University of Cumbria Open Access Journals
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Tilpasset opplæring - økt motivasjon og mestringsforventning
Get PDFThe basis of this article is findings from interviews with young people seen through the lenses of socio-cultural theory, inclusive learning and different learning styles. As part of the Erasmus+ project, Marginalisation and Co-created Education (MaCE), the aim with the interviews is to hear young people’s own stories about their education. The method is qualitative interviews with an unstructured form. With few planned questions and an indirect approach, the interview was more like a conversation that allowed the young people to speak freely about what they found important. This article is based on three interviews from the MaCE project where the informants talked about inclusive learning and how they benefited more from a practical teaching style, rather than a theoretical teaching style. Through their narratives, inclusive learning as a principle in the Norwegian school system will be highlighted. What kind of adjustments the young informants experienced throughout school and what thoughts they had about their preferred way of acquiring knowledge will emerge from the analysis. It will then be discussed whether the teaching program was adapted in terms of their learning style and further on how this may have influenced their motivation and self-efficacy
Developing as a Peer Reviewer: Enhancing students’ graduate attributes
No full textThis research paper explores the processes and outcomes of a peer review system which was introduced to first-year students on a BA Education programme in 2016-17. Students completed a series of tasks linked to both their academic work and professional teaching placements. The scaffolded nature of these tasks aimed to develop the students’ skills, knowledge and confidence as novice peer reviewers. The students’ task responses, written reflections of the peer review process and interviews were analysed, to explore the potential value of producing and giving formative feedback to peers, alongside their perceptions and challenges of the peer review process.
The potential sustainability of peer review, linked to its contribution in developing graduate attributes, was considered when peer review moved into the students’ professional context, with two themes emerging: forming evaluative judgements based on an understanding of quality, and peers communicating feedback that was timely, relevant, accurate and understood by the recipient
Supporting the professional development of ‘hybrid’ teacher educators in the Further Education sector
Get PDFTeacher educators are crucial for the quality of the teaching workforce and therefore to the outcomes of learners. However, teachers frequently become teacher educators with little or no professional development to support them in these roles. In this paper we report on a professional development programme which aimed to address this gap in provision for practitioners operating in the dual role of teacher and teacher educator in the Further Education and Skills sector in England.
Using evaluative data from interviews and questionnaires, we found that the programme was successful in supporting a diverse group of participants to reflect on and develop their practice. It increased participants’ confidence in their roles as teacher educators, by supporting learning about the practice of teacher education. Participants valued a sense of belonging to a community of learning. Reflecting participants’ dual roles as teachers and teacher educators, they applied learning to their practice in multiple ways with colleagues, beginning teachers and with students.
Our findings contribute to understanding the ways in which practitioners in ‘hybrid’ roles as teacher and teacher educators can be supported, and offer a model through which this can be provided, across all phases of education
‘Language students as critical users of Google Translate’: Pitfalls and Possibilities
Get PDFWe propose ways of incorporating Google Translate into the teaching of Finnish and Hungarian in a higher education setting at different skill levels. The task types tested in our study were: analytical tasks (dictionary-like exercise, word-building, part-of-word identification), discovery method tasks (elicitation, problem solving), and awareness raising tasks (error correction, text-level error analysis, guided essay writing in the target language). Students were interviewed about their experience as users of Google Translate and the usefulness of the exercises conducted in class. In line with the principles of action research, the survey results enabled the practitioners to reflect on and improve the teaching of two morphologically complex languages, Finnish and Hungarian, and optimise the ways in which Google Translate is used in the language classroom. With the development of their Finnish and Hungarian language skills, students become more critical, and more competent, users of online translation tools as well
Developing student feedback literacy using educational technology and the reflective feedback conversation
Get PDFWhile its importance for promoting learning is well-documented, feedback can only promote learning to the extent that it is acted on by learners. However, the fact that students may have difficulty understanding feedback or knowing how to act on it and are not necessarily receptive to the feedback provided underscore the importance of including the learner perspective in feedback practices.
This paper describes an intervention which used the ‘reflective feedback conversation’ and educational technologies to provide written feedback to students in University level Spanish language classes. The aim of the study was to improve learner uptake of feedback, develop student agency and self-regulation, increase alignment between teacher and student goals and expectations, and encourage learners to take a more active role in feedback processes as well as reduce teacher workload. Participants were 50 students enrolled in their third semester (pre-intermediate) of a university-level Spanish program. Data included student questionnaires, interviews with the teacher and students (n=9) ­and documentation of feedback and responses to feedback across a 12-week semester. Questionnaire data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics while interview and documentation data were analysed using thematic content analysis.
The findings demonstrate the potential of this approach for making feedback processes more efficient as well as for improving learning
Teachers’ Theories of Intelligence and Instruction in English Secondary Education
Get PDFThis paper explores the relationship of teachers’ intelligence beliefs and classroom instruction, in-particular teachers’ use of intelligence language. According to Dweck’s (1999) theory of intelligence, individuals can hold intelligence beliefs on a continuum from an entity theory, where intelligence is fixed, through to an incremental theory, with intelligence understood as malleable. Some research demonstrates congruence between teachers’ beliefs and practice; for example, teacher intelligence beliefs and praise language (Lin-Siegler, Dweck & Cohen, 2016). Other findings, however, report incongruence between the belief-practice relationship, such as intelligence beliefs and use of challenge (Rissanen, Kuusisto, Hanhimäki & Tirri, 2018a). Consequently, this study aims to further understand teachers’ belief-practice relationship in the classroom.
Pilot data were collected through mixed-methods, consisting of Dweck’s (1999) intelligence theory questionnaire, video-recorded observations, and semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings indicate that the belief-practice relationship is both congruent and incongruent; as teachers’ intelligence beliefs are not always enacted during instruction. Rather, intelligence belief and practice may be mediated by other personal beliefs and contextual factors, such as pre-determined target grades, class sets (low, mid, high), beliefs about students and student behaviour; however additional evidence is required
The Efficacy of Interventions on Pupil Attainment in GCSE Mathematics
Get PDFThis project seeks to answer the question of which intervention practices are most effective for raising the academic attainment of GCSE maths pupils in England. The findings will have the potential to alleviate teacher workload and to raise pupil attainment by refining the intervention schemes employed in schools. The results will therefore also be useful to school policy makers as they plan their investment in interventions as well as teacher educators and their students in noting the importance of addressing pupil needs immediately and reflecting on their practice to assess its efficacy.
The research was undertaken in a secondary school in the North West of England, following the progress of 185 pupils in year 11 from the beginning of the year to the end of the course through a series of mock exams in line with school practice. This was then refined to a group of 65 pupils who were all taught by the same teacher to reduce the impact of the teacher as a variable. The intervention schemes in question are: form time support sessions, one-to-one tutorials, after school sessions, holiday classes and a past paper programme. The project took a positivist approach, using effect size (a standardised measure of a pupil’s improvement compared to the average score and standard deviation) to identify the efficacy of each scheme.
Overall it was found that no single intervention scheme was successful on its own and it is not sustainable in terms of the investment of teacher resources to continue to provide all programmes to all pupils. A possible solution could be to employ a mastery focussed syllabus that ensures all pupils are confident and competent in basic skills from the very start of secondary education, thus removing the need for extensive, last minute intervention schemes.
 
Children’s learning behaviour when grouped by attainment: Investigating a planned behaviour approach
Get PDFThe influence of homogeneous grouping on pupils’ self-perceive learning behaviour in a Year 4 mathematics class was investigated, using the planned behaviour framework as a guide. The small-scale study shows differences in pupils’ self-assessed learning behaviour, such that the behaviour intent, social normative beliefs, attitudes and perceived behaviour control of students in lower-attaining groups are less favourable in comparison to groups of higher-attaining students. Pupils in lower-attaining groups rated themselves as less confident in their ability; fear to show incompetence in the classroom; find learning mathematics less valuable; and are less resilient than their peers when faced with a challenge. The author does not condemn the usage of homogeneous grouping but proposes that attainment grouping depends on: the subject being taught; the adult to student ratio; the complexity of the concept being taught and the diversity within the class. The results and practical implications are discussed below