EMERGENCE OF THE PROJECT
At the 2004 Annual Conference (held in Agrigento, Sicily), the Shulman framework used in the previous study reappeared as a vehicle used by a number of contributors. A shared interest emerged in comparing members’ courses in science/mathematics education – that is, the courses in “how to teach science/mathematics”, in general including ideas of “why, when and for whom”, that for many members of the RDC constitute a major part of their work – perhaps focusing in particular on the development of PCK. This led to the tentative initiation of the project Preparing to be a science or mathematics teacher: a comparative study. Initial discussion led to the realisation that it was difficult to focus meaningfully on PCK in science/mathematics education courses until there was a shared understanding of the context in which the courses operated, and hence that the project needed to examine the teacher education programmes of which they formed a part.
At the 2004 Annual Conference (held in Agrigento, Sicily), the Shulman framework used in the previous study reappeared as a vehicle used by a number of contributors. A shared interest emerged in comparing members’ courses in science/mathematics education – that is, the courses in “how to teach science/mathematics”, in general including ideas of “why, when and for whom”, that for many members of the RDC constitute a major part of their work – perhaps focusing in particular on the development of PCK. This led to the tentative initiation of the project Preparing to be a science or mathematics teacher: a comparative study. Initial discussion led to the realisation that it was difficult to focus meaningfully on PCK in science/mathematics education courses until there was a shared understanding of the context in which the courses operated, and hence that the project needed to examine the teacher education programmes of which they formed a part.
PILOT STUDY, 2004-2005
A pilot study conducted in 2004-05 by Christine Hopkins, using a questionnaire, investigated the structure of programmes at three institutions in three different countries (England, Ireland and the USA) and aspects of the context in which they operated. Questions included the following:
1. What is the length of training for the most common route to teaching?
2. How is the student’s time divided between school and college?
3. Do you have entirely school-based routes to teaching?
The most productive follow-up work developed from the issue raised in question 2: the time allocated to different elements of the programme (such as study of general educational theory, school-based teaching practice, and so forth). Even for this comparatively limited area, and with only three institutions involved, it became obvious that the description of different elements was not uniformly understood. The results were presented to the RDC at the Annual Conference in Amsterdam in 2005. The discussion further highlighted the need to clarify the different terminology and concepts embodied in programmes in different countries and institutions.
A pilot study conducted in 2004-05 by Christine Hopkins, using a questionnaire, investigated the structure of programmes at three institutions in three different countries (England, Ireland and the USA) and aspects of the context in which they operated. Questions included the following:
1. What is the length of training for the most common route to teaching?
2. How is the student’s time divided between school and college?
3. Do you have entirely school-based routes to teaching?
The most productive follow-up work developed from the issue raised in question 2: the time allocated to different elements of the programme (such as study of general educational theory, school-based teaching practice, and so forth). Even for this comparatively limited area, and with only three institutions involved, it became obvious that the description of different elements was not uniformly understood. The results were presented to the RDC at the Annual Conference in Amsterdam in 2005. The discussion further highlighted the need to clarify the different terminology and concepts embodied in programmes in different countries and institutions.
FINDING AND USING A COMMON FRAMEWORK AND VOCABULARY, 2006-2007
Some participants working on the glossary.
At the 2006 conference in Portoroz, Slovenia, a brainstorming session (see picture) took place in order to generate a list of concepts and terms that needed definition for the purposes of the project, and a glossary for the purposes of the project was devised. The challenge to participants then became that of drawing a pie chart using a list of categories (described using the terms in the glossary) to represent specified aspects of their chosen programme: academic subjects, school subject content, general pedagogy, science/mathematics education, and so forth. Face-to-face work was resumed at the 2007 conference in Telford, England, and some updates to the glossary and categories were made. The second contribution made at the Telford conference came through presentation of a draft paper to a general session, hence to an audience including people unfamiliar with the work of the RDC. The final version of the paper included the feedback that audience members provided. (Unfortunately, the conference Proceedings contain the draft paper, rather than the version submitted for publication; to obtain the latter version, click here.) As suggested by the title, "Identifying diversity and commonality in science/mathematics teacher education: finding and using a common framework and vocabulary to describe teacher education programmes," it focused not only on presenting the findings of the project to date, but also on illustrating by example how an RDC can carry out collaborative work.
ENDING THE PROJECT
The paper suggested that more work would be done, incorporating an approach suggested at the presentation in Telford. However, at the 2008 conference, members agree that they had learnt enough for their own purposes, and the project was ended.
The paper suggested that more work would be done, incorporating an approach suggested at the presentation in Telford. However, at the 2008 conference, members agree that they had learnt enough for their own purposes, and the project was ended.
