RepGrid: a new way of identifying and assessing teaching competency

PurposeThis study illustrates the use of the repertory grid in identifying and assessing effective teaching competencies.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from two subsamples that consist of business management students and engineering students. The systematic repertory grid (RepGrid) method was performed to identify broad effective teaching competencies.FindingsBroad effective teaching competencies found in the study include teaching approach, behavioral orientation, subject expertise, and communication skills among others.Research limitations/implicationsInterestingly, the responses of the subsamples differ in the competencies identified and the weights assigned to a particular competency. Further, the results indicate the importance of having a “context” and thereby challenge the concept of generic teaching competencies.Practical implicationsThe universities are encouraged to use RepGrid technique to assess effective teaching competencies of their faculty members.Originality/valueThe techniques for developing teaching competency models by some prior studies have several inherent flaws including the efficiency and effectiveness of data collection. The study takes forward the suggestions of scholars to use a rigorous technique, repertory grid, to overcome several of these flaws to a large extent.

Where Angels Fear to Tread, Or A Comment on Generic Teaching

In this unpublished paper Winnicott decries the new suggestion at this time (1958) that those involved in social work are given a short course of ‘generic’ training to enhance their professional expertise. He argues that ‘generic’ is a descriptive term and that such a training course does not necessarily provide the depth of specialistion that individual social workers of many types and kinds need. He is particularly concerned at how the selection of candidates for special social work courses is made and how well they may be supervised in their work.

Induction of Teachers in the English Speaking Caribbean

This chapter examines the implementation of teacher induction programs to assist new teachers in the Anglophone Caribbean who, like their counterparts in other parts of the world, face a steep learning curve in the first five years of employment. The programs are part of a wider regional thrust to improve academic performance, and they are as varied as the territories in which they exist. A description of the programs implemented in each territory is presented. Information for the description was garnered directly from the ministries of education of each territory and also from their websites. This is followed by a summary of the findings of the research on induction available from Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Belize. It was discovered that all territories have implemented some form of induction program, and that these programs are beneficial to new teachers. The programs also have shortcomings which can be mitigated by the implementation of the recommendations proposed in the Draft Framework of Generic Teaching Performance and Academic Standards.

How Preservice Teachers Perform in Teaching Events Regarding Generic Teaching and Learning Components

This study focuses on the assessment of educational-psychological teacher competencies regarding generic teaching and learning (TL) components in initial university-based teacher education. Based on the approximations-of-practice (AoP) framework, simulated teaching events (M-Teach) with different formats (tutoring, small group) were developed. In a validation study, it was asked to what extent preservice teachers show teaching skills discriminating students in their teaching quality. Furthermore, the relationship between performances in different M-Teach formats was investigated and compared with teaching in real classrooms. Finally, how preservice teachers experience teaching in M-Teach events and how their subjective experience is related to their performance was analyzed. As a sample, a full cohort of preservice teachers in the fifth semester of a Bachelor teacher education program in Germany (N = 89) participated. All participants taught two M-Teach formats of tutoring and small group teaching based on a standardized instruction and research design procedure. Video analysis of M-Teach event performance revealed that preservice teachers show relevant teaching skills with variations in teaching quality. The performance scores show a quite high stability between different formats (tutoring, small group) and are systematically related to performance in classroom teaching. Participants judge self-efficacy as high and the challenge of implementation as medium to low. The findings indicate that M-Teach events show a high fidelity for formative assessment purposes and can be used in further studies as measures for assessing the acquisition of relevant teaching skills in the area of educational-psychological competencies.

Reflections in the Classroom: Learning to Market Education

Reflective practice has become a key trope within debates around teaching and learning in higher education. Yet, beneath this anodyne rhetoric, teachers and students are being disciplined in a manner that aligns so-called �standards� and professional development with the corporate strategies of educational institutions. Educational developers who seek to promote �standards� and �accountability� in the learning environment enforce the practice of �reflection� as a key educational experience and tool. Repetitive reflective exercises become the means and the monitoring of education.� � How should anthropology, a discipline that focuses on dynamics of diversity and structure, respond to this discourse, and the generic teaching methods that it promotes. And what are the links between these initiatives and the marketing of higher education as a quality-assured educational product? � This article compares the author�s experience of teaching English to European teenagers in a small community centre to teaching anthropology to undergraduates in a large university. It uses the case of the HEA accredited teaching course that was meant to bridge these two, apparently distinct educational realms.

The Essential Structure of Teaching Method Descriptions

This chapter presents a study regarding the construction and evaluation of a description template that captures teaching methods. Different formats for describing teaching methods such as pattern catalogues or pedagogic scenario collections exist. The goal of this work was to derive the essence of teaching method descriptions based on the results of other projects, and to evaluate the so obtained description template. The created template underwent a two-phase evaluation. During the first evaluation phase, 21 instructors described a teaching method from their context using the template and rated the template according to criteria for good descriptions. This phase showed that authors of teaching methods regarded the template as complete and thought that their method was well represented. Instructors disagreed whether the elements contained in the template were distinct. During the second evaluation phase, 33 instructors read selected teaching methods provided during the first evaluation phase. The results of the second phase showed that readers of teaching methods do not necessarily feel confident about implementing the described teaching method, which was thought of as “well described” by the teaching method’s author. Readers reported that they lacked an example implementation of the teaching method. Suggestions for adjusting the template were made based on the evaluators’ feedback including renaming and restructuring of elements. We conclude that a generic teaching method should always be accompanied by an example unit of learning, which implements this teaching method. Further research needs to be performed regarding the factors that enhance teaching method adoption and exchange outside the documentation of methods.