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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
11

Critical Theory and Preservice Art Education: One Art Teacher Educator's Journey of Equipping Art Teachers for Inclusion.

Allison, Amanda 05 1900 (has links)
This qualitative action research study examines how critical theory defined and guided my practice as an art teacher educator while I provided inclusion training for seven preservice art teachers during their student teaching. Sources of data included a personal journal, the inclusion curriculum I created for the preservice teachers and questionnaires and interviews. Primary findings indicated that critical theory had a substantive impact on the evolving development of my teaching philosophy, in particular my attention to issues of power redistribution in the classroom and my developing notion of teaching as form of artistry. The findings of this study also indicate that the primary impact of critical theory upon the preservice teachers was the articulation of their personal narratives and its relation to the development of their teaching identities. Further, mentoring these preservice art teachers in critical theory increased their competence in solving educational dilemmas. A primary finding of this study was how significant of a role the supervising or mentor teacher plays in developing preservice teachers' identity. As this is acknowledged, valued and utilized, more collaborative relationships among these stakeholders in the education of the preservice art teacher can be forged. The study provides implications for art teacher educators as they provide inclusion training to preservice teachers. These include honoring narratives, articulating a broader notion of inclusion, and using context-specific instructional tools while preservice teachers are completing fieldwork with students with disabilities. One suggestion for future research is to conduct longitudinal studies which explore and validate the impact of critical theory upon art teacher educators and preservice art teachers during the student teaching semester and several years beyond.
12

Music Teacher Educators’ Perceptions of the Selection, Preparation, and Education of Cooperating Music Teachers

Gunther, James M. January 2023 (has links)
Student teaching is recognized as the culminating and seminal experience of preservice teacher education. It is a unique time when preservice teachers are fully engaged in daily responsibilities of P-12 music educators, while under direct supervision of a mentor, often referred to as the cooperating music teacher (CMT). CMTs have immense influence on student teachers during this pivotal point in their education. The purpose of this convergent mixed methods study was to explore preferences and practices of music teacher educators (MTEs) in the United States with regards to the selection, preparation, and education of CMTs, through the lens of Abramo and Campbell’s Four Notions Framework. Data were collected through a document search of state administrative codes, rules, and regulations regarding selection criteria for CMTs, a national survey of MTEs (n = 104), and semi-structured follow-up interviews of survey participants (n = 10). This study demonstrated the importance of MTE agency and student involvement in the selection process and selection criteria that is responsive to diverse and localized needs of institutions of higher education, P-12 schools, and individual student teachers. Findings argue against universal criteria for CMTs in favor of policies that are appropriate and sensible for diverse teaching and learning contexts. Findings indicate a prevalence of published criteria for the selection of CMTs across the United States, paired with a disconnect between the prevalence of policy and MTEs knowledge of those state policies, and a lack of published policy at institutions of higher education. MTEs in the study reported community building and individual relationships as important elements that facilitate the selection, preparation, and education of CMTs. MTEs also demonstrated strong agreement with the importance of the Four Notions Framework and indicated student involvement dispositional criteria for CMTs (e.g., good role model, willingness to discuss feedback) to be elements of the selection process they valued most. The strong agreement with the Four Notions Framework positions it as a useful tool to evaluate effectiveness of selection criteria and available professional development. Availability of professional development for CMTs appears to be an important area of growth for the profession. MTEs identified themselves as primary providers of professional development, through informal and formal individualized interactions they have with CMTs. While handbooks for CMTs appear to be prevalent, findings demonstrate they are an underutilized tool for preparation and education of CMTs. MTEs shared mixed perceptions about alignment of available professional development with the Four Notions Framework, indicating effectiveness of those opportunities, in helping to promote dispositions and qualifications MTEs value, is another area of growth. The availability of qualified and effective CMTs emerged as a primary barrier, alongside other expected barriers such as geographic contexts, time, funding, staffing, and full workloads. MTEs in this study also identified institutionalized structures and policies intended to support CMTs that sometimes act as barriers to selection, preparation, and education. A lack of common terminology in the field of music teacher education may also act as a barrier to collaboration and communication about policies and processes. Implications and recommendations are offered for further exploration of selection criteria, advancement of professional development, and further lines of inquiry.
13

中学职前教师的专业身份建构: 实习教师的专业学习历程的个案研究. / 实习教师的专业学习历程的个案研究 / Construction of the professional identity of pre-service secondary school teachers: case studies of student teachers' learning to teach / Case studies of student teachers' learning to teach / Zhong xue zhi qian jiao shi de zhuan ye shen fen jian gou: shi xi jiao shi de zhuan ye xue xi li cheng de ge an yan jiu. / Shi xi jiao shi de zhuan ye xue xi li cheng de ge an yan jiu

January 2012 (has links)
身份转变是成为教师的一个重要部分,不少研究者因此强调教师教育在职前教师专业身份形成中的作用,亦有研究者发现实习是职前教师身份转变的关键阶段。然而到底职前教师是如何通过专业学习来建构和发展期专业身份的,却一直缺乏相关实证研究。有鉴于此,本研究尝试从职前教师专业学习历程中去理解专业身份的建构和发展,从职前教师的视角去考察当前教育实习为他们提供了怎样的身份建构情境。 / 研究以情境视角下的学习观和身份建构观为理论背景(Lave&Wenger,1991; Wenger,1998),采个案研究方法,通过深度访谈和田野观察来跟踪两所实习学校内的四名高中实习教师的专业学习历程,以理解实习教师的身份建构和改变的过程,并以此为线索梳理了实习情境中影响其身份建构的主要因素及其互动关系。 / 研究发现,实践参与式的学习确实改变着实习教师的专业身份。四个个案实习教师的专业身份经过实习后都在不同方面不同程度地发生了改变。驱使这种改变的最为核心的力量是他们在实习前业已形成的职业承诺和教师角色认知。而它们也是实习教师在实践场域中定位自我的最为关键的两个身份定位点。职业承诺决定了职前教师参与实践和建构身份的意愿。根据自己的学生身份所形成的教师角色认知则是实习教师识读实习情境扮演角色的主要根据。既有的角色认知与实习场域中的角色脚本的冲突则是启动身份重构的关键。 / 另一方面,实习学校的实践文化、实习指导教师所构成的实习情境共同框定了实习教师的实践参与的方式和内容。而实习教师总是基于自己原有的职业承诺和角色认知投入实习情境,与角色对手展开互动。身份的协商正是在这种互动的参与中展开。传记性因素、情境性因素和经历性因素在这个过程中以不同方式影响着身份的协商和建构,而它们三者之间的互动最后形塑了职前教师在整个实习期间的参与轨迹,导向了不同的专业身份。 / 基于此,研究尝试为学界理解职前教师如何通过专业学习以建构其专业身份提供概念框架和实践启示,并提议建立专业身份建构型的教师学习观。 / As the identity transformation is essential for becoming a teacher, researchers have emphasized the role that the teacher education play in the shaping and forming of pre-service teachers’ professional identities, with teaching practice as the critical stage in transforming the identities of pre-service teachers. However, few empirical studies have been conducted to investigate how the pre-service teachers construct and develop their professional identities through professional learning. To this end, this research explores the professional learning trajectories of pre-service teachers to understand the construction and development of their professional identities. Furthermore, this study looks into the teaching practice from the angle of pre-service teachers in order to depict a picture of the context for the professional identity construction. / Using the framework of learning concept and identity construction (see Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998), the research employed the case study method, carrying out both in-depth interviews and field observations to gather qualitative data. Four student teachers from two placement schools participated in the research as four cases. The four teachers’ learning experiences as well as their identity construction and change were investigated to explore factors constructing and changing the professional identities of the four student teachers. / The research, on the one hand, has confirmed the importance of learning as participation in changing the student teachers’ professional identities. In the four cases, the professional identities of the student teachers were all found to be changed after the teaching practice in different ways and at different levels. The major motivation for the change was attributed to the professional commitment and the concept of teacher role, which had been formed prior to the teaching practice of the four student teachers. Moreover, the professional commitment and the concept of teacher role were the two anchoring points of student teachers to locate themselves in the field of teaching practice. Regarding the two anchoring points, the professional commitment determined the willing of student teachers to participate in the teaching practice and construct their professional identities; the concept of teacher role, taking shape out of their self-as-student, was the frame of reference for the four student teachers’ understanding of the teaching practice context as well as the role playing. The clash between the four student teachers’ concept of teacher role and the role script embedded in the culture of the two schools was the trigger of the four student teachers’ identities reconstruction. / The research, on the other hand, has indicated that, the four student teachers participated in the teaching practice and interacted with the role partners according to their own original professional commitment and concept of teacher role, although the teaching practice context, comprising the placement school culture and the mentors, shaped the way and the content of the four student teachers’ participation. Therefore, the negotiation of identity took place between the four student teachers and the teaching practice context, which was influenced in different ways by the three factors, namely, the biography, the context and the experience. The interaction among the three factors subsequently built up the participation trajectories of the four student teachers through the whole teaching practice, guiding the four student teachers to achieve different professional identities. / On the whole, the research has contributed to conceptual understanding as well as practical implications in the construction of pre-service teachers’ professional identities through professional learning. In future research and practice, it is proposed that learning to teach be explored from the perspective of professional identity construction. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 张倩. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 304-315). / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Zhang Qian. / 中文摘要 --- p.I / 英文摘要 --- p.II / 致谢 --- p.IV / 目录 --- p.V / 图表目录 --- p.VII / 导言 --- p.VIII / Chapter 第一章 --- 问题陈述 --- p.1 / Chapter 第一节 --- 研究的缘起--寻惑与解惑的起点 --- p.1 / Chapter 第二节 --- 研究的背景 --- p.3 / Chapter 一、 --- 教师身份的提出 --- p.3 / Chapter 二、 --- “学教的再概念化 --- p.4 / Chapter 三、 --- 情境学习的视角 --- p.5 / Chapter 四、 --- 教育实习的样貌 --- p.6 / Chapter 第三节 --- 研究的目的与问题 --- p.8 / Chapter 第四节 --- 研究的意义 --- p.9 / 本章小结 --- p.12 / Chapter 第二章 --- 文献述评 --- p.13 / Chapter 第一节 --- 西方研究中的“学教 --- p.13 / Chapter 一、 --- “学教研究的脉络梳理 --- p.14 / Chapter 二、 --- 再概念化的“学教 --- p.17 / Chapter 三、 --- 本研究的“学教概念框架 --- p.22 / Chapter 四、 --- 小结 --- p.32 / Chapter 第二节 --- 教师专业身份的研究脉络 --- p.34 / Chapter 一、 --- 教师专业身份的意涵 --- p.35 / Chapter 二、 --- 教师专业身份研究的主要理论脉络 --- p.41 / Chapter 三、 --- 实习教师专业身份研究的现状 --- p.46 / 本章小结 --- p.58 / Chapter 第三章 --- 研究的设计与方法 --- p.59 / Chapter 第一节 --- 研究框架与研究问题 --- p.59 / Chapter 一、 --- 研究的概念框架 --- p.59 / Chapter 二、 --- 相关概念的操作性定义 --- p.61 / Chapter 三、 --- 研究问题的阐述 --- p.63 / Chapter 第二节 --- 研究的设计与方法 --- p.64 / Chapter 一、 --- 质化研究取向 --- p.64 / Chapter 二、 --- 个案研究的策略 --- p.64 / Chapter 三、 --- 研究的整体设计 --- p.65 / Chapter 第三节 --- 研究的效度与伦理 --- p.75 / Chapter 一、 --- 研究的效度 --- p.75 / Chapter 二、 --- 研究伦理 --- p.76 / Chapter 第四节 --- 研究局限 --- p.78 / 本章小结 --- p.79 / Chapter 第四章 --- 实习教师的专业身份发展 --- p.80 / Chapter 第一节 --- 个案实习教师的专业身份发展 --- p.80 / Chapter 一、 --- 薇的专业身份发展 --- p.81 / Chapter 二、 --- 凯的专业身份发展 --- p.96 / Chapter 三、 --- 玲的专业身份发展 --- p.108 / Chapter 四、 --- 慧的专业身份发展 --- p.122 / Chapter 第二节 --- 实习教师专业身份发展的特点 --- p.139 / Chapter 一、 --- 实习前职前教师的专业身份特点 --- p.139 / Chapter 二、 --- 实习前职前教师专业身份的主要区别 --- p.145 / Chapter 三、 --- 实习后职前教师的专业身份特点 --- p.147 / Chapter 第三节 --- 小结 --- p.152 / Chapter 第五章 --- 实习情境中的学教与身份发展 --- p.156 / Chapter 第一节 --- 个案实习教师的实习故事 --- p.156 / Chapter 一、 --- 薇的实习故事 --- p.157 / Chapter 二、 --- 凯的实习故事 --- p.176 / Chapter 三、 --- 玲的实习故事 --- p.191 / Chapter 四、 --- 慧的实习故事 --- p.209 / Chapter 小结 --- p.227 / Chapter 第二节 --- 专业身份的形塑--实习情境的识读与应对 --- p.228 / Chapter 第三节 --- 专业身份的建构--情感体验与自我反思 --- p.236 / Chapter 第四节 --- 小结 --- p.240 / Chapter 第六章 --- 实习教师身份发展的主要影响因素 --- p.243 / Chapter 第一节 --- 传记性因素 --- p.243 / Chapter 第二节 --- 情境性因素 --- p.247 / Chapter 第三节 --- 经历性因素 --- p.263 / Chapter 第四节 --- 小结 --- p.275 / Chapter 第七章 --- 结论 --- p.277 / Chapter 第一节 --- 研究的结论 --- p.277 / Chapter 第二节 --- 研究意义 --- p.285 / Chapter 第三节 --- 研究反思与建议 --- p.292 / Chapter 附录一 --- 第一次访谈提纲 --- p.296 / Chapter 附录二 --- 第二次访谈提纲 --- p.298 / Chapter 附录三 --- 第三次访谈提纲 --- p.300 / Chapter 附录四 --- 文献综述中的“学教 --- p.300 / 参考文献 --- p.304
14

中國大陸學生教師實習期間教師知識發展的個案研究. / Student teachers' knowledge development during teaching practice in Mainland China: a case study / CUHK electronic theses & dissertations collection / Zhongguo da lu xue sheng jiao shi shi xi qi jian jiao shi zhi shi fa zhan de ge an yan jiu.

January 2006 (has links)
林一鋼. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2006. / 參考文獻(p. 227-242). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Lun wen (zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2006. / Can kao wen xian (p. 227-242). / Lin Yigang.
15

Pre-service teachers' information communication technology (ICT) adoption in preschool settings in Hong Kong

Hu, Xinyun, 胡馨允 January 2015 (has links)
Teacher education programmes are expected to prepare pre-service teachers (PSTs) to use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their future teaching and learning practice. However, whether and how PSTs actually integrate ICT in their teaching practice is influenced by many other factors in addition to their own personal background and educational exposure. This study investigates the technologies used and the kind of ICT-related pedagogical approaches adopted by PSTs’ teaching practicum, and to examine how these are influenced by school-level and personal-level factors. Fifteen PSTs assigned in the same teaching practicum group were selected as the focal subjects for this study. The methodological approach taken in this research was multiple case studies, involving in-depth data collection through surveys, interviews, observations and document analysis during various stages of the PSTs’ in seven preschools over two semesters. Findings reveal three pedagogical approaches adopted by the PSTs: 1) teacher-initiated and teacher-directed, 2) teacher-initiated and children-directed, and 3) children-initiated and children-directed. The most frequent pedagogical approach overall was teacher-directed approach. The adoption of children-directed activities was much lower, and children-initiated activities were very infrequent. Similar patterns were found in ICT-related learning activities: a majority of these were initiated and directed by PSTs and only limited opportunities for children to direct the use of ICT. No ICT was used in children-initiated activities. Further analyses reveal that school-level conditions were important in influencing PSTs’ decision-making in relation to ICT use. These conditions include: nature of the curriculum adopted by the school, ICT access, and the mentor teachers’ pedagogical use of ICT. In schools with a greater understanding and adoption of children-centred approaches, PSTs had more opportunities to involve children in using ICT in teacher-initiated and children-directed activities. In structured teacher-centred classrooms, PSTs follow their mentor teacher’s use of ICT, mainly in teacher-initiated and teacher-directed approach. It is found that the mentor teacher played a very important role in demonstrating the pedagogical use of ICT. The study found that personal conditions such as the PSTs’ self-reported personal use of ICT and their competence in using ICT also affected how they used ICT in their practice. While the PSTs had similar ways of using ICT for their own personal activities, they varied in the confidence and competence in pedagogical use of ICT. They all felt confident in using ICT to prepare and present visual learning resources, but were less confident in preparing lessons that involve the use of ICT by children, and even less confident in guiding children’s use of ICT. These findings suggest that in order for teacher education programmes to effectively prepare PSTs for ICT integration, mutual understanding and collaboration with practicum schools and mentor teachers are important. Teacher educators and teacher education institutions are only part of the education ecosystem. Aligned vision and efforts involving policy makers and school leaders at the system and school levels are necessary to create the appropriate conditions for mentor teachers to support PSTs in exploring innovative ways of using ICT in early childhood education. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education
16

Fostering knowledge building among pre-service teachers in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment

Tang, King-chi., 鄧敬池. January 2003 (has links)
published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Education
17

Exploring the complexities of the practicum : case studies of two school advisors

Chin, Peter M.K. 11 1900 (has links)
This study investigates how school advisors, in a secondary-school science context, conceive of and enact their roles in working with student teachers. It describes the interactions between school advisors and student teachers in relation to their personal conceptions of teaching, learning, and the process of learning to teach. The study provides a better understanding of the practicum setting with particular attention to the school advisor's perspective. Detail-rich cases highlight a range of issues for school advisors as they enact their responsibilities in attending to the student teachers' learning. These cases poignantly depict the complexities of the school advisor/student teacher dynamic and the various tensions that arise when conflicts emerge as the practicum unfolds. There are three questions that guide this study: (1) How do teachers perceive their roles as school advisors?; (2) How do teachers enact their roles as school advisors, and what are the foci of the school advisors' work with student teachers?; and (3) How do student teachers perceive the role of the school advisors? The practicum is a context in which one person assists the other in learning (to teach) and for this reason the conceptual framework used for data analysis is a curriculum perspective. Two levels of curriculum are discussed; level one of the curriculum framework is meeting the needs of the students while level two is meeting the needs of the student teacher. Both levels must be attended to throughout the teaching practicum. Five thematic areas were identified: (a) the student teachers' learning, (b) the working relationship, (c) experiences outside of the classroom, (d) lesson planning, and (e) classroom management. This study makes a significant contribution to the research literature on teacher education. First, it focuses upon the school advisor's role within the practicum. Second, one of the two case studies that deteriorated to the point where a change of venues was in order, serves as a rare example of a less-than-ideal practicum experience. Third, the conceptual framework of regarding the practicum as curriculum provides a new perspective for gaining insights into the complexities of learning to teach.
18

Exploring the complexities of the practicum : case studies of two school advisors

Chin, Peter M.K. 11 1900 (has links)
This study investigates how school advisors, in a secondary-school science context, conceive of and enact their roles in working with student teachers. It describes the interactions between school advisors and student teachers in relation to their personal conceptions of teaching, learning, and the process of learning to teach. The study provides a better understanding of the practicum setting with particular attention to the school advisor's perspective. Detail-rich cases highlight a range of issues for school advisors as they enact their responsibilities in attending to the student teachers' learning. These cases poignantly depict the complexities of the school advisor/student teacher dynamic and the various tensions that arise when conflicts emerge as the practicum unfolds. There are three questions that guide this study: (1) How do teachers perceive their roles as school advisors?; (2) How do teachers enact their roles as school advisors, and what are the foci of the school advisors' work with student teachers?; and (3) How do student teachers perceive the role of the school advisors? The practicum is a context in which one person assists the other in learning (to teach) and for this reason the conceptual framework used for data analysis is a curriculum perspective. Two levels of curriculum are discussed; level one of the curriculum framework is meeting the needs of the students while level two is meeting the needs of the student teacher. Both levels must be attended to throughout the teaching practicum. Five thematic areas were identified: (a) the student teachers' learning, (b) the working relationship, (c) experiences outside of the classroom, (d) lesson planning, and (e) classroom management. This study makes a significant contribution to the research literature on teacher education. First, it focuses upon the school advisor's role within the practicum. Second, one of the two case studies that deteriorated to the point where a change of venues was in order, serves as a rare example of a less-than-ideal practicum experience. Third, the conceptual framework of regarding the practicum as curriculum provides a new perspective for gaining insights into the complexities of learning to teach. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate
19

The Effects of Technology Integration Techniques in Elementary Mathematics Methods Courses on Elementary Preservice Teachers' Computer Self-Efficacy, Software Integration Confidence, and Lesson Planning

Maninger, Robert M. 08 1900 (has links)
The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the effect of computer technology integration techniques on preservice teachers' feelings of computer self-efficacy and feelings of confidence in software integration. It was also the purpose of this study to interpret these preservice teachers' confidence in using computer technology integration techniques in their own planning and instruction during student teaching. The participants in this study were from two intact, non-randomly-formed classrooms. They were 27 preservice teachers enrolled in the College of Education at a university in north central Texas in two sections of a course entitled EDEE 4350, Mathematics in the Elementary School. This study was quasi-experimental, with a nonequivalent pretest-posttest control group design. The independent variable was the type of instruction experienced in an elementary mathematics methods course: novel instruction with specialized computer technology integration techniques versus traditional instruction with no specialized technology integration techniques. The dependant variables were measured using the following instruments: the Demographic Data and Previous Context Use of the Computer Survey which described participants' demographics and their previous usage of the computer; the Self-Efficacy With Computer Technologies Scale; the Preservice Teacher Software Integration Confidence Scale; and the Lesson Plan Infusion/Integration Scale. The results of the data analysis revealed, through the inferential statistics run on the Self-Efficacy with Computer Technology Scale pretest and posttest, that there was no statistically significant difference between treatment groups (p < .05). The posttest-only Preservice Teachers Software Integration Confidence Scale revealed a statistically significant difference between treatment groups (p < .05). The posttest-only Lesson Plan Technology Infusion/Integration Scale revealed no statistical significance between treatment groups (p < .05). The study provides insight into the benefits of instruction in specific software integration techniques instruction. It suggests that when preservice teachers are given instruction in specific computer software integration techniques, they are more confident in the use of those techniques.
20

EXPLORING BIOGRAPHIES: THE EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY TOWARDS BECOMING INCLUSIVE EDUCATORS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

Bentley-Williams, Robyn January 2005 (has links)
Doctor of Philosophy / The current study explored the formative processes of twelve student teachers constructing role understandings in the context of their experiences and interactions with people with disabilities. In particular, it examined the participants’ changing notions of self-as-teacher and their unfolding perceptions of an inclusive educator’s role in teaching children with disabilities. The research aimed to investigate personal and professional forms of knowledge linked with the prior subjective life experiences of the student teachers and those arising from their interactions in situated learning experiences in community settings. The contextual framework of the study focused on the development of the student teachers’ unique understandings and awareness of people with disabilities through processes of biographical situated learning. The investigation examined participants’ voluntary out-ofcourse experiences with people with disabilities across three community settings for the ways in which these experiences facilitated the participants’ emerging role understandings. These settings included respite experiences in families’ homes of young children with disabilities receiving early intervention, an after-school recreational program for primary and secondary aged children and adolescents with disabilities, and an independent living centre providing post-school options and activities for adults with disabilities. ii Two groups participated in the current study, each consisted of six student teachers in the Bachelor of Education Course at the Bathurst campus of Charles Sturt University. Group One participants were in the second year compulsory inclusive education subject and Group Two participants were in the third year elective early intervention subject. The investigation examines the nature of reflexive and reflective processes of the student teachers from subjective, conflict realities in an attempt to link community experiences with real-life issues affecting inclusive educational practices. The voluntary community experiences engaged the research participants in multi-faceted interactions with people with disabilities, providing thought-provoking contexts for their reflections on observations, responses and reactions to situations, such as critical incidents. The participants engaged in reflexive and reflective processes in records made in learning journals and in semi-structured interviews conducted throughout the investigation. Results were analysed from a constructivist research paradigm to investigate their emerging role understandings. Prior to this study there had been few practical components in the compulsory undergraduate inclusive education subject which meant that previously student teachers gained theoretical knowledge without the opportunity to apply their learning. Many student teachers had expressed their feelings of anxiety and uneasiness about what they should do and say to a person with a disability. Thus, the community experiences were selected in order to give a specific context for student teachers’ learning and to provide participants with expanded opportunities to consider their professional identity, social awareness and acceptance of people with disabilities. iii An analysis of the data demonstrated the centrality of reflection within a situated teaching and learning framework. Understandings of prior experiences and motivation were shown to interact with the outcomes of the community experiences through an on-going process of reflection and reflexivity. This reconstructing process encouraged learners to reflect on past, present and projected future experiences and reframe actions from multiple perspectives as a way of exploring alternatives within broader contexts. The data reveal the participants’ engagement in the community experiences facilitated their awareness of wider socio-cultural educational issues, while focusing their attention on more appropriate inclusive teaching and learning strategies. The reflective inquiry process of identifying diverse issues led participants to consider other possible alternatives to current community practices for better ways to support their changing perspectives on ideal inclusive classroom practices. The dialogic nature of participants’ on-going deliberations contributed to the construction of their deeper understandings of an inclusive educator’s role. The findings of the study identified external environmental and internal personal factors as contributing biographical influences which shaped the student teachers’ emerging role understandings. The results emphasised the value of contextual influences in promoting desirable personal and professional qualities in student teachers. Importantly, situated learning enhanced participants’ unique interpretations of their prospective roles. As a result of analysing their insights from interactions in community contexts, the student teachers had increased their personal and professional understandings of individuals with disabilities and broadened their perceptions of their roles as inclusive educators. Thus, the study found that encouraging a biographical reflexive and reflective orientation in participants was conducive iv to facilitating changes in their understandings. Overall, the outcomes had benefits for student teachers and teacher educators in finding innovative ways for integrating biographical perspectives into situated teaching and learning approaches. The study showed that contextual influences facilitated deeper understanding of role identity and produced new ideas about the nature of reflexivity and reflection in guiding student teachers’ learning. (Note: Appendices not included in digital version of thesis)

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