Search Results for
"Teaching"

This paper presents research findings on practitioners working with young people on Entry to Employment (E2E) programmes in the north of England. E2E continues a long tradition of work-related learning for unemployed school leavers for whom other forms of education or training are deemed unsuitable, and is part of the UK government's strategy for reducing the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). The paper explores the biographies of tutors and their routes into E2E teaching. It also discusses the training and development they have experienced, in the light of the expansive-restrictive continuum of workforce development introduced by Fuller and Unwin. By analysing the dispositions, interpretations and actions of practitioners and relating them to wider policy discourses, the paper also examines the learning culture of E2E. It argues that, although they demonstrate significant levels of care, enthusiasm and teaching ability, practitioners operate within a largely restrictive approach to workforce development and learning. The paper concludes that both practitioners and learners would benefit from a re-evaluation of the material and discursive relations under which E2E operates. © 2010 The Vocational Aspect of Education Ltd.

A large number of British university programmes in tourism and hospitality feature an internship of some sort. This element is intended to provide a vocational dimension to what can be a predominantly academic curriculum. Not only do internships provide familiarity with professional practice, they raise graduate labour-market value and, arguably, enhance the individual's maturity before returning to the final degree year. This paper uses research funded by the UK Centre for Professional Placement Learning, Centre of Excellence in teaching and Learning, into the experiences of students on 12 month internship away from the UK. © Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education.

From vocational education to neurosurgery residencies, apprenticeship training is characteristic of how people are acculturated to a profession. One of the primary goals of professional education is to develop skillful performance. Expert skill includes an integrated set of perceptual and motor abilities. During practical teaching, instructors deploy a set of discursive practices that nurture skilled performance in trainees. These practices scaffold particular patterns of movement, patterns that students can assimilate and subsequently use to guide or govern tool-based actions. We conducted in-depth ethnographic research in a dental hygiene program to gain a deeper understanding of the hands-on training environment: the activities in which participants engage, the circumstances they typically encounter, and the tools and technologies they rely upon in accomplishing their work. The primary data are video recordings of naturally occurring instructional interactions, chosen to be representative of broad classes of interactions observed. This article documents three practices used to entrain students with professional perception and scaffold expert action: guidance, demonstration and modeling, and embodied conceptual metaphor. Copyright © Regents of the University of California.

Aims Against the background of the publication of the General Dental Council's interim report on undergraduate dental education the aim was to investigate current trends in teaching of complete denture construction to undergraduates in the twelve long established dental schools and to gather the opinions of lead teachers of complete denture courses regarding students' competence on graduation. Materials and method A questionnaire containing twenty-five factual questions and eight opinion questions was sent by email to the lead teacher in each of the twelve long established dental schools. Results Replies were received from all twelve schools. All schools teach complete denture construction although the number of cases students are required to treat varies from 5-6 to 1-2. Laboratory courses also varied in content and in most schools all technical work for patients was completed by technicians. Opinions varied regarding the level of competence achieved by students and their preparedness for Vocational Training. Three respondents thought students were adequately prepared, four thought they were, but with reservations and five thought their students were under prepared. The majority thought that the external examiner system, teaching Quality Assessments and GDC visitations did not ensure GDC requirements for competence in complete denture construction were being met. © 2010 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

This paper describes a research process that intends to develop a strategy to support initial programming learning. It is inspired in the theory of Matthew Lipman, as it was conceived through the redefinition of the concept of Learning Communities, to assist the students to maximize their learning through the conscientious evaluation of their level of self-efficacy, while they develop a better behavior to study programming. We present the results of the preliminary tests made to the proposed strategy, and the changes in the strategy that result from those results. © IEEE.

This article contributes to a body of work that addresses the process of 'becoming a teacher' and focuses on the relationship of the higher education (HE) (theoretical) component of the teaching qualification to the (practical) placement experience that student teachers undertake. This study approaches the data through the concept of 'community of practice' aiming to interrogate its usefulness as a theoretical idea that can illuminate the experience of student teachers studying on a Post Graduate Certificate in Education, Post-Compulsory Education (PGCE PCE) for teachers of adult literacy course in the UK. The 'community of practice' concept has been widely used to describe the process whereby student teachers gain entry into a professional identity via 'situated learning'. The idea is attractive, suggesting as it does that there is a strongly communicative dimension to learning how to teach and that an apprenticeship-type relationship - in which culture and values are shared - is possible. This article originates from a small-scale research project that used a collaborative methodological approach. It considers some broad applications of the communities of practice concept from the literature as applied to post-compulsory education teacher education. Then, drawing on ethnographic data from a cohort of pre-service literacy student teachers, the article goes on to suggest an alternative model of such a community. The central perspective it posits is that it is possible to achieve shared understandings about what it means to be a literacy teacher in further education (FE) settings in a localised community of practice (the tutor group itself), but that one of the cohesive forces that helps sustain such a community is that it defines itself against many of the cultural norms that have taken root in the current culture of FE colleges in England, not least among Skills for Life teachers. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.

Problem based learning (PBL) arguably represents the most significant development in education over the past five decades. It has been promoted as the curriculum of choice, and since its introduction in the 1960's, has been widely adopted by many medical and dental schools. PBL has been the subject of much published literature but ironically, very little high quality evidence exists to advocate its efficacy and subsequently justify the widespread curriculum change. The purpose of this review is to classify and interpret the available evidence and extract relevant conclusions. In addition, it is the intent to propose recommendations regarding the relative benefits of PBL compared with conventional teaching. The literature was searched using PubMed, ERIC and PsycLIT. Further articles were retrieved from the reference lists of selected papers. Articles were chosen and included according to specific selection criteria. Studies were further classified as randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or comparative studies. These studies were then analysed according to intervention type: whole curricula comparisons and single educational interventions of shorter duration. At the level of RCTs and comparative studies (whole curricula), no clear difference was observed between PBL and conventional teaching. Paradoxically, it was only comparative studies of single PBL intervention in a traditional curriculum that yielded results that were consistently in favour of PBL. Further research is needed to investigate the possibility that multiple PBL interventions in a traditional curriculum could be more effective than an exclusively PBL programme. In addition, it is important to address the potential benefits of PBL in relation to life-long learning of health care professionals. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

The aim of this paper is to present the design, implementation and evaluation of the methodology which focuses on the pedagogical utilization of Interactive Videoconferencing (IVC) in the contemporary elementary school. As part of the project "ODYSSEAS", during the school year 2007-2008, 46 students and 4 teachers from two elementary schools in Athens and Crete collaborated at a distance via IVC and, with the aid of the animation technique, designed and implemented constructive activities on the topic: "Environment-Climatic Changes". According to the findings of this paper, IVC under pedagogical conditions plays a significant role in supporting collaborative synchronous learning activities at a distance by strengthening the social relations among students and teachers of the local and the remote class at both schools. This survey brought to light that the combination of IVC and face-to-face learning activities consolidates the role of the modern school as a socialization agent. At the same time, it broadens students' opportunities for communication, collaboration and expression by strengthening their willingness to make new contacts all over the world. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

teaching Thinking Skills by Steve Johnson was initially published by the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain in 2000. In this new edition, Johnson has updated his argument, Harvey Siegel has contributed a counter-argument and Christopher Winch has provided a foreword and afterword drawing the debates together. The issues debated in this new edition of teaching Thinking Skills include: Do thinking skills exist? What are the aims of education? Can thinking skill be taught? Are thinking skills transferable? teaching Thinking Skills raises issues not only for those concerned with thinking skills per se but more broadly for those concerned with the role of thinking in professional and vocational activities and with the extent to which abilities are broad or narrow, transferable or non-transferable. © Part 2 Harvey Siegel 2010.

The steady growth of online education has created increasing demands for faculty to design and teach online courses. At issue is the limited pedagogical preparation of higher education faculty hindering motivation to participate or the quality of their online teaching experiences. To address this issue faculty development supports are needed to help faculty transition into online teaching. This article provides an overview of related issues and a sample of emerging faculty development models followed with a description of a promising model integrating design, pedagogical, use of technology, and assessment considerations and adult development, learning, and planning principles. Emerging trends stemming from the review of related issues are also highlighted. © 2011 by IGI Global. All rights reserved.