Reflective Teachers

This study sought to investigate the Indian trainee teachers’ perception of the 21st century skills, to what extent these skills were integrated into teacher education programs, and challenges to their integration. The study followed a mixed approach comprising of both quantitative (e. g. descriptive survey) and qualitative (e.g., interview) research methods taking 500 trainee teachers from 50 teachers’ training colleges using a stratified random sampling technique. Data were analyzed descriptively and inferentially. Findings revealed that few skills were partially integrated while others were poorly integrated, significant differences were found in the ingestion of these skills between trainees of private and government teacher training colleges, and thereby, hampering the aim of making teachers reflective. The study also noted the challenges in integrating these skills that will provide a valuable reference for teacher education curriculum planning and implementation with a view of providing a holistic educational experience among trainee teachers across countries.

Online Writing Assessment during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Challenges, Options and Scenarios

Assessment is at the core of the teaching process. It shapes students’ understanding of the curriculum and determines their ability to progress. Choosing an assessment strategy is an important aspect of the curriculum planning process. Hence, in the context of this shift from face-to face learning to full-time online learning, several challenges arose including how to develop online writing assessment to the students. In particular, online assessment of students’ writing has become an unprecedented new situation for many English lecturers. The transition from face-to-face assessment to online assessment has been a new experience for many English lecturers who have never applied it before nor have background knowledge of its mechanisms and methods. The issue has raised an important point for English teaching practitioners and course designers regarding the strategies and challenges of this mandatory mode of assessment. From this perspective, the purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of online writing assessments in the COVID-19 pandemic era, including challenges faced by lecturers in conducting online assessments, as well as a set of recommendations for designing online assessment mechanisms and strategies that will result in a fair assessment process for all.

“Probing in the complexities of the integrated undergraduate medical curriculum”: A qualitative exploratory study

Objectives: To explore the perceptions of the faculty regarding the level of curriculum integration and their interpretation of the integration ladder in achieving the complex process. Method: The qualitative exploratory study was conducted at Islamic International Medical College Islamabad, University College of Medicine and Dentistry Lahore and Rehman Medical College Peshawar, from March to August 2018. The participants were the faculty members involved in the designing and implementation of the integrated curriculum in these institutes. The semi-structured interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic content analysis. Results: Of the 18 faculty members, 6 (33.3%) belonged to each of the three institutions. Four themes identified were: curriculum planning, an uphill task; dream versus ground reality; moving up and down the ladder; and teamwork in the paradigm shift. There were different perceptions of the level of integration among faculty members within the same institute. The level of integration ranged from 5-9 in different phases of the curriculum. The processes included all the teamwork steered by the departments of medical education. Conclusion: Although Harden’s integration ladder is a useful tool, curriculum integration is an inherently inconsistent and complex process that does not follow a simple hierarchical continuum of integration and requires a teamwork. Identifying the patterns of integration in different phases of the curriculum might be more practical than just determining a single level of integration in the whole curriculum. Key Words: Curriculum, Integration, Faculty, Pakistan.

專業西班牙文翻譯課程實施自主學習之成效探討

<p>教育部《十二年國民基本教育課程綱要總綱》強調學生是自發主動的學習者，學校教育應誘發學生的學習動機與熱情，並培育學生成為具有社會適應力與應變力的終身學習者。因此，本研究旨在探討專業西班牙文翻譯課程實施自主學習之成效，並實施問卷調查，了解學生對於翻譯教學結合自主學習之看法，包括課程設計、合作方式、成績評量及學習成效等面向。研究結果指出，藉由翻轉課堂上教師與學生之角色、鬆綁教學控制與結合控制動機等方式可誘發學生的學習動機並提升翻譯能力。</p> <p>&nbsp;</p><p>The Curriculum Guidelines of the 12-Year Basic Education of the Ministry of Education emphasize that students should be spontaneous and motivated learners. Thus, the role of schools is to stimulate students’ learning motivation and enthusiasm in order to prepare them for future societal adaptation and obtain the ability to be a life-time learner. Thus, this study aims to analyze the effects of integrating autonomous learning into the specialized Spanish translation class. The survey findings cover the following aspects: 1) course design: curriculum planning and didactic methodology and process; 2) translation assignments: individual and team work, semester-end learning projects; 3) translation assessment; 4) learning effectiveness. According to the students’ feedback from the questionnaires, the research demonstrates that students’ learning motivations and translation competences can be fostered in autonomous learning by the following methods: changing the roles of teachers and learners in the classroom, allowing students to decide their own learning strategies, and combining controlled motivational factors to encourage students.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

A comparative analysis of discourses shaping physical education provision within and across the UK

Set within the context of a longitudinal project that seeks to engage physical education teachers from the four countries of the UK in cross-border curriculum analysis, dialogue and learning, the current study lays the foundation by mapping and comparing curriculum discourses that currently shape how physical education is conceptualised in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. As a team of researchers with affiliations to each of the four nations of the UK, we identified those curriculum documents from each context that were written to directly inform physical education teachers’ curriculum planning and enactment. We firstly identified those discourses evident in each document to understand how physical education is conceptualised within each curriculum, before engaging in a dialogical process that converged around how physical education is constructed similarly or differently within and across curricula. We found some variation in relation to how the concept of health is articulated. With the exception of the curriculum in Wales, we also found that performance discourses related to developing motor competencies for sports continue to dominate as the main purpose of physical education. Finally, there are several points of divergence in relation to how much agency or guidance teachers are afforded within each curriculum. The intention of this research is to initiate dialogue across each of the four nations, creating opportunities for learning so that, collectively, teachers can build capacity to contribute to future curricula and pedagogies in physical education.

«Individual curriculum» as a way of planning by students of vocational and technical education of their employment

The article deals with the problem of student’s employment in the specialty of graduation at vocational education institutions. Considering the plans of some students on relearning or developing new skills in courses or internships, they need awareness of right specialty to choose and job preferably to find after graduation. The paper considers the relevant issue of research and development of individual planning methods for vocational education students in terms of their employment. The emphasis is made on this factor impact for future employment, namely its impact on the individual professional orientation and career, which can be planned through an individual curriculum i.e. balanced life planning. An individual curriculum is a set of activities that help taking responsibility for the future by combining educational activities at school, college, work and in general throughout the career. It determines the sequence, form and pace of mastering the educational program components, own experience and other successful experiences, methods and activities necessary for achievement of the main planning goal. An individual plan is important as planning efficiently turns knowledge into skills. The study considered based upon the "Individual curriculum" method and auxiliary test methods: "Success motivation and failure fear (questionnaire by Rean A.O.)", a test to determine the motive for a profession choice – the method of professional self-determination by J. Holland. The research was implemented on the basis of the Sumy Chemical-Technological Center for Vocational Education, consisting of two stages of online testing with further explanation to students and their individual curricula development. The first research stage involved students’ participation in an online quest, tests performance and obtaining explanations based on the methods of comprehensive interpretation. The second research stage involved the method of "individual curriculum planning" based on a plan template according to the study year.

Desain Manajemen Kurikulum Sekolah Umum

Curriculum management is concerned with how a curriculum is designed, implemented, and controlled (evaluated and ultimately refined) by who carries it out, when it is timed, and within which scope it is implemented. The purpose of this study is to describe the steps to develop curriculum management that is standardized and adjusts to the development of the community so that there can be a mutually beneficial relationship between school and community citizens. The research method used is the research library model. The results of the study showed that curriculum management is structured based on the basic concepts of curriculum management and learning starting from curriculum planning and learning, school work programs, and finally curriculum evaluation and learning.