Del Casino Vincent, California State University

Keirn Timothy, California State University

Brooks Catherine, California State University

In recent years, there has been a push to further integrate history and geography within a framework of K-12 teacher training in the United States. Yet, there has been relatively little engagement conceptually, as historians borrow geographic concepts, such as the world region Asia-Pacific, without considering what this means in their own communicative practices. We argue that educators committed to studying global interactions and exchange in the Asia-Pacific expand their use of geographic concepts to more overtly address the geographic nature of global historical change, thereby enhancing how we communicate about the global in regional context. In training future teachers, we can destabilize isolated regional analyses, while simultaneously rethinking how teachers (and students) conceptualize regions themselves. We can also complicate how teachers teach using the concepts such as scale, border, location, and diffusion, all of which are central to any geographic theory of global interactions. By further integrating history and geography into a world historical geography framework, teachers can further conceptualize their histories in relation to the dynamic processes of climatic change, landscape morphology, various fluvial processes, and nature-society relations. Examining all of this through a rethinking of Asia-Pacific not as an isolated region but as a site of long term networks and flows of relations, we can begin to teach more globally about this dynamic region moving beyond an exceptionalist narrative of Asia-Pacific development in isolation. We can push theories of the global back in time and through a variety of regional spaces. This has serious implications not only for the training of teachers but for the future of a globalized set of educational practices that considers how we communicate in and about the Asia-Pacific and how this region has long been tied to other important global spaces, from Europe to Africa to the Americas.

Wang Jing-Ru, National Pingtung University of Education

This article presents the findings of an empirical study conducted to seek conceptual gap about “Elementary Science Teacher’s Professional Indicators“(ESTPI) between two communities: university science educators and elementary science teachers, and bridging these gaps through a two-phase professional intervention: a two days’ workshop and mentoring the elementary science education (ESE) students’ teaching.

This paper is underwritten by two broad assumptions:

• that to bridge conceptual gap about the good quality of elementary science teaching is to identify and increase interaction between in-service elementary science teachers, and university science educators.
• that one indicator of this conceptual gap is about the degree of variance of data in rating subgroups: that is, did the ratings-for instance, of the quality of elementary science teachers –differ significantly from those of university science educators.

In terms of the format of the ESTPI questionnaire, each indicator was expressed in the form of competencies and followed by two questions investigating their opinions about the importance and feasibility of each professional indicator.

The ESTPI questionnaire was administered to 24 elementary science teachers who participated in this research before and after the workshop regarding how to use the ESTPI to evaluate the professional quality of elementary science teacher. Among those 24 participants, nine teachers volunteered to attend the elementary science methods course, and then mentor and evaluate four elementary science education (ESE) students against the ESTPI in their school placement.

The participants’ responses to the ESTPI questionnaire were compared to those of 22 university science educators to identify the conceptual gaps between the two communities. In addition, the participants’ responses to the ESTPI questionnaire before the workshop, after the workshop and after evaluating the ESE students against the indicators of the ESPTI were compared to indicate the extent of their conceptual change about the indicators of the ESTPI.

Lai Kwok Chan, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

Non-traditional pathways or alternative routes for initial teacher education have proliferated in the United States and the United Kingdom (Berliner, 2006; Furlong, 2005), and are being advocated in Australia and a number of European countries (Buckingham, 2005; Eurydice, 2004). The impetus for this development has been largely contributed by government efforts to alleviate critical teacher shortages in high need subjects and geographical districts. However, the development has been accompanied by politicized attacks on the traditional requirements of university- or college-based initial teacher education which were perceived as deterring talented prospective teachers from entering the profession. Furthermore, a more fundamental change has been the criticism of the quality of university-based teacher education, and the shift of teacher education to school-based and employment-based routes (Abell Foundation, 2001; US Department of Education, 2002).

This paper first provides a comparative analysis of the policy context and the development of alternative routes to teacher education in various countries, and reviews the research literature on the arguments for and against traditional and alternative routes of teacher education. It then traces the development of teacher education policy since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 1997. It argues that there is substantial evidence to support the claim that government policy has been influenced by the developments of alternative routes of teacher preparation elsewhere, which has partly contributed to its wavering over whether to implement the “all graduate, all trained” policy objective announced by the Chief Executive in 1997. This policy shift has illustrated the long and difficult process of teacher professionalization in Hong Kong and may provide useful insights for other parts of the world.

Salitis Antonijs, Daugavpils University

Salite Ilga, Daugavpils University

One of the main issues in and for science education is reorientation of education and teacher education in this field toward sustainable development. One of the possible solutions is to explore the teachers’ views on the content of sustainable development discovering the contexts that they already have accepted and searching for the possibilities to widen the perspectives of teachers in this regard.

This means ecologization and integration within the natural sciences and their support in ecologization and integration of all educational contexts: social, cultural, and economical.

In order to find the ways for implementation of sustainable development in teacher education and to enforce the role of nature sciences in ecological, social, economical contexts in education, research of teacher views on the importance of these contexts has been conducted.

Respondents (primary school teachers) evaluated four groups of elements for sustainability: ecological, social, cultural, and economic elements (8 elements in every group). The importance of these elements was rated within every group and between these groups.

The research was aimed to investigate the comparative significance of these elements for sustainable development from the perspective of teachers’. In article and presentation the results of elements’ rating within/between groups focusing on dominant and nonaccepted elements of SD will be discussed.

In conclusions some regularities in teachers’ views about most accepted elements within these groups and content of these aspects of sustainability will be stressed. Results will be connected with the experience developed in primary teacher education in Daugavpils University.

Totterdell Michael, Manchester Metropolitan University

Based on research arising from re-configuring initial teacher education in two urban settings, the Paper reviews teacher education and training in England from its inception in the mid-nineteenth century through to developments at the beginning of the twenty first century. Key features of reforms are highlighted together with the underlying concepts and models of teaching that informed changes in the structures and patterns of England’s teacher education system. A brief evaluation of the efficacy of the English reforms is offered followed by a prospective analysis of a future scenario for teacher education institutions in the context of emergent social realities and the challenge of mediating multi-professional policy and practice.

Srijindarat Usa, Srinakharinwirot University

Sodmanee Omduen, Srinakharinwirot University

The main purposes of this study were as follows: first, to explore the relationship between psychosocial factors and subjective well-being in reform behavioral performance of teachers related to educational reform in elementary and secondary schools; and secondly, to compare the predictive powers of psychosocial factors and subjective well-being for reformed behavioral performance in teachers involved in educational reform in elementary and secondary schools according to the bio-social characteristics of the teachers. This research sample consisted of 235 elementary school teachers and 320 secondary school teachers in Bangkok and in the suburbs. There were four sets of variables being assessed. 1) social support from supervisors, colleagues and students. 2) four psychological characteristics: internal-external control, attitude towards educational reform, the four paths of accomplishment in Buddhism or Iddhipada, and subjective well-being. The variables in the first and the second sets were used as on different occasions as independent and dependent variables in the statistical analyses. 3) The indepent variable was the behavioral performance of teachers as a result of the educational reform. And 4), bio-social variables.These hypotheses were tested in this study by carrying out the t-test, ANOVA and Multiple Regression Analysis on various part of the data. Five important parts of the research results are reported here. 1) female teachers displayed higher performance than male teachers. 2) Elementary school teachers showed higher performance than secondary school teachers. 3) Secondary school teachers scored more highly in social support, internal locus of control, attitude towards educational reform, Iddhipada and subjective well-being than teachers at the lower levels. 4) The results showed that the internal control and social support in teachers were found to be highly related to performance, especially teachers in elementary and junior high schools. 5) The three psychological characteristics: attitude towards educational reform, Iddhipada and subjective well-being taken together were more powerful predictors of performance (66.5%) in teachers regarding educational reform than other variables and the most powerful predictor was a teacher’s attitude towards educational reform.

Eggen Paul, University of North Florida

In recent years cognitive science has provided an expanding body of literature that has important implications for instructional design and the preparation of teachers. Cognitive load theory is an instructional theory generated by this body of literature. It describes learning structures in terms of an information processing system composed of a long-term memory that stores knowledge and skills in a relatively permanent fashion, a working memory that consciously processes the information that will be stored in long-term memory, and metacognitive monitoring that regulates this processing. Working memory is very limited in both capacity and duration, however, and these limitations can impede learning.

Cognitive load is defined as the total amount of mental activity imposed on working memory at a certain instance in time. Since effective instruction involves keeping instructional goals in mind, presenting high quality representations of content, guiding student interaction, monitoring students for evidence of inattention or misbehavior, and other instructional tasks, it imposes a cognitive load on teachers that frequently exceeds their working memory capacities. They often adapt by reverting to primitive teaching strategies that decrease cognitive load, but simultaneously reduce the likelihood of maximizing student learning.

Expert teachers accommodate the limitations of working memory with metacognitive strategies that, in effect, reduce cognitive load. Developing expertise requires that teachers acquire these strategies, and effective teacher preparation must involve processes that facilitate the development of the strategies. Only then will teachers have the capabilities needed to use the sophisticated teaching techniques that theory and research suggest will maximize student learning. The paper will present research examining programs designed to help teachers acquire the knowledge, skills, and metacognitive strategies that experts posses, together with the policy implications this research has for teacher preparation programs and school leadership.

Chandresh Joshi, S.V.P. P.T.C College

The present study is an attempt to examine the pre-service teacher’s conception of learner’s at Elementary level. In the two pole process of education, the yield mainly depends on initiating pole. The sharpening process of child absolutely influence by the conceptual layer of teacher . In this context the belief of teacher trainees work as a fitter during the training. That’s why, if the trainees concepts are identified during the training period one can eradicate negative phase of belief, is the intense of this work.

To know the concept of trainees about learners readiness, strength, expectation and social environment, the tool “what do you believe” was prepared by realistic approach with conversation of such primary teachers of Talukas. The researcher try out the tool on S.V.P .P.T.C. College, Prabhas-patan. The sample of this investigation consisted 101 trainees out of 19 was of science stream & rest of 82 was of general stream. Researcher analyzed the collected data with help of mean, S.D. and t-values to examine the significant different between score of means for relevant groups.

No significant relationship found between science stream and general stream trainees for the conception of learners readiness, strength and social environment, but there are significant relationship exist between science stream and general stream trainees for the conception of teachers expectation. In which the mean value was higher of science trainees. The researcher has personal interviewed 10 trainees after completing the use of tool, out of them five trainees from higher score & five from lower score. The findings are lower & higher group of trainees are considerably effected with their previous score of examination.

Fang Yanping, Nanyang Technological University

Ng Luan Eng, Nanyang Technological University

Sim Hwee Hwang, Nanyang Technological University

Tiong Yeun Siew, John, Nanyang Technological University

Tay May Yin, Nanyang Technological University

Smith Alan, UNESCO Chair, University of Ulster

Montgomery Alison, University of Ulster

This paper reports on a 3-year research project funded by the UK ESRC Teaching and Learning Programme (TLRP) to increase knowledge and understanding of teacher education and development, focusing specifically on student and beginning teachers’ perceptions and understanding of the values underpinning their teaching and learning experiences. The research investigates four individual phases of the teacher education process – Recruitment, Initial Teacher Education (ITE), Induction, and Early Professional Development (EPD). A cohort of 40 PGCE (postgraduate) students is being tracked over a three-year period and this particular paper reports on initial findings related to two aspects of the research. Firstly, on issues related to recruitment and diversity for teacher education programmes. Secondly, on the challenges for student teachers of developing skills for teaching and learning related to 'controversial issues' as part of citizenship education.

Chan Kin-yee Kinnie, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

Chan Sok-ching May, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

Mok Mo Ching, Magdalena, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

Mongolia is an under-developed province in China. The common languages used in Inner-Mongolia are Monoglian language and Putonghau. Therefore, teachers and students in there mainly communicate in these two languages in the classroom. Owing to geographical and economic problems, Inner-Mongolia English teachers can only learn good knowledge of written English from the textbooks and reading materials, but they do not have many opportunities to practise their spoken English. A team of volunteers held an eight-day English summer programme to provide lectures, workshops and demonstration of English teaching for about seventy Inner-Mongolian English teachers in Chifeng, Inner-Mongolia. All of the volunteers and participants are required to communicate in English during the programme. An authentic English environment is therefore created for enhancing teachers’ confidence in English. After the programme, it is expected that teachers’ confidence in using English will be improved. A pre-test and post-test one-group quasi-experimental design is used to investigate the impact of the English programme on the self-confidence of teachers in using English. Rasch measurement is a quality control mechanism and is prominent in diagnosis. The diagnostic information obtained can be used to understand Inner-Mongolian English teachers’ self-confidence in using English. Consequently, the volunteers can evaluate effect of the intervention adopted to enhance the English teachers’ confidence in using English. The aim of this study is to measure the change in the self-confidence of Inner-Mongolian English teachers. The measures can be generated from Rasch measurement using the Winsteps software. Based on this analysis, volunteers can better understand Inner-Mongolian English teachers’ confidence in using English and some suggestions will be provided to improve their confidence in the future.

Stinson Madonna Therese, National Institute of Education

In 2004 the presenter ran a short-term intervention project using process drama with Secondary 4 level students at four schools in Singapore. Results showed a significant correlation between drama and student results in oral language examinations. Following this research the ‘Speak Out’ project (2005-2006) was developed to explore both student responses and the professional development needs of teachers in a ‘neighbourhood’ school as they began to include drama in their English language classes.

The research began with a series of drama workshops for the teachers followed by co-planning and co-teaching sessions throughout the year with gradual hand-over to the teachers. Teachers kept reflective journals, and lesson plans were documented and video-recorded for further reflection. Students were randomly selected for interviews during the project, classes were tested (using the MOE oral communication tests) four times throughout the year and the results were statistically analysed using multivariate analysis to ensure validity.

Early analysis indicates that oral language results improved throughout the year though it is does not seem possible to prove causality between the drama intervention and most students’ oral communication results. The students reported increased enjoyment of lessons using drama and improved self-confidence in communication situations. Individual teachers varied in their responses to drama as a strategy. For the most part negative responses seemed a reaction to this top-down initiative from the school administration, with the result that the teachers felt pressured into appearing compliant with the research but had little personal commitment. The teachers who worked more constructively with the research team came to see the value of adding drama pedagogy to their repertoire of practice and grew in confidence by taking advantage of the co-planning and co-teaching partnerships.

This report offers advice for researchers undertaking longitudinal intervention studies in schools and suggests principles of practice which may be applicable to similar research contexts.

Sung Yao-Ting, National Taiwan Normal University

Chang Kuo-En, National Taiwan Normal University

Digital teaching portfolios have been proposed as an effective tool for teacher learning and professional development. However, the advantages of digital portfolios, such as high convenience in storage and management, easy distribution and presentation, can not guarantee that they may accomplish the goals of facilitating teachers’ reflection and learning. This study proposed the design of digital portfolios with multiple aids, such as self-assessment, peer assessment, discussion, and journal writing, for supporting teachers’ learning and reflection. This study also empirically evaluated the reflection and professional knowledge development as demonstrated in digital teaching portfolios with multiple supporting measures. Forty-four in-service substitute teachers participated in a course of classroom assessment and used a digital portfolio system. Based on the framework of teacher reflective thinking developed by Sparks-Langer, Simmons, Pasch, Colton, and Starko (1990), we found that most demonstrated moderate levels of reflection in their journals, while most teachers did not show the highest level of reflection. We also found that the professional knowledge of teachers about classroom assessment—as shown by their implementation of it—significantly improved during the process of constructing portfolios. The above findings provide substantial evidences of using portfolios, specifically digital portfolios, for teacher reflection and professional development.

Chong Sylvia, Nanyang Technological University

Tan Yit Kee, Ministry of Education

Research indicates that professional preparation and development of teachers occurs in stages that extend beyond their initial teacher preparation programme. The practice of mentoring beginning teachers emerged in mid-1980s as a professional development strategy. Since then a broad base of studies agrees that beginning teachers need support and mentoring during their transition into professional practice. Literature also suggests that a well-developed mentoring programme can contribute to the quality of teaching profession as well as retaining beginning teachers in the service.

One of the key recommendations of Singapore’s Ministry of Education Work Plan Seminar 2005 is to develop our teachers and to provide them more time and space to build their capabilities through development opportunities. For the beginning teachers this recommendation led to the introduction of a systemic framework for school-based mentoring, known as the Structured Mentoring Programme (SMP). The SMP aims to level up the standard of induction and mentoring practices which currently varies across schools. The Structured Mentoring Programme was launched 27 Jan 2006.

This paper will be in two parts. The first part will discuss and focus on mentoring as a strategy for effectively inducting beginning teachers in Singapore schools. The second part will present the Structured Mentoring Programme (SMP) framework, and the mentoring recommendations and practices designed to provide support for the beginning teacher.

Draper Janet, University of Exeter

Teachers are the key resource in schools. Current thinking on management suggests that in seeking to enhance the effectiveness of any system the key resource, which is frequently staff, deserves detailed consideration. However, Connell felt in 1985 that he had to remind readers that schools were places where people worked and that teachers were workers and Fullan and Steigelbauer’s (1991) warning that ‘education depends on what teachers do and think..its as simple as that’ was a timely reminder that a strong focus on curriculum, learners, policy and parents overlooks a major player in the educational process. Yet there is limited understanding of how much (or how little) teachers’ work has been changed by rapidly developed and implemented policies whose effects are not entirely predictable. In particular, research on the impact of policy changes and new managerialism on teacher autonomy has implied that teachers’ room for manoeuvre has been severely constrained over the past 15 years with an inevitable impact on definitions, and lived experiences, of professionalism. This paper will explore findings from a longitudinal study of Scottish teachers’ work, careers and development which has been underway since 1988. These findings show high levels of satisfaction with autonomy throughout the last 15 years in spite of major changes in the work experience of teachers and contest a simplistic notion that teachers’ autonomy and sense of agency has been severely undermined, by exploring a series of alternative explanations which draw upon contrasting definitions of professionalism and of the role of policy.

Mor Nili, Levinsky College of Education

Heilweil Ida, Levinsky College of Education

This study reports on the three years of a four year study investigating the impact of a constructivist experimental teacher education curriculum on a group of 48 students, focusing on the development of their technological literacy as learners and teachers. The students participate in 5-7 e-learning courses every semester in which they, as learners, are exposed to a variety of teaching methods in a technological environment.

This unique program emphasizes interdisciplinary learning in technology rich environments, where learning is a constructive process of collaboration and mindful involvement (Jonassen, 2000; Mor, 2001; Zellermayer et al, 2003), where the learner is active and taking responsibility of the learning in a technological environment (Salomon & Perkins 1998; Heilweil, 2002), where learning is part of lifelong professional development beginning in the teacher training stage. This new teacher preparation program enables students to try strategies that develop technology competencies and provide support for achieving technological competencies thus developing students with experiences that nurture powerful technology integration in K-12 settings (Banister & Vannatta 2006).

A mixed method comprised of qualitative and quantitative tools was used to achieve both a broad coverage and an in-depth inquiry of the research aim. Surveys, interviews, progress reports, diaries, observations, and assignment logs were used to collect the data. Analyses of both the quantitative and qualitative data resources revealed a change in the participants' attitude towards technology and in their use of technology as learners and teachers. Findings show a gradual improvement in the quality of planning lessons and teaching in ICT environments and a gradual development of the students' conviction and confidence to use technology in new models of education.

The results of the research add to a better understanding of the processes that the student teachers go through when learning to incorporate ICT in their teaching.

Nabobo-Baba Unaisi, The University of the South Pacific

The world that we live in today differs quite markedly from the world of our childhood. The world continues to change albeit, in varied ways, intensities and rates in the Pacific Islands. It is also a truism that if we strategise and are ready for changes then we may place ourselves in better positions to handle their different influences in our lives, education and teacher education included. This includes the agenda and necessity to syncretise global developments and local indigenous knowledges that are deemed useful to us so that we move forward benefiting from “both worlds”.

The paper addresses the need to blend the best of contemporary global and indigenous and local practice is a step in appropriately facing up to the realities of the changing ‘ecologies of education’ and teacher education. The question to ask is what does it mean to blend indigenous and global ideas? Should global ideas that come through varied and diverse means be thoroughly scrutinised? Where did these global ideas (of pedagogy and learning) originate from and what cultures do they implicitly and explicitly represent? Pedagogy itself is not free of the cultural values and ideologies of the society in which it originates and teachers transmit and reinforce the cultural values that are embedded in the teaching approaches that they use (Barrow, 1990; Kelen, 2002 in Thaman, 2005).

Our Pacific responses I suggest should be critical and well informed. Our responses must also be located within our own languages and cultural contextual understandings as well as an informed position on the background or origin, the dimensions and discourse of globalisation itself. Globalisation like any other contemporary topic should become a part of the curriculum, but presented as problematic and hence lends itself to systematic inquiry and critique.

Roy Rajarshi, National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research

Paira Anjana, Faculty of Education

Now-a-days it is an axiom that education necessarily a social phenomenon, having strong bondage with prevailing culture, within which the process of education take place. As such, culture appears as an intervening factor in the educo-sociological research and thereby keeps tremendous impact upon the objectivity of ongoing educational researches.

In its pre-phase, the paper aims to explore the social base of education in the midst of educosociology in consonance with research on ‘social aspects of education’. Methodologies and approaches, as appears as a trend in Indian academia is highlighted in this phase.

The section is followed by the culture-driven approach of education. Existing socioeducational fabric of India is critically synthesized in this phase.

Third section of the paper thrives to explore the status of ‘Education’ in a ‘disciplinary’ perspective, obviously in Indian context.

Global effect over education vis-à-vis gestalt social development is analyzed at breath in the immediate next section of the paper with the help of few quantitative indicators of educational development, following juxtaposition approach in Asian context, supplemented by the experience of the Asia and Pacific region in this new millennium.

Fifth section of the paper is devoted to explore impact and interactive effect of education, technological-education and socioeconomic-development in close association with manpower planning, which is felt as an urgent need as the present juncture of time to enhance the income-potentiality and in consonance, life-condition of the cross-section of the mass-population in the region.

Penultimate section of the paper hinges over various pertinent issues relating teacher education system in Indian social fabric, which addresses the issues like the conceptual conflict of considering teaching as a profession in one hand and as mission in other, the mechanized approach of preparing teacher, skill-aspect of teaching, assessment of prior learning, impact of technology over teaching and the like.

Yin Hong-biao, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

It is notable that research on curriculum reform and implementation has recently recognized the importance of teacher emotion. The emotional geographies of teaching and cultural-individual perspective are employed in this study to understand the interactions between teacher emotion and curriculum implementation in the context of a top-down, systemic, and large scale reform.

We concentrate on 7 teachers’ emotional experiences in one school during the Chinese nation-wide senior secondary school (SSS) curriculum reform. Using interview as the main tool of data collection, we categorize teachers’ positive and negative emotional experiences in their implementation, analyze the sociocultural, moral, professional, political, and interpersonal roots of teachers’ emotions.

Finally, the implications for research on teacher emotion and curriculum implementation are discussed.

Ilisko Dzintra, Daugavpils University

The pressures of a postmodern times expands teachers’ role, innovations and new demands creates a sense of overload among teachers. With the collapse of moral certainties, old missions and purposes begin to crumble. The methods and strategies teachers use are constantly being criticized. The compression of time and space is creating accelerated change, innovation overload and intensification in teachers’ work. Ideological uncertainty is challenging dominant paradigms and raising crises of identity and purpose in relation to what their mission might be.

This article illuminates the problems teachers are facing, and how they respond to these changes. This article draws on a range of teachers’ experience. In much of the writing on teaching and teachers’ work, teachers’ voices have either been absent or been used as mere echoes for preferred theories of educational researchers. By conducting a qualitative research, the author assets that teachers’ voices have their own validity and assertiveness which could provide fresh insight for adding new challenges for the existing theories and offering a fresh insight for the transformative education for educators.

Key words: postmodern, adult education, modernism, transformation

Hwang Seyoung, University of Bath

The study investigates teachers’ stories about their personal and professional commitments regarding the environment and environment teaching in contemporary Korean society and schooling. The inquiry examines the globalised educational discourses around environmental concerns such as ‘environmental education (EE)’ and ‘education for sustainable development (ESD)’, in interrogating the promotion of impositional and normative interpretations for practice, through, for example, state-mandated school curriculum development projects in these areas. The research investigates teachers’ stories as a way of critically analysing the official discourses and rhetorics of such initiatives, to open up the possibilities of constructing alternative stories of what it means to teach about [the] environment. So far, eleven teachers’ life historical narratives have been developed and analysed in terms of the actualities of environment-related activities that are espoused and practised by teachers; while teacher identity and the idea of ‘identity work’ have become the focus of analysis of possible gaps and dialectics in discourses and practices. The choice of sample illustrates these, in terms of secondary school curriculum, i.e. science, history, art, and newly developed environment subject.

The paper provides an analysis of five science teachers’ stories in which the teachers construct, negotiate, or challenge [available] personal, social, environmental, and professional identities, and consequently, the diversities and actualities of environment teaching gleaned from various modes of discourse-identity interactions.

Drake Christopher, Association for Living Values Education International

Yuan Chang Huan, Beijing Institute of Education

If education is truly to foster the acquisition of the values, attitudes and skills needed for life in our globalizing world, a sine qua non is for a revival of the view of education as a moral enterprise, a purposeful activity designed to help humanity flourish and support the overall development of the individual. Both students and teachers need to feel valued, understood, safe and respected; in making a values-based learning environment possible, educators not only require appropriate quality teacher education and on-going professional development, they also need to be valued, nurtured and cared for within the learning community. Priority must therefore be given to creating values-based learning environments: classrooms in which a culture of values such as respect, responsibility, tolerance, peace and love becomes the touchstone for behaviour and relationships, sets the overall tone for lessons and influences the pedagogy. This paper presents the UNESCO-and UNICEF-supported Living Values Education approach and the use of its award-winning materials in teacher-training programmes for local Beijing teachers. The training sees values education not as another subject to be imparted to students but rather as a philosophy of education that emphasises the importance of a teaching and learning environment characterised by human values while also offering experiential, empowering and contextually relevant content. When positive values and the search for meaning and purpose are placed at the heart of learning and teaching, education itself is valued and teachers are better able to deal with the challenges they face. While much remains to be done, results from Beijing schools indicate the effectiveness of this approach and teachers’ responsiveness to it.

Shelton Mayes Ann, University of Northampton

Burgess Hilary, Open University , U.K.

The major route for the training and development of teaching assistants in the UK is the Higher Level Teaching Assistant Training Programme (HLTA) which was introduced as a government pilot in 2004. This is a key moment to explore the views of teaching assistants on the pilot training and development programme and builds on our previous research .

This paper:

• reports on a preliminary analysis of a questionnaire and in-depth interviews involving 60 primary teaching assistants who completed the pilot HLTA training programme in 2005.
• identifies resulting issues for design and delivery of HLTA programmes
• identifies emerging issues for HLTA involvement in primary classrooms
• identifies teaching assistants’ concerns about undertaking training and development whilst working in the context of schools undergoing major workforce reform
• provides a critique of the UK ( England) government policy on the Higher Level Teaching Assistants (HLTA) training routes and consider the relevance of this training in a European context.

In the paper we consider the multiplicity of roles involved in this model of training where delivery is shared between the school and the training institution. Adult learners have very specific needs which relate to their previous experience and training and suggests that there are identifiable areas of experience among teaching assistants such as: i) knowledge of the job; ii) knowledge of the way schools work; iii) knowledge of children’s functioning and learning in the school context. The role of experience and reflection is very evident in teacher training models and more recently the process of reflection has been considered to be more effective in terms of learning. We consider in our evaluation the constraints placed on teaching assistants through the ‘taken for granted’ practices of schools. Such approaches are highly relevant to understanding the training experiences of teaching assistants and how this can help in an evaluation of a learning programme. The current opportunities for teaching assistant training is critically analysed in the context of our results and a revised model explored.