, 27 May 2011 02:30:57 PDT

There is no abstract for this work

Developing communities of inquiry in the USA: Retrospective and prospective

Richard E. Morehouse — Tue, 24 May 2011 01:32:24 PDT

This paper takes a board perspective on Community of Inquiry (CI), following the orientation of earlier pa- pers looking at progressive pedagogies (Morehouse, 1993a; 1993b). In those papers, I argued that Philosophy for Children should look for kindred spirits in order to both better understand its own position within pedagogic tradition and to “make friends” in order to positively influences the lives and learning of children. The whole language approaches to reading instruction was the major focus of those papers. Here I take a bolder perspec- tive arguing that in order to understand and appreciate what a community of inquiry is, how it operates, and its influence in the schools, one ought to look at applications of CI that are not within the Philosophy for Children literature. Some of these programs specifically discuss CI, others do not. In taking such an approach towards the literature of pedagogy, I have discovered and included programs that do use the words ‘community of inquiry’ as a part of the pedagogic lexicon.

Teaching Development – Experience and Philosophy (Using the Three 6. Rs)

Peter Gossman — Tue, 10 May 2011 01:53:41 PDT

This article attempts to synthesize To create a whole or complete unit from parts or components. See synthesis. teachers' conceptions-of-teaching and integrate them into a structure for professional development. It presents one route by which a teacher might become more expert at the practice of teaching. Various conceptions-of-teaching theories are considered in the light of how they impact on the practice of teaching. How the conceptions influence and are linked with the progression from novice to expert as outlined by Drefus and Dreyfus in 1986 is discussed. The novice/ expert progression is overlaid with Haigh's three Rs methods for the promotion of professional development. Some methods for progression are suggested.

Undertaking an institutional ‘stock-take’ of SoTL: New Zealand university case studies

Neil Haigh et al. — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 03:28:20 PST

A working group was established at AUT University in 2005 with a brief to identify initiatives that might be taken to promote and support staff engagement in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). The working group recognized that a ‘stock-taking’ exercise would need to be undertaken before appropriate initiatives could be identified, trialled and evaluated. In this article the methodology and specific methods used for the stock-take, which included bench-marking with other New Zealand universities, are outlined and key findings are presented and discussed. These findings provide a helpful snapshot of the presence of SoTL within New Zealand universities and within the everyday lives of New Zealand university teachers. They highlight the complexity of those lives and tertiary institution environments that can make it challenging for teachers to become more scholarly and to engage in SoTL. They also point to ways in which those environments may be made more conducive to the realization of these goals. In this article, the methodology and specific methods used for the stock-take, which included bench-marking with other New Zealand universities, are outlined and key findings are presented and discussed.

Critical Conversations: Ethics, Professional Development and Organisational and Cultural Change

Alexander M. Carson et al. — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 08:26:22 PST

The academic environment is rapidly changing in response to the combined pressures of policy, the diverse needs of stakeholders, community demands, technological advances, and globalisation. All of these drivers are common to all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) at the present time including the one featured in this paper. The aim was to develop an ethically engaged model of staff development and cultural change. The particular HEI featured in this paper, is applying for degree awarding powers. As part of this process, it has to begin transforming itself into an organisation that is and acts ‘like a university’. This has involved more clearly defining a stronger relationship between research and scholarly activities and the quality of the student experience. This paper describes the way that the authors have developed the Appreciative Critical Conversation Process (ACCP) as a more ethically conscious approach to both staff development and cultural change.

Developing Communities of Inquiry in the UK: Retrospect and Prospect

Patrick J. Costello — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 02:28:59 PST

My aim in this article is to offer a critical evaluation of the development of communities of inquiry in the UK, with particular reference to the teaching of philosophy in schools. The paper is divided into four sections. In the first, I examine some key aspects from an historical perspective. The second section focuses on the question: ‘should children be taught to think philosophically?’ Having discussed the teaching of philosophical thinking in the UK, I outline a typical example of a dialogue undertaken with primary school pupils. Finally, I consider future prospects for developing communities of inquiry.

Scholarly, Scholarship, Excellence – a model for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Peter Gossman — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 06:30:27 PST

The article presents some personal thoughts about Boyer’s scholarship of teaching concept. It considers how the existing literature informs the notion of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and how it intersects with ideas of teaching excellence and expertise.

Developing Communities of Inquiry: The Role of Narrative

Patrick J. Costello — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:58:55 PST

My aim in this paper is to examine the role of narrative in developing communities of inquiry. In particular, I shall refer to the teaching of philosophy in schools. Having made some introductory comments about the idea of a ‘community of inquiry’, I examine a well-known narrative approach which is used to support its development. Finally, I outline on one of my own narratives and offer some suggestions as to how it may be used with students undertaking initial teacher education and training (ITET) and other Education programmes, to promote communities of inquiry.

Writing Reflectively and Effectively: Developing the Skills of Critical Thinking, Reasoning and Argument in Higher Education

Patrick J. Costello — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:01:52 PDT

Learning to argue is one of the central objectives in education. Whether it is conducting a formal debate, participating in a group discussion, writing an essay, a critique or a persuasive appeal, the ability of the student to employ argument and to anticipate and evaluate the arguments of others will generally be an important measure of achievement.

My purpose in this paper is to outline some key issues involved in teaching, learning and assessing critical thinking, reasoning and argument skills in higher education (HE). When examining arguments for teaching and learning such skills, with undergraduate and postgraduate students, I focus on two issues. The first concerns the view articulated by Garner (2006, p.2) that ‘… many students with top grade A-level passes… had been coached to answer the questions they would face but had little knowledge or understanding [of how] to develop an argument’.

The second issue concerns the concept of ‘indoctrination’. I argue that, to some extent, indoctrination is an essential and unavoidable part of the educational process. Having made a distinction between justifiable and unjustifiable indoctrination and offered the view that indoctrination is, in some sense, an ‘illness’ which pervades educational institutions, I suggest that teaching students the skills of thinking, reasoning and argument provides an ‘antidote’ to it.