Postgraduate trainee teachers undergo profound ‘shifts’ in their pedagogical understanding and practices through the year that they are taught at a UK Higher Education Institution. This study ‘investigated, in a paired pre–post design, the espoused pedagogical beliefs of three cohorts of PGCE trainees, at two time points – at the onset and toward the end of their studies in a teacher education department in a major HEI in the UK, with corroborative results from a fourth cohort and from a (...) wider set of institutions. Using an adaptation of the ‘practices’ scale of Swan, trainees’ pedagogical beliefs were charted and described on a continuum running from transmissionist to child-centred through answering 25 items, and shifts from pre-course to post course were investigated on two fronts – individually and for each item. Two general principles are represented in the data: trainees seem to either make rather more radical shifts towards child-centeredness or more slight shifts towards a more teacher centred orientation - a significant trend towards a greater learner-centrism across the longitudinal study. (shrink)

Summary This paper considers the effect of the introduction of market forces into teacher education both in terms of the loss of autonomy on the part of the providers, the teacher educators, and in terms of the growth of ownership by the consumers, the student teachers, of their learning. Specifically it identifies the paradigms of teacher education which are absent from the Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (CATE) criteria, such as enquiry?oriented teacher education, but which are important for (...) promoting professional self?awareness amongst teachers. This paper describes and evaluates an exercise undertaken by student teachers on a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) course which both promotes self?reflection and meets some of the criteria set by CATE. It concludes that it is possible to promote self?reflective teaching within the confines of the CATE criteria so long as certain procedures are followed. (shrink)

Summary Criticism of the traditional institution?based system of teacher training for primary schools is reviewed and recent responses to GATE requirements summarised. It is argued that such criticisms, and any radical reforms involving the transfer of training responsibility to the schools, should take account of client opinion of its likely effects. Clients here are taken to refer to students in training and school teachers including headteachers. For this study an open?ended questionnaire on the advantages and disadvantages of traditional institution?based and (...) radical school?based systems was administered to all students at the end of a PGCE course, and to a part?opportunity and part?random sample of teachers and headteachers in local schools. Their responses are tabulated and discussed. The vast majority of these clients foresaw considerable problems with a radically reformed system and, balancing the gains and losses that such a reform might bring, they demonstrated a clear preference for the existing system. (shrink)

_The Empirical Science of Religious Education_ draws together a collection of innovative articles in the field of religious education which passed the editorial scrutiny of Professor Robert Jackson over the course of his impactful fourteen year career as editor of the British Journal of Religious Education. These articles have made an enormous contribution to the international literature establishing of the empirical science of religious education as a research field. The volume draws together, organises and illustrates the contours of this emerging (...) field and is an essential compendium which covers work in: teacher education and teacher experience; student understanding, attitudes and values; varieties of religious schooling, and; worldview and life interpretation Organised into ten thematic sections the contributors cover the field comprehensively and bring with them an international and reflexive approach to their research. It is an essential resource for those practitioners and researchers who wish to access original and innovative research undertaken by way of ethnographic fieldwork, practitioner research, life-history approaches to research, psychological scales and measures, and large surveys. Particularly interested readers will be studying PGCE and masters level programmes in religious education, as well as qualified religious educators undertaking continuing professional development. (shrink)

This paper demonstrates the key link between the development of a sophisticated personal epistemology and the concomitant emergent pedagogies of trainee teachers, as identified through research in this area, including empirical engagement with trainees on a PGCE primary teacher training course in the UK. The ensuing review of literature investigates the theoretical and paradigmatic perspectives and aims to theoretically underpin the methods used within the empirical research described. The conclusion is that it is of paramount importance that teacher training (...) institutions allow for the development of exactly these sophisticated personal epistemologies through explicit teaching and exposure to the specific reflective practices discussed in order to promote the best possible outcomes in terms of trainees’ pedagogical understanding and practices when immersed in authentic experiences in situated learning environments on school-based attachments, and retain appropriate levels of control over the contextual, environmental and experiential circumstances that their trainees encounter. (shrink)

As professional voice users, teachers are particularly at risk of abusing their voices and developing voice disorders during their career. In spite of this, attention paid to voice care in the initial training and further professional development of teachers is unevenly spread and insufficient. This article describes a questionnaire survey of 171 trainee teachers at the end of their Postgraduate Certificate in Education year that included the Voice Handicap Index . The survey aimed to identify the prevalence and types of (...) voice problems experienced by students during their teaching practice and to relate these to previous history and to the area of the curriculum they were teaching. The analysis suggests that over a third of trainees suffer from voice difficulties on teaching practice and that one student in 12 was classified as having a moderate handicap as defined by the VHI. Trends of symptoms particular to individual curricular areas appear to be a fruitful area for further study. (shrink)