The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand how five choral music educators’ life experiences, prior knowledge, attitudes, values, beliefs, and understandings surrounding the formation of their musical selves have come to shape their professional practice. A secondary purpose of this research was to examine institutional context and governing ideologies of the choral music discipline. The study involved five choral music educators—including the researcher—of various ages, genders, and cultural backgrounds from Winnipeg, Manitoba. This research is grounded in what Beattie (1995) terms the dialectical and collaborative nature of narrative inquiry, but also looks to reflexive inquiry and life history methodologies (Cole & Knowles, 2000), as well as the practice of collective biography (Davies & Gannon, 2006) to shape its methodological framework. As such, autobiographical forms of self-study research are reconceptualized as collaborative self-study. Data collection methods included journal writing, personal in-depth interviews, and participant observation. In particular, regular focus group sessions, which included peer interviewing, played a central role throughout the research process. This forum allowed participants to share their musical life histories and interrogate each others’ narratives, thereby triggering musical memories and exposing the interconnectivity of musical pasts to current professional practice. Data is re-presented in rich narratives which trace the path of each participant’s musical life history in interaction with theory and relevant literature. Numerous themes, sub-themes, tensions, and epiphanal episodes (Denzin, 1994) are illuminated. Moreover, connections between participants’ experiences and resultant ways of knowing are exposed, and we are confronted with “the unexpectedness of universality” (Hofstadter, 2007, p. 242). Thus, our commonessence is revealed. Participant chapters are followed by a postlude featuring the researcher’s personal narratives, an examination of researcher voice, and questions regarding the practice of choral music education that have surfaced through reflexive analysis of the data. This research strives to be a model for personal professional development among choral music educators, and provides a template for future purposeful discussion in the choral discipline.

This research investigated elementary classroom teachers' experiences in a collaborative learning community (CLC) on the topic of supporting the literacy learning of students with characteristics of ADHD. Five general education classroom teachers participated in biweekly CLC meetings over a 5-month period. Qualitative methods of data gathering were employed in the form of participant observations in the classroom and during 9 CLC meetings. Participants were also interviewed three times. The first interview was conducted before the CLC meetings began, the second interview was conducted immediately after formal CLC meetings had ceased, and the final interview was conducted 6 months after meetings had ended. Three main findings emerged from the research. First, participants' literacy teaching of their students with characteristics of ADHD was positively influenced as a result of their participation in the CLC. This positive influence came through an interaction of factors related to their knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs. It also resulted from a reconceptualization of both their understanding of their students with characteristics of ADHD and of themselves as literacy teachers. Second, certain aspects of the CLC contributed to this positive outcome. These aspects were the opportunity to work with colleagues, participant control over the format and content of CLC, and repeated opportunities to reflect on and refine teaching practice. Third, personal and contextual factors shaped the participants' experiences within the CLC. Participants who had challenges during their own schooling were more driven and committed to understand and respond to their students’ diverse learning needs. Participants with the most number of years of teaching experience had a more fully realized skill set, higher levels of self-efficacy, and lower levels of stress related to teaching and meeting the needs of their students with characteristics of ADHD. Implications for school literacy teaching, preservice education, in-service education, and future avenues for research are discussed in light of the findings.

Ethnocultural minority immigrant students carry diverse histories, perspectives, and experiences, which can serve as resources for critical reflection and discussion about social conflicts. Inclusion of diverse students’ identities in the curriculum requires acknowledgement and open discussion of diversity and conflictual issues. In democratic peacebuilding education, diverse students are encouraged to express divergent points of view in open, inclusive dialogue. This ethnographic study with a critical perspective examined how three teachers in urban public elementary school classrooms with ethnocultural minority first- and second-generation immigrant students (aged 9 to 13) implemented different kinds of curriculum content and pedagogy, and how those pedagogies facilitated or impeded inclusive democratic experiences for various students. In these classrooms, peers and teachers shared similar and different cultural backgrounds and migration histories. Data included 110 classroom observations of three teachers and 75 ethnocultural minority students, six interviews with three teachers, 29 group interviews with 53 students, document analysis of ungraded student work and teachers’ planning materials, and a personal journal. Results showed how diverse students experienced and responded to implemented curriculum: when content was explicitly linked to students’ identities and experiences, opportunities for democratic peacebuilding inclusion increased. Dialogic pedagogical processes that encouraged cooperation among students strengthened the class community and invited constructive conflict education. The implicit and explicit curriculum implemented in these three diverse classrooms also shaped how students interpreted democracy in the context of multiculturalism in Canada. Teaching students as though they were all the same, and teaching curriculum content as if it were neutral and uncontestable, did not create equitable social relations. Explicit attention to conflict provided opportunities to uncover the hidden curriculum and to acknowledge structures of power and domination, creating space for development of critical consciousness. Thus culturally relevant curricula and democratic learning opportunities encouraged social and academic engagement and resulted in the inclusion of a wider range of diverse students’ voices.

Although STSE has recently received attention in educational research, policy, and science curricula development, fewer strides have been made in moving theory into practice. There are many examples of STSE-based and issues-based teaching in science at the elementary and secondary levels, which can be found in the literature (Alsop, Bencze, & Pedretti, 2005; Hodson, 1993, 2000; Pedretti & Hodson, 1995), yet little has focused specifically on physics education. This doctoral thesis will examine pre-service physics teachers’ beliefs and perceptions, challenges and tensions which influence their adoption of STSE education in the context of a pre-service physics education course (Curriculum and Instruction in Physics Education at the B.Ed level). An interpretive case study design as described by Merriam (1988) has been employed for this research (Merriam, 1988; Novodvorsky, 2006). The specific phenomena this case study examined and explored were the pre-service physics teachers’ beliefs and perceptions, challenges and tensions influencing their adoption of physics curricula that explicitly emphasizes an STSE orientation to physics education. The pre-service physics teachers’ evolution of perceptions and attitudes show growth in the areas of curricula understanding and implementation issues, potential student concerns, and general fit of the subject within the context of a student’s learning journey. This study contributes to our understanding of the challenges pre-service physics teachers face when considering teaching physics through an STSE lens, and provides some implications for both pre-service and in-service teacher education.

This qualitative case study explored the nature of the relationships between Local (English) Teachers (LTs) and Foreign (English) Teachers (FTs) who worked at the same English institute of a foreign studies university in south-eastern China. Employing the community of practice framework, this research drew insights from a questionnaire, interviews, and observations. The findings revealed that the teachers seldom interacted and, furthermore, were influenced by broader social structures that were not considered in the framework. Accordingly, the theory was extended to include other perspectives, such as native and non-native English speaking teacher issues and the Chinese concept of face, in order to determine the underlying reasons that inhibited their interaction. Notwithstanding these challenges, three cases of FT-LT collaboration were discovered, and the factors that enhanced their collaboration were analysed. The LT and FT participants provided suggestions to each other and the administrators on how collaboration could be improved in their institute.

This research explored the complexity of language teacher identity from a holistic perspective involving two features: the integration of teachers’ personal and professional experiences, and the application of conscious/rational and intuitive/tacit thought processes. The study examined four ESL teachers’ beliefs, perceptions, and interpretations about the influences of their important personal, educational, and professional experiences on the development of their teacher identity. It also investigated the overall impact of an autobiographical reflective process combined with a guided visualization activity on the re-construction of participants’ perceptions of teacher identity. The interdisciplinary theoretical orientation was grounded in theories and concepts from psychology and educational research, e.g., Personal Construct Theory (Kelly, 1955, 1963), the complementary nature of reason and intuition, and the concept of “perspective transformation” (Mezirow, 1978, 2000). The methodology was heuristic research (Moustakas, 1990, 1994) and methods included reflexive autobiographical journaling, guided visualization, and in-depth interviews. The results confirm that teacher identity is deeply embedded in one’s personal biography. Participants’ beliefs, perceptions, and interpretations nurtured in the family environment strongly influenced their school experiences, career choice, instructional practice, teaching philosophy, and teacher identity. The use of the guided visualization technique, integrated with rational reflection, considerably enhanced the depth and breadth of participants’ self-understanding and personal/professional growth, which is an important methodological contribution of the study for teacher development. The results strongly suggest that it is essential to explore teachers’ personal life experiences in order to gain a holistic understanding of the dominant influences on the development of teacher identity. The study presents a model for designing a longitudinal professional development program offered in a series of workshops to raise teachers’ awareness of the implicit influences on teacher identity and instructional practice through the application of both conscious/rational and intuitive/tacit methods to access their beliefs, perceptions, and interpretations of their life experiences.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand how five choral music educators’ life experiences, prior knowledge, attitudes, values, beliefs, and understandings surrounding the formation of their musical selves have come to shape their professional practice. A secondary purpose of this research was to examine institutional context and governing ideologies of the choral music discipline. The study involved five choral music educators—including the researcher—of various ages, genders, and cultural backgrounds from Winnipeg, Manitoba. This research is grounded in what Beattie (1995) terms the dialectical and collaborative nature of narrative inquiry, but also looks to reflexive inquiry and life history methodologies (Cole & Knowles, 2000), as well as the practice of collective biography (Davies & Gannon, 2006) to shape its methodological framework. As such, autobiographical forms of self-study research are reconceptualized as collaborative self-study. Data collection methods included journal writing, personal in-depth interviews, and participant observation. In particular, regular focus group sessions, which included peer interviewing, played a central role throughout the research process. This forum allowed participants to share their musical life histories and interrogate each others’ narratives, thereby triggering musical memories and exposing the interconnectivity of musical pasts to current professional practice. Data is re-presented in rich narratives which trace the path of each participant’s musical life history in interaction with theory and relevant literature. Numerous themes, sub-themes, tensions, and epiphanal episodes (Denzin, 1994) are illuminated. Moreover, connections between participants’ experiences and resultant ways of knowing are exposed, and we are confronted with “the unexpectedness of universality” (Hofstadter, 2007, p. 242). Thus, our commonessence is revealed. Participant chapters are followed by a postlude featuring the researcher’s personal narratives, an examination of researcher voice, and questions regarding the practice of choral music education that have surfaced through reflexive analysis of the data. This research strives to be a model for personal professional development among choral music educators, and provides a template for future purposeful discussion in the choral discipline.

This qualitative case study explored the nature of the relationships between Local (English) Teachers (LTs) and Foreign (English) Teachers (FTs) who worked at the same English institute of a foreign studies university in south-eastern China. Employing the community of practice framework, this research drew insights from a questionnaire, interviews, and observations. The findings revealed that the teachers seldom interacted and, furthermore, were influenced by broader social structures that were not considered in the framework. Accordingly, the theory was extended to include other perspectives, such as native and non-native English speaking teacher issues and the Chinese concept of face, in order to determine the underlying reasons that inhibited their interaction. Notwithstanding these challenges, three cases of FT-LT collaboration were discovered, and the factors that enhanced their collaboration were analysed. The LT and FT participants provided suggestions to each other and the administrators on how collaboration could be improved in their institute.

This research explored the complexity of language teacher identity from a holistic perspective involving two features: the integration of teachers’ personal and professional experiences, and the application of conscious/rational and intuitive/tacit thought processes. The study examined four ESL teachers’ beliefs, perceptions, and interpretations about the influences of their important personal, educational, and professional experiences on the development of their teacher identity. It also investigated the overall impact of an autobiographical reflective process combined with a guided visualization activity on the re-construction of participants’ perceptions of teacher identity. The interdisciplinary theoretical orientation was grounded in theories and concepts from psychology and educational research, e.g., Personal Construct Theory (Kelly, 1955, 1963), the complementary nature of reason and intuition, and the concept of “perspective transformation” (Mezirow, 1978, 2000). The methodology was heuristic research (Moustakas, 1990, 1994) and methods included reflexive autobiographical journaling, guided visualization, and in-depth interviews. The results confirm that teacher identity is deeply embedded in one’s personal biography. Participants’ beliefs, perceptions, and interpretations nurtured in the family environment strongly influenced their school experiences, career choice, instructional practice, teaching philosophy, and teacher identity. The use of the guided visualization technique, integrated with rational reflection, considerably enhanced the depth and breadth of participants’ self-understanding and personal/professional growth, which is an important methodological contribution of the study for teacher development. The results strongly suggest that it is essential to explore teachers’ personal life experiences in order to gain a holistic understanding of the dominant influences on the development of teacher identity. The study presents a model for designing a longitudinal professional development program offered in a series of workshops to raise teachers’ awareness of the implicit influences on teacher identity and instructional practice through the application of both conscious/rational and intuitive/tacit methods to access their beliefs, perceptions, and interpretations of their life experiences.

L’école et les programmes de formation à l’enseignement ont connu beaucoup de transformations au cours des dernières décennies. Ces changements sont notamment associés au mouvement de la professionnalisation de l’enseignement qui met l’accent, entre autres, sur l’importance de développer une réflexivité critique chez les futurs enseignants à travers des cours théoriques et des stages. Dans cette optique, le Ministère de l’éducation, des loisirs et du sport (MELS) et les institutions universitaires ont la responsabilité d’interpréter les caractéristiques propres à une pensée critique et de les intégrer à la formation initiale des enseignants. Cependant, bien que le concept de pensée critique ait fait l’objet de nombreuses recherches théoriques et empiriques depuis les travaux sur la pensée réfléchie de Dewey, il n’existe toujours pas une définition consensuelle du concept. Néanmoins les philosophes « classiques » (Ennis, McPeck, Paul, Siegel, Lipman) s’entendent pour soutenir qu’une pensée critique présuppose un doute méthodique qui conduit à la mobilisation d’habiletés et d’attitudes intellectuelles complexes, reliées à l’évaluation des faits et des situations. De leur côté, des épistémologues issus du champ de la psychologie développementale (King & Kitchener, Kuhn, Perry, et d’autres) ont élaboré des modèles de développement d’une pensée critique basés sur l’identification de stades. L’un des plus récents modèles est issu des sciences de l’éducation (Daniel et al.) et sera utilisé comme grille pour analyser nos données. Il présuppose quatre modes de pensée (logique, métacognitif, créatif et responsable) et leur complexification à partir de trois perspectives épistémologiques (égocentrisme, relativisme et intersubjectivité). La présente étude, de nature qualitative, cherche à d’identifier la réflexivité (simple ou critique) visée par les textes officiels du MELS, stimulée par l’Université de Montréal (UdeM) dans le cadre de la formation initiale des étudiants inscrits en Éducation physique et à la santé (ÉPS) et manifestée par ces étudiants en fin de formation. Pour ce faire, nous avons eu recours à une analyse de contenu, et à une analyse basée sur le modèle développemental de Daniel et ses collègues. Ces analyses ont été conduites sur le référentiel de compétences du MELS, sur les indicateurs de compétences et les consignes de rédaction des rapports synthèses de l’UdeM, ainsi que sur des verbatim d’entrevues individuelles et de groupe et sur les rapports synthèses des participants (au nombre de neuf). Les résultats d’analyse du référentiel de compétences et des indicateurs de compétences montrent que les réflexivités visée et stimulée sont de l’ordre d’une pensée réfléchie mais pas nécessairement d’une pensée critique. Parallèlement, la réflexivité manifestée par les stagiaires lors des entrevues ainsi que dans leurs rapports synthèse s’est révélée être de l’ordre d’une pensée réfléchie pas nécessairement critique même si des manifestations d’une pensée critique ont occasionnellement pu être observées. / Schools and Teacher Training Programs have undergone several transformations over the past decades. In particular, these transformations have been associated to the teaching professionalization movement that emphasizes, among others, the importance of developing reflexivity, and especially critical reflexivity, in future teachers through theoretical classes and practicum. To this end, the Ministère de l’éducation, des loisirs et du sport (MELS) and universities are responsible for interpreting the characteristics that are specific to Critical Thinking (CT) and to integrate these characteristics in Initial Teacher Training. However, although the concept of CT has been the subject of considerable theoretical and empirical research since the works of Dewey on Reflective Thinking (RT), a consensual definition of the concept has yet to be reached. Nevertheless, “classical” philosophers (Ennis, McPeck, Paul, Siegel, Lipman) agree in sustaining that CT implies methodological doubt, which leads to the mobilisation of complex intellectual attitudes and skills, related to the evaluation of facts and situations. For their part, epistemologists from the field of developmental psychology (King & Kitchener, Kuhn, Perry, and other) have elaborated CT development models based on the identification of stages. One of the more recent models stems from Education Science (Daniel et al.) and will be used as a grid to analyse our data. It presupposes four thinking modes (logical, metacognitive, creative, and responsible) and their increasing complexity based on three epistemological perspectives (egocentricity, relativism, and inter-subjectivity). The present study, of a qualitative nature, attempts to identify the reflexivity (simple or critical) outlined in the MELS’s official texts, as stimulated by Université de Montréal (UdeM) with its Initial Teacher Training for students registered in the Physical Education and Health program, and as manifested by these students at the end of their training. To do so, we relied on content analyses, and on an analysis based on the developmental model of Daniel and colleagues. These analyses were conducted on the MELS’s competency dictionary, on competency indicators and UdeM writing guidelines for summary reports, as well as on transcripts of individual and group interviews, and on the participants’ summary reports (nine in total). Results from our analysis of the competency dictionary and competency indicators show that the reflexivity intended and stimulated is in the range of RT but not necessarily of CT. In parallel, the reflexivity manifested by trainees during the interviews and in their summary reports proved to be of a RT nature not necessary critic even if some manifestations of CT were observed.