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Curriculum integration, while a commonly used educational term, remains a challenging concept to define and examine both in research and in classroom practice. Numerous types and definitions of curriculum integration exist in educational research, while, in comparison, teachers tend to focus on curriculum integration simply as a mixing of subject areas. To better understand curriculum integration in practice, this thesis details a case study that examines both teacher and student perspectives regarding a grade nine integrated unit on energy. Set in a public secondary school in Ontario, Canada, I comprehensively describe and analyze teacher understandings of, and challenges with, the implementation of an integrated unit, while also examining student perspectives and academic learning. My participants consisted of two high school teachers, a geography teacher and a science teacher, and their twenty-three students. Using data gathered from interviews before, during, and after the implementation of a 16-lesson unit, as well as observations throughout, I completed a case description and thematic analysis. My results illustrate the importance of examining why teachers choose to implement an integrated unit and the planning and scheduling challenges that exist. In addition, while the students in this study were academically successful, clarification is needed regarding whether student success can be linked to the integration of these two subjects or the types of activities these two teachers utilized.

Curriculum integration, while a commonly used educational term, remains a challenging concept to define and examine both in research and in classroom practice. Numerous types and definitions of curriculum integration exist in educational research, while, in comparison, teachers tend to focus on curriculum integration simply as a mixing of subject areas. To better understand curriculum integration in practice, this thesis details a case study that examines both teacher and student perspectives regarding a grade nine integrated unit on energy. Set in a public secondary school in Ontario, Canada, I comprehensively describe and analyze teacher understandings of, and challenges with, the implementation of an integrated unit, while also examining student perspectives and academic learning. My participants consisted of two high school teachers, a geography teacher and a science teacher, and their twenty-three students. Using data gathered from interviews before, during, and after the implementation of a 16-lesson unit, as well as observations throughout, I completed a case description and thematic analysis. My results illustrate the importance of examining why teachers choose to implement an integrated unit and the planning and scheduling challenges that exist. In addition, while the students in this study were academically successful, clarification is needed regarding whether student success can be linked to the integration of these two subjects or the types of activities these two teachers utilized.

This qualitative case study examined the creation of the teacher self in the novice secondary teacher and its manifestation in classroom practice. In asking, how is the teacher self created through educational experiences, the researcher explored participants' educational memory, teacher preparation programs, experiences of the first year/s and educative life experiences. Simultaneously, the researcher focused on how the teacher self was or was not manifested in classroom practice. This study argued the creation of teacher self was a constant negotiation and state of dissonance between a cluster of experiences. The dissonance and resulting compromises of teacher self that occurred were apparent in four ways. First, the majority of the study participants believed their students would be as they were in during high school; however, all of them encountered differing realities. This paradox aroused an awareness of privilege, but not necessarily critical consciousness in the teacher selves of the participants. Second, it appeared there was an inconsistency between the participants' value and understanding of educational/instructional theory in influencing their teaching selves. All participants claimed pedagogical and curriculum conceptual understandings played a minimal role in shaping their teacher selves and classroom practice; however, interviews and observations demonstrated educational/instructional theory was visible in the classroom. Third, based on past educational experiences, the participants perceived the teacher self to be autonomous in the classroom; however, external forces, mainly high stakes standardized testing, collided with the teaching selves' vision of autonomy. Finally, there were times when participants believed their teaching selves were securely manifested in their classroom practices. Despite the informants' claims, there was ample data indicating that often teacher self did not emerge in ways informants assumed. The findings of this study suggested all facets of teaching--teacher preparation, teacher induction and teacher research--take a more in-depth examination at how past and present educational experiences shape the teaching self and in turn how the teaching self is or is not manifested in classroom practice. / text

Magister Artium - MA / Terminology such as mother tongue, first language and second language remain prevalent in South African schools’ language policies. These monolingual terms seem out of place within our multilingual landscape (Banda, 2018). With the emergence of the concept of translanguaging (Garcia, 2009, 2014; Banda, 2018), the linguistic practices that people of the Western Cape (and elsewhere in South Africa) have now been legitimised as a useful communicative tool within multilingual spaces. Despite research showing the advantages of using translanguaging in classrooms to enhance comprehension (Banda, 2018), language policies remain monolingual in nature. By conducting research at two schools in Delft, Western Cape, I am able to show how learners and teachers defy the monolingual structure of the language policy, by translanguaging, to make learning and teaching more comprehensible. Using Heller’s (2007) concept of language as social practice, it becomes apparent how learners become social actors within the classroom, by languaging to make meaning. In addition to looking at classroom practices, I use supplementary data, an analysis of the school’s language policy, observations of and commentary on linguistic practices outside of the classroom, to further support the idea that school’s confinement of language is incongruous with the language practices in the area. Finally, I propose that translanguaging be legitimised as classroom practice and teaching materials also be adapted likewise, by producing trilingual posters, showing Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa terms, for the Western Cape.

In order to equip teachers for the complexity of their job, teacher education programs have shifted away from training teachers in exactly what to do, focusing instead on how to approach the classroom. Teacher educators are working towards programs that develop beliefs that directly and positively affect the actions of teachers in the classrooms (Darling-Hammond, 2006). One particularly interesting case of teachers-in-training are graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), because they are both students and teachers simultaneously. In addition, GTAs are often learning how to teach while organizing, managing, and instructing classes, with varying levels of experience, training, responsibility, and support (Jordan & Howe, 2018; Patel, 2017). Although there is a body of work exploring the roles GTAs play as students and in institutions (Jordan & Howe, 2018; Park, 2004), GTAs have not generally been examined as classroom teachers. This study explores language GTAs’ beliefs about teaching, how their beliefs connect to their practice, and factors that affect their ability to implement their beliefs using data collected through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. The findings show that GTAs (1) describe, instead of state, their beliefs focusing on classroom atmosphere and communicative language teaching factors; (2) are able to demonstrate their beliefs at least some of the time in their teaching; and (3) report contextual factors, such as time constraints and departmental training, that both hinder and facilitate their ability to implement their beliefs in their practices. Based on these findings, it is suggested that GTAs be provided opportunities to explicitly identify and reflect on their beliefs, make clear and accurate connections between their teaching and their beliefs, and experience an appropriate balance of support and autonomy. These suggestions are made so that GTAs might be more successful in integrating their beliefs and practices in ways that allow them to fulfill their roles as students and teachers well.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the assessment process in Swedish compulsory school practice, and the changes that occur in relation to the introduction of national school reforms. The fieldwork forming the basis of the thesis was conducted in year five and year six classrooms between 2011-2013, a period during which new national syllabuses with knowledge requirements, grades in year six and extended national tests were introduced. The thesis consists of four articles, the first of which explores how the assessment process is put into practice in a year five classroom and how it is understood by the students and one of their teachers. The fieldwork on which the first article is based was conducted prior to the introduction of the above-mentioned reforms. The second article investigates the assessment process in two different year five classrooms in two schools, after the introduction of the new syllabuses but prior to the introduction of grades in year six and extended national tests. The third article investigates changes in the assessment process in the same two schools. The fieldwork was conducted in year five and year six, in relation to the introduction of grades in year six and extended national tests. The fourth article addresses how changes in the assessment process have affected students’ learner identities. The empirical material was collected during four fieldwork periods in three schools, chiefly through classroom observations, interviews and student essays. The analysis in the thesis is based primarily on Basil Bernstein’s (e.g. 2000) theoretical framework but also on the theoretical concepts of Torrance and Pryor (1998). The study shows that the reforms are exerting a significant influence on the assessment process in the investigated classroom practices. Teachers monitor their students’ performance more closely and students strive to acquaint themselves with what is expected of them. It also appears that the focus is increasingly on students’ performance in relation to the steering documents, that the more regulated practices restrict teachers’ and students’ autonomy and that the assessment process in the two schools investigated in both year five and year six are becoming increasingly similar. Furthermore, the study shows that students tend to pay more attention to their school work, while at the same time experiencing more negative pressure to perform. In the concluding analysis and discussion sections, connections are drawn between prevailing education policy and the reforms, as well as their influence on classroom practice, students and teachers.

The research described in this report was undertaken with four teachers of English as Home Language in two different secondary schools in Johannesburg. The researcher’s purpose was twofold: (i) to uncover the attitudes of selected grade nine teachers to the English Home Language curriculum statement for grade nine; (ii) to establish how, if at all, the Revised National Curriculum Statement featured in the teachers’ construction of the subject English as home language. The data for this case study consisted of individual teacher interviews, notes from observations in the classroom of each teacher and artefacts such as teachers’ term plans and examples of learners’ texts. Findings from an analysis of this data indicate varied understandings of and attitudes towards this curriculum statement. These have translated into equally varied implementation of the curriculum. Analysis of the teachers’ interviews gave little indication of the rich and varied learning activities that they planned and implemented. In this case study, the difference between how teachers talked about the new curriculum and how they enacted it in their classroom practice was marked.

This thesis describes the process of course and faculty development in college chemistry at the University of San Carlos in the Philippines. The aim of the research was to increase intellectual engagement through the implementation of a simple instructional cycle to replace a dominant lecture approach. The cycle consisted of three phases: (a) a plenary which is a short presentation of the subject matter, (b) seatwork activity where students work on problems, questions or activities with the instructor moving around the classroom, and (c) closure or summary which includes reactions to learning difficulties encountered by the instructor during phase b. The approach was designed to improve basic teaching skills and to enhance instructors' knowledge of student learning problems. The research employed qualitative and quantitative methods utilising multiple sources of data collection. Validation and reliability criteria were addressed through pluralistic epistemologies; triangulation, use of external observers, member checks, peer commentaries, and case studies. Likewise, the instructors' adaptation to the three phases in the approach were analysed together with students' perceptions of the teaching approaches in the new course. Two instructors, who were involved in the case study, taught the first version of the course having been coached by the researcher who attended almost all lessons within the semester. Analysis of the data indicated that the instructors developed teaching skills applicable in this instructional cycle approach. Problems in the implementation of the cycle were identified and used as the basis for the reconceptualization of a year-long, departmental study involving 13 instructors each of whom applied the instructional cycle to some degree. / Three instructors were able to significantly change their teaching and apply meaningful student seatwork in their lessons. Nine instructors, who were moderately successful implementers, exhibited some pedagogical growth but still had problems in maintaining a well-organised classroom environment. The other three instructors had considerable trouble in applying the new approach. The shift from lecturing to applying the instructional cycle might seem like a relatively small change, yet it is a huge step for instructors who have predominantly taught using lectures for over ten years. This situation called for support by effective intervention through a realistic and practical faculty development program. After an initial training of instructors, extensive coaching in the classroom was used during the implementation phase as well as weekly small group meetings and monthly large group seminars. The course and faculty development process led to a strong increase in chemistry and chemistry pedagogy discussions in the faculty room with increasing collegiality. After the initial implementation, the process of change has continued. Every semester more improvements are made and several other Chemistry courses have been revised using the instructional cycle model of instruction.

In NSW during the last decade there has been strong interest in promoting theories that espoused a naturalistic and wholistic approach to the teaching of reading and writing. One such theory is the Whole Language Approach to teaching reading and writing. The work of Brian Cambourne is integral to this approach and his theory is that the principles of how young children learn to become successful talkers can be applied to how children best learn to become successful readers and writers. This study was concerned with the teachers' perceptions of their classroom practice and whether these perceptions - relating to the teaching and evaluation/assessment of reading and writing - reflected a whole language approach or a non-whole language approach. The results of this study indicate that although teachers perceive that they predominantly favour classroom practices that are considered as whole language, they still employ some practices that are not considered to be whole language. Also, some perceptions of classroom practice indicate that not all whole language strategies are popular with teachers.