scholarly journals Student Teachers’ Perceptions and Experiences on Mentoring Practices and Competence Development at Makerere University in Uganda

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-52
Author(s):  
Jane Bwiruka ◽  
John Maani ◽  
John Ssetumba
Keyword(s):  
Student Teachers ◽  
Competence Development ◽  
Traditional Model ◽  
National Council ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Makerere University ◽  
Mentoring Practices

Purpose: This study explored the perceptions and experiences of student teachers on mentoring practices and competence development at Makerere University in Uganda. Methodology: Basing on the three mentoring models of mentoring developed by Twoli (2011) as the analytical lens, this study explored the mentoring practices currently existing at Makerere University, the model of mentoring the University is aligned to and how it develops Student teachers’ competences. The three mentoring models are the corporate model (traditional model), the more improved collaborative model and the emerging model of mentoring practices. Phenomenology was adopted as a qualitative research design anchored in the constructivist interpretivist paradigm. Data was collected using unstructured interviews from purposively selected twelve finalist student teachers and triangulated with review of documents and literature to cross validate the findings. Data was analyzed using the framework analysis. Findings: Makerere University is still tagged in the corporate/ traditional model of mentoring student teachers basing on the way they organize, supervise and moderate their student teachers on practicum. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The Ministry of Education and Sports (MOE&S) in Uganda through the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) should include mentorship programmes as a formalized minimum standard in teacher education institutions. Universities and other teacher preparation institutions should introduce mentorship programmes for university staff and schools. The study also recommended that lecturers and senior teachers should be sensitized about the effects of relying on the traditional/corporate mentoring model through professional development courses.

scholarly journals Student Teachers Perceptions and Experiences on School Practice and Competence Development at Makerere University-Uganda

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Jane Bwiruka ◽  
John Maani ◽  
John Ssetumba
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Classroom Management ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Competence Development ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Makerere University ◽  
School Practice ◽  
The University

Purpose: The study was carried out to explore the student teachers’ perceptions and experiences on school practice in terms of competence development. Methodology: Phenomenology as a design was adopted using unstructured interviews and documents review to collect data from twelve purposively selected third year student teachers as participants. Data was analyzed using the framework analysis. Findings: School practice was clearly understood by participants as a learning experience that involves putting theory into practice with the help from supervisors and senior teachers. However, it was conducted along the curriculum requirements as an assessment/examination by the university supervisors. Consequently, some challenges were faced. These included, difficulties in applying all the various methods taught by different lecturers, lack of professionalism, little feedback/conferencing with supervisors, hurried reports, limited mentorship and supervisory aspects in school practice host schools and limited materials to use among others. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The teacher preparation institutions in Uganda Makerere inclusive need to improve the general methods course to all students to cater for issues in lesson preparation, presentation, classroom management, assessment and evaluation. An interdependent relationship between the University and the SP host schools is required to promote a working relationship between the supervisors and host teachers for mentoring and supervisory aspects to student teachers. Makerere University and other teacher preparation institutions need constant professional development courses to promote professionalism among supervisors to address issues like lack of feedback/conferencing and poor supervisor-student relationships among others.

scholarly journals The voice, text, and the visual as semiotic companions: an analysis of the materiality and meaning potential of multimodal screen feedback

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Tyrer
Keyword(s):  
Student Teachers ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Written Feedback ◽  
Feedback Process ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Initial Teacher Training ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Structured Video

AbstractThe gap between how learners interpret and act upon feedback has been widely documented in the research literature. What is less certain is the extent to which the modality and materiality of the feedback influence students’ and teachers’ perceptions. This article explores the semiotic potential of multimodal screen feedback to enhance written feedback. Guided by an “Inquiry Graphics” approach, situated within a semiotic theory of learning edusemiotic conceptual framework, constructions of meaning in relation to screencasting feedback were analysed to determine how and whether it could be incorporated into existing feedback practices. Semi-structured video elicitation interviews with student teachers were used to incorporate both micro and macro levels of analysis. The findings suggested that the relationship between the auditory, visual and textual elements in multimodal screen feedback enriched the feedback process, highlighting the importance of form in addition to content to aid understanding of written feedback. The constitutive role of design and material artefacts in feedback practices in initial teacher training pertinent to these findings is also discussed.

scholarly journals Student teachers’ perceptions of democracy in the mathematics classroom: Freedom, equality and dialogue

Pythagoras ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wajeeh Daher
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Mathematics Classroom ◽  
Mathematics Teacher Education ◽  
Comparison Method ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Teaching And Learning Mathematics ◽  
Learning Mathematics ◽  
Two Stages

This article studies student teachers’ perceptions of the pedagogic and didactic aspects of teaching and learning mathematics in a democratic classroom. It is concerned primarily with issues of democracy in the mathematics classroom, specifically freedom, equality and dialogue. The research was conducted in two mathematics teacher education classes, where students were in their third year of study to major in mathematics. To find these students’ perceptions of democracy in the mathematics classroom the first two stages of the constant comparison method were followed to arrive at categories of democratic and undemocratic acts. The participants in the research emphasised that instructors should refrain from giving some students more time or opportunities to express themselves or act in the mathematics classroom than other students, because this would make them feel unequal and possibly make them unwilling to participate further in the mathematics classroom. The participants also emphasised that instructors should not exert their power to stop the flow of students’ actions in the mathematics classroom, because this would trouble them and make them lose control of their actions. Further, the participants mentioned that instructors would do better to connect to students’ ways of doing mathematics, especially of defining mathematical terms, so that students appreciate the correct ways of doing mathematics and defining its terms.

scholarly journals Swedish and Finnish Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Summative Assessment Practices

Languages ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Raili Hilden ◽  
Anne Dragemark Oscarson ◽  
Ali Yildirim ◽  
Birgitta Fröjdendahl
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Summative Assessment ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Summative Assessments ◽  
Curricular Alignment ◽  
Oral Skills

Summative assessments are an exercise of authority and something that pupils cannot easily appeal. The importance of teachers being able to assess their pupils correctly is consequently both a question of national equivalence and individual fairness. Therefore, summative assessment is a paramount theme in teacher education, and we aimed to investigate the perceptions and competence of student teachers regarding common summative assessment practices. The study was conducted at three universities, two in Sweden and one in Finland involving prospective language teachers responding to an online survey (N = 131). In addition, interviews were carried out with 20 Swedish and 6 Finnish student teachers. The analysis of the data indicates that student teachers value practices that enhance communication and collaboration as well as the curricular alignment of summative assessments. With respect to perceived competence, the respondents in general felt most confident with deploying traditional forms of summative assessment, while they were more uncertain about process evaluation and oral skills. Regarding significant differences in the participants’ perceptions of competence among the three universities, Finnish university students reported higher levels in all variables. However, room for improvement was found at all universities involved.

scholarly journals OERlabs: Empathy first, solution later?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bence Lukács ◽  
Mathias Andrasch ◽  
Sandra Hofhues
Keyword(s):  
Student Teachers ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Open Book ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Entire Process ◽  
Creative Commons ◽  
Shared Goal ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

The project ‘OERlabs - jointly training student (teachers) for Open Eductional Resources (OER) use’ is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research Germany (BMBF[SH1] ) and aims to sensitize and contextualize OER for all relevant university actors by strategically carrying out an open developmental process. This process includes organizing regular Multi-Stakeholder[SH2] Dialogues (MSD) over the course of the project. This paper briefly outlines the kick-off MSD event, its methodological approach in context of the entire process, i.e. building a base for working on solutions with implicit use of OER-principles and presents the participants feedback and provides results from the event. In contrast to committee work, our MSD-approach provides participants with more spacefor open discussions while still working towards a shared goal. In the context of OER, these events show the importance of focusing on the participants attitudes and mindset, rather than confronting them with general OER-related topics right away, such as licensing and creative commons. The project OERlabs will organize its final MSD in July of 2018, while also documenting additional experiences in an Open Book.

Malaysian Primary Teachers’ Perceptions on Dyscalculia

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 125-136
Author(s):  
Yoong Soo May ◽  
Fu Sai Hoe ◽  
Wong Wei Lun ◽  
Lijuan Shen
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Primary Teachers ◽  
Difficulty Level ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Learning Capability ◽  
Primary School Teachers ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Significant Difference

This study aims to examine the perceptions of primary school teachers in Malaysia regarding dyscalculia using a survey. The researchers conducted the study using a quantitative design. The survey data had been collected using a questionnaire. The survey data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The questionnaire was adapted from Chinn’s (2020) checklist for dyscalculia with permission from Professor Dr. Steve Chinn. Thirty Mathematics teachers from Year One to Year Three in primary schools were randomly chosen. The severity of dyscalculia were analysed by using means and standard deviations. In contrast, independent t-tests were used to compare the severity of dyscalculia between school locations, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the severity of dyscalculia between different school types. According to teachers’ perceptions, the difficulty level for dyscalculic pupils in our country is medium-high (M=3.684, σ=.994). There is no significant difference in dyscalculia severity between school locations (p=.243, p>.05). However, there is a significant difference in dyscalculia severity between school types (p=.007, p.05). Dyscalculic pupils need to be detected since primary schools. The future agenda for this study is to design and develop an instrument in order to detect the dyscalculic pupils among the population. The disparities in dyscalculia severity levels between school types and s are important for the Ministry of Education, educators, teachers, and researchers. This is because it will be useful to determine the allocations of funding and resources so that the learning capability for pupils with different learning abilities can be improved to the maximum.

Interactive teaching methods for primery school: the algorithm for designing interactive activities.

2021 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-71
Author(s):  
Liliia V. Volkova ◽  
◽  
Kristina A. Zanina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Human Life ◽  
School Teacher ◽  
Primary School Teacher ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Primary School Students ◽  
School Students ◽  
Functional Literacy ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Psychology Pedagogy

The article describes the results of the development and testing of an algorithm for designing interactive activities for primary school. The algorithm is developed taking into account the characteristics of modern primary school students, examining different interpretations of the concept «interactive» in different spheres of human life and fields of study (such as linguistics, sociology, psychology, pedagogy) and considering the problem of using the term «interactive» in the modern education system. The algorithm for designing interactive activities includes six sequential steps: to select the content; to choose a type of group for the activity; to create the activity in which each student will personally participate; to think over different options to provide choice for students; to select the technical means; to set a time limit. Each action of the algorithm is depicted from the perspective of a primary school teacher. The survey of the teachers found significant changes in teachers’ perceptions of the term «interactive», in their understanding of distinctive features of the interactive activities and difficulties to create suitable interactive activities. It is noted the importance of continuing research in the aspect of the influence of interactive activities on the educational achievements of primary school students (including the development of functional literacy). The article was prepared with the financial support of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation within the framework of the research project «The development of functional literacy among primary school students in the implementation of educational programs».

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document