10. Teacher Education Research
Paper
University School Involvement and Educational Transformation. Another Teacher Education for Another School
Analia Leite Méndez1, José Ignacio Rivas Flores1, Pablo Fernández-Torres1, María Jesús Márquez García1, Pablo Cortés González1, Gustavo González Calvo2
1Universidad de Málaga, Spain; 2Universidad de Valladolid, Spain
Presenting Author: Rivas Flores, José Ignacio;
Fernández-Torres, Pablo
Teacher training in Spain suffers from a technocratic approach that segregates theory and practice, in a hierarchical relationship. It assumes that it is necessary to have a previous theoretical framework in order to apply it in teaching practice. Students must take a minimum of 1 or 2 years of theoretical content, before doing internships in a school. These internships, in turn, are structured and respond to the academic demands of the University's teaching staff. In this way, future teachers live an artificial experience of what the teaching profession is. Thus raised, it becomes very difficult for there to be a change in the narrative of the profession that allows them to adopt a transforming role of the school. Rather, they are forced to reproduce practices, traditions and strategies lived in his transit through the school as a student, as has already been widely documented in the literature (Rivas, et al., 2015, 2017, 2020; Zeichner, 2010; Jagla, et al., 2013; Hargreaves y O´Connor, 2020; De Sousa Santos, 2007; González y Arias, 2017; Bhabha, 1990).
The teacher education proposal that we have been developing for more than 15 years, in the subjects in which we teach, tries to subvert this epistemological order, through a school-university collaboration project. The aim is to create a new training space in which both institutions collaborate in a joint education proposal, in which each one contributes a dimension: a space for experience and a space for reflection. The objective is to blur the boundaries between theory and practice that allows students to build a professional perspective more committed to change and educational transformation. The students spend part of their course time collaborating with relevant educational projects in a school and alternatively attend classes at the university to rebuild their experience in these schools through a process of collaborative reflection (Leite et al., 2018; Márquez, et al., 2020, 2022; Fernández, et.al.,2019 )
Along with this experience, coordination work is carried out between university teachers and the school staffs where students take this experience. In this way there is constant communication and collaboration between both institutions. We try to support transformation projects in the school through the participation of our students and coordination with the university. This favours that different training and professionalization processes occur.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe main purpose of the collaborative work of the degree subjects with educational centres is to develop other models of teacher training based on the opening of classrooms and participation in educational centres. Educational centres that have been set up as Learning Communities.
This process takes place in several stages:
1. The development of stories about the school experience by the pupils that provoke reflection on their time at school and the organisational and relational models they have experienced.
2. Collective analysis, reflection and comparison of the stories.
3. Presentation of educational projects characterised by openness to the community and the participation of all. The educational centres where these projects are developed will be the spaces where the students will develop their collaboration throughout the four-month period.
4. Attendance at educational centres of different levels and areas. Infant, primary, secondary and adult, in urban and rural areas.
5. Seminars, gatherings, discussion forums where the experiences lived in the centres are discussed, the school experiences lived as students are recovered and a space is opened to rethink the school, relationships, knowledge, participation, fears, the meaning of education, among other issues that emerge.
6. At the end of the semester, the groups of pupils produce a final production that recaptures their experiences and learning by trying to create different forms of communication (comics, performances, songs, poetry, games, videos, etc.).
7. Finally, the cycle closes with a narrative evaluation that involves a personal review of what has been experienced, what has been learned, what has been questioned, and where they also propose their final grade.
The stages mentioned above are part of a complex process that is simultaneously nourished by accompaniment and tutoring by the teaching staff, readings, meetings with other authors, workshops and other resources that are not planned in advance because they depend on the institutional actions and events in which the students participate. As for the relationship with the participating educational centres, a permanent dialogue is maintained; periodically the teaching team visits them to accompany the students, participate in specific actions, organise various training, advisory and collaboration activities in the centres, and hold meetings with the teaching staff of the centres to find out how the participation of the faculty's students is experienced and to resolve any difficulties, as well as to attend to their demands or needs.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe experience we report has given rise to some research that can account for other models of teacher training and other ways of generating knowledge and relations between the university and the school. In this sense, we mention some findings and pose some challenges:
-Participation in educational centres allows students to position themselves differently in the university classroom and in the relationship with their own learning, with the group and with the teaching team.
-Knowledge emerges from one's own experience as a possibility of breaking the theory-practice dichotomy and turning all situations into learning.
-The reality of educational centres shifts the focus of teaching-learning processes towards collaborative mediation between all the people who make up an educational community: families, teaching staff, administration, students, etc.
- In this way, a change in the narrative of the school is encouraged, moving towards a critical and transformative approach, which will lead to a change in their professional identity in their future as teachers.
- A new professional learning scenario is generated (third training area), which is articulated between action in educational centres and more academic and reflective work in university centres.
- There is a triangulation between training and innovation in educational centres, to which is added the research that is generated around the experience. This research has a double meaning: on the one hand, the students' work is approached as a process of enquiry, which involves systematisation of the experience, interpretative process and dialogue with documentary sources; on the other hand, the research team maintains a continuous process of research. To date, we can speak of almost 15 years of continuous research in collaboration with the centres, with different particular focuses, within a shared framework.
References-Bhabha, H. K. (1990). Nation and Narration. Routledge.
-De Sousa Santos, B. (2007). La Universidad en el siglo xxi Para una reforma democrática y emancipatoria de la universidad. La Paz: Plural Editores.
-Fernández Torres, P., Leite Mendez, A. Márquez Garcia M.J.(2019) Narrativas disruptivas en la formación inicial del profesorado. Transformar aprendiendo. Cabás, Nº 22, pág. 61-72.
-González-Calvo, G., & Arias-Carballal, M. (2017). A Teacher’s Personal-Emotional Identity and its Reflection upon the Development of his Professional Identity. The Qualitative Report, 22(6), 1693-1709
-Hargreaves, A. & O´Connor, M. (2020) Profesionalismo colaborativo. Cuando enseñar juntos supone el aprendizaje de todos. Morata. Madrid
-Jagla, V., Erickson, J. & Tinkler, A. (eds.).(2013). Transforming teacher education through servicelearning. Charlotte, NC.: Information Age Publishing.
- -Leite Mendez, A.E., Márquez García, M.J. y Rivas Flores, J.I.(2018) Aprendizajes emergentes y transformación social. Transformando la Universidad desde las Comunidades de Aprendizaje. En Martinez Rodriguez, J.B. y Fernández Rodriguez, E. (comps.) Ecologías de Aprendizaje: educación expandida en contextos múltiples. Madrid: Morata
- Marquez García, M.J., Leite Mendez, A. y Kirsch, W. (2022) Novel metaphors for a novel
school: Narratives, voices and experiences from pre-service teachers engaged in service learning in Spain, Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 119, 2022,103840,ISSN 0742-051X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2022.103840
-Márquez, M.J., Kirsch, W., y Leite, A. (2020). Learning and collaboration in pre-service teacher education: Narrative analysis in a service-learning experience at Andalusian public school. Teaching and Teacher Education, 96, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103187
- Rivas, J. I., Leite, A., y Cortés, P. (2015). La escuela como contexto de la formación inicial del profesorado: aprendiendo desde la colaboración. Revista de Currículum y Formación
del Profesorado, 19(1), 228-242.
--Rivas Flores, J.I, Leite Mendez, A. E. y Cortes Gonzalez, P. (2017) Building democratic
relationships at school? Families, students and teachers in context The postmodern
professional: Contemporary learning practices, dilemmas and perspectives, Publisher: The Tufnell Press, Editors: Karen Borgnakke, Marianne Dovemark, Sofia Marques da Silva, pp.73- 91
-Rivas-Flores, J. I., Márquez-García, M. J., Leite-Méndez, A. y Cortés-González, P. (2020). Narrativa y educación con perspectiva decolonial. Márgenes, Revista de Educación de la Universidad de Málaga, 1 (3), 46-62 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24310/mgnmar.v1i3.9495
-Zeichner, K. M. (2010). Nuevas epistemologías en formación del profesorado. Repensando las conexiones entre las asignaturas del campus y las experiencias de prácticas en la formación del profesorado en la universidad. Revista Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, 68(24,2), 123-149.
10. Teacher Education Research
Paper
Connection Between Theory And Practice In Icelandic Teacher Education: Students Perspectives
Amalia Bjornsdottir1, Berglind Gisladottir1, Birna Svanbjornsdottir2, Gudmundur Engilbertsson2
1University of Iceland, Iceland; 2University of Akureyri
Presenting Author: Bjornsdottir, Amalia
In the past decade and a half, teacher education in Iceland has undergone extensive reform. In 2008, legislation was passed that required a master’s degree for teacher certification (Act No. 87/2008). Since then, changes have also been made to field practice in teacher education, both regarding its length and implementation. The most recent changes, implemented in 2019, have given teacher candidates the option of a paid internship in schools in their final year of study. However, despite such rapid changes and extensive reform, little research has specifically examined teacher preparation in Iceland or whether the mentioned reforms have indeed improved the preparation of student teachers for real-world work as teachers (Sigurðsson, Björnsdóttir & Jóhannsdóttir in press).
Teacher education has often been criticised for being fragmented and for the lack of connection between courses taught in teacher education programmes and the actual classroom practices of teachers in schools (Darling-Hammond, 2017; Moon, 2016, Zeikner, 2010). This is true in Iceland and also in many European countries. Practice shock, a term sometimes used to describe the divide between teacher education and the reality of practice in schools, is experienced by many novice teachers as they transition from being students to being teachers (Caspersen & Raaen, 2014; Smith et al., 2013). Although the challenge is nothing new (Schuck et al., 2018), teacher educators have pointed to the scarcity of opportunities to practice, study, or rehearse actual teaching as a major cause for the divide between theory and practice (Kennedy, 1999). In fact, research on teacher education in past decades has indicated that a key feature of teacher preparation is providing student teachers with the opportunities to learn and practice things that are grounded in the actual work of teaching. Large-scale studies have also indicated that teachers provided with such opportunities in the context of teaching practice prove to be more effective teachers (National Research Council, 2010; see also Boyd et al., 2009; Hammernes & Klette, 2015).
The purpose of our study was to examine the extent to which student teachers in Iceland, namely at the University of Iceland and at the University of Akureyri, view their teacher education programmes as being coherent and grounded in practice. Those two teacher education programmes are responsible for the education of more than 95% of teacher candidates in Iceland each year. Because the programmes differ extensively in size and content but both require extensive field practice in the candidate’s final year of study, we considered it to be relevant to compare them.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedA total of 178 student teachers in their last year of study in five-year teacher education in Iceland participated in the study. The students came from University of Iceland and University of Akureyri. Participants completed an online questionnaire survey designed to better understand the pedagogical aspect of teacher education (see Hammerness and Klette 2015). The survey was developed within the CATE study (Coherence and Assignments Study in Teacher Education see Hammerness et. al. 2020). A questionnaire that has been used for research in many countries and teacher education institutions was translated to Icelandic by a expert in the subject matter and back translated to English and compared to the original version to prevent bias caused by differences in translation. The focus of the current analysis is on a part of the questionnaire that is four scales intended to measure the following: (1) "opportunities to enact practice", (10 items), (2) "opportunities to connect various parts of the program", (5 items), (3)"coherence between courses", (8 items) and (4) "coherence between field experience and courses", (3 items). The scales all had good internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha ranging from .72 – .85.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsOur results indicate that student teachers in teacher education programmes at both the University of Iceland and University of Akureyri receive quite a few opportunities to practise teaching methods. For example, they reported having ample opportunities to create lesson plans and discuss their experiences in their own student teaching but few opportunities to see and work with real examples from lessons (e.g. watching or analyse videos of teaching in the classroom). That indicates a weakness in teachers’ preparation because those types of opportunities can enable student teachers to envision good teaching and provide opportunities to systematically adopt such practices (Jenset et al., 2018; Penuel et al., 2020).
Our results also indicate that student teachers generally perceive a reasonable amount of coherence between courses, although ones at the University of Iceland reported experiencing a greater connection between the theoretical and practical parts of their programme than students at the University of Akureyri. That difference may be explained by the different structures surrounding field practice in the last year of study. In particular, the connection between university courses and field practice seems relatively stronger at the University of Iceland, where academic staff who have previously taught the students teachers meet with them weekly to offer support and facilitate the connection between teacher education at the university and students’ work in the schools. At the University of Akureyri, by comparison, a special project manager who is not a member of the academic staff and does not teach courses has that responsibility. The meetings with the students are also not as frequent. This points to the importance to work closely with student teachers to improve the connection between the theory and practice.
ReferencesBoyd, D. J., Grossman, P., Lankford, H., Loeb, S., Michelli, N. M. og Wyckoff, J. (2006). Complex by design: Investigating pathways into teaching in New York City schools. Journal of Teacher Education, 57(2), 155–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487105285943
Caspersen, J. og Raaen, F. D. (2014). Novice teachers and how they cope. Teachers and Teaching, 20(2), 189–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2013.848570
Darling-Hammond, L. (2017). Teacher education around the world: What can we learn from international practice? European Journal of Teacher Education, 40(3), 291–309. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2017.1315399
Hammerness, K. og Klette, K. (2015). Indicators of quality in teacher education: Looking at features of teacher education from an international perspective. Í A. W. Wiseman og G. K. LeTendre (editiors), Promoting and sustaining a quality teaching workforce, 27 (pp. 239–277). Emerald Group Publishing.
Hammerness, K., Klette, K., Jenset, I. S., & Canrinus, E. T. (2020). Opportunities to study, practice, and rehearse teaching in teacher preparation: An international perspective. Teachers College Record, 122(11), 1-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146812012201108
Jenset, I. S., Klette, K. og Hammerness, K. (2018). Grounding teacher education in practice around the world: An examination of teacher education coursework in teacher education programs in Finland, Norway, and the United States. Journal of Teacher Education, 69(2), 184–197. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487117728248
Kennedy, M. (1999). The role of pre-service teacher education. Í L. Darling-Hammond og G. Sykes (ritstjóri), Teaching as the learning profession: Handbook of teaching and policy (bls. 54–86). Jossey-Bass.
Moon, B. (editor). (2016). Do universities have a role in the education and training of teachers? An international analysis of policy and practice. Cambridge University Press.
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. (2010). Transforming teacher education through clinical practice: A national strategy to prepare effective teachers. Report of the Blue ribbon panel on clinical preparation and partnerships for improved student learning. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED512807
Penuel, W. R., Bell, P. og Neill, T. (2020). Creating a system of professional learning that meets teachers’ needs. Phi Delta Kappan, 101(8), 37–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721720923520
Sigurðursson, B., Björnsdóttir, A., & Jóhannsdóttir, Th. (in press). Five-year teacher education for compulsory school in Iceland: Retreat from research-rased to rractice-oriented teacher education?" In E. Elstad (editor) Teacher Education in the Nordic Region (pp. X-X). Springer.
Smith, K., Ulvik, M. og Helleve, I. (2013). Førstereisen: Lærdom hentet fra nye læreres fortellinger [First journey lessons learned from novice teachers]. Gyldendal.
Zeichner, K. M. (2010). Rethinking the connections between campus courses and field experiences in college- and university-based teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(1-2), 89–99. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487109347671
10. Teacher Education Research
Paper
Discovering Ways to Support the Development of Student Teachers' Situation-Specific Skills
Kadi Georg, Katrin Poom-Valickis
Tallinn University, Estonia
Presenting Author: Georg, Kadi
In order to best prepare teachers to meet the demands of a complex profession, teachers need the skills to transfer their theoretical knowledge into classroom practice. The gap between theory and practice has been a well documented issue in teacher education, where student teachers often do not see the connection between evidence-based knowledge and its value for classroom practices (Knight, 2015).
The contextual model of teacher competences (Blömeke et al., 2015) describes competence as a multidimensional construct, which consists of three facets: teachers' disposition (professional knowledge and affective-motivational aspects), situation-specific skills (perception, interpretation, decision-making, i.e PID-skills) and performance in the classroom. These three facets are in interaction with each other, where dispositions affect PID-skills and the visible behaviour in the classroom is dependent on both two. Teacher PID-skills are of great importance for high quality teaching (Stahnke & Blömeke, 2021), functioning like a bridge between the teacher's knowledge and the transfer of that knowledge to classroom practices. In perceiving classroom events, it has been documented that novice teachers tend to focus more on the teacher (Santagata & Yeh, 2016; Stahnke & Blömeke, 2021), generalize too broadly and notice less important aspects influencing student learning (Barnhart & van Es, 2015) and their perception is less detailed (Gibson & Ross, 2016). Interpretation and decision-making skills describe the skills of using existing knowledge in making sense of the perceived classroom instances and connecting them to theoretical knowledge and making decisions based thereof (Alwast & Vorhölter, 2022). Pre-service teachers' interpretation and decision-making skills are found to be described by lower quality (e.g. Alwast & Vorhölter, 2022), which mainly means the inability to use theoretical knowledge in reasoning or decision-making.
In autumn 2022, Tallinn University's first year Master level teacher education students' level of PID-skills in the context of need- supportive teaching was evaluated. The results of the study revealed similar findings to previous studies in the field (e.g. Alwast & Vorhölter; Barnhart & van Es, 2015; Stahnke & Blömeke, 2021). Knowing that experience and time alone do not guarantee the development of PID-skills (Santagata & Yeh, 2016) and that explicit attention needs to be paid to learning how to direct one's perception and reasoning based on noticed events (Barnhart & van Es, 2015) gave an indication that student teachers PID-skills in the context of need-supportive teaching need to be better supported during teacher education. This formed the basis for the current study, where the goal was to find ways to support the development of teacher PID-skills for need-supportive teaching in one teacher education (TE) course. Previous research has confirmed that classroom videos are a suitable means for this purpose (e.g. Prilop et al., 2021), bearing in mind that it is important to guarantee targeted opportunities to practice theoretical reasoning and making decisions thereof (Santagata & Yeh, 2016). An intervention was carried out as part of the study with the goal of painting a clearer picture to the student teachers of how to connect theory to classroom events, as well as to improve their understanding of their own reasonings and the extent they are able to transfer theoretical knowledge to practice.
The aim of the study is to determine the extent video-based reflection and analysis tasks that focus explicitly on offering possibilities to practice perception, interpretation and decision-making help to develop student teachers' PID-skills in the context of need-supportive teaching. The study seeks to find answers to the following questions:
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What kind of changes occurred in the student teachers PID-skills during the teacher education course?
-
To what extent do the results of the experimental group differ from the results of the control group?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe current study consisted of a control and experimental group. The study was carried out during a TE course, where the focal topic self-determination theory (SDT) and supporting student learning and engagement. Pre-intervention evaluation of PID-skills was carried out at the beginning of the course before SDT and need-supportive teaching was thoroughly discussed. The assessment instrument was created based on previously validated instruments (Alwast & Vorhölter, 2022; Barnhart & van Es, 2015; Chan & Yau, 2021; Kersting, 2008; van Es, 2011). Two authentic classroom videos with the length of 5-minutes each were shown to the participants, which they had to analyze based on given prompts. The analysis questions were formulated based on Chan & Yau (2021) and enabled to assess, which aspects student teachers noticed and what was the level of their interpretation and decision-making. Data analysis was carried out in several phases. First, data was coded based on the data item describing perception, interpretation or decision-making. In the next phase, data was analyzed deductively, using coding protocols, which were created on the basis of previous research (Alwast & Vorhölter, 2022; Kersting, 2008; van Es, 2011). Categories to assess perception were created based on SDT (Jang et al., 2010). Post-intervention evaluation was carried out at the end of the theoretical course following the same model. The control group and experimental group both consisted of about 20 students who participated in the study. In the experimental group, special attention was paid to giving opportunities to practice noticing need-supportive teaching using video-clips of classroom interactions, reasoning based on the noticed aspects and focusing on connecting the theory in question to the reasonings and decisions. Over the course of 5 seminars, students were given the opportunity to reflect on the videos on their own and in small groups. Each task was followed by a feedback and discussion session with the lecturer with the emphasis of highlighting the most important aspects in terms of the watched video-clip or providing more theoretical insight into the offered interpretations and decisions.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsInitial evaluation of student teacher PID-skills was carried out in September 2022. The results revealed that the participants were able to notice noteworthy aspects of the classroom (van Es, 2011) illustrated by the fact that the overwhelming majority of the noticed aspects were connected to need-supportive teaching. However, student teachers' results did show the same characteristics as found in other studies, where their noticings were too generalized, teacher focused or not detailed enough (Barnhart & van Es, 2015; Gibson & Ross, 2016; Santagata & Yeh, 2016). In terms of interpretation and decision-making, the results indicated a low level of skills, as the majority of data items were categorized on the lowest level of a 3-level evaluation model. These results indicated that student teachers were not able to connect theoretical knowledge to their reasoning and decision-making. The intervention was carried out during November - December 2022 and the second round of data collection was carried out in December 2022. Data from the post-course evaluation is currently being analyzed, but the outcomes are expected to indicate a clear increase in PID-skills for the experimental group. The expected outcomes of this study provide an important insight into finding solutions to better support theory-practice transferability in teacher education, in order to ensure the implementation of evidence-based knowledge in supporting student learning and engagement. So far, PID-skills are researched to a large extent in the field of mathematics and natural sciences (e.g. Alwast & Vorhölter, 2022; Kersting 2008; Santagata & Yeh, 2016). Studies that focus on supporting the development of PID-skills in the context of need-supportive teaching are lacking, and therefore, this research provides a novel perspective for the topic of developing PID-skills in teacher education.
ReferencesAlwast, A., & Vorhölter, K. (2022). Measuring pre-service teachers’ noticing competencies within a mathematical modeling context – an analysis of an instrument. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 109, 263–285. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-021-10102-8
Barnhart, T., & van Es, E. (2015). Studying teacher noticing: Examining the relationship among pre-service science teachers' ability to attend, analyze and respond to student thinking. Teaching and Teacher Education, 45, 83-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2014.09.005
Blömeke, S., Gustafsson, J., & Shavelson, R. (2015). Beyond dichotomies: Competence viewed as a continuum. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 223, 3-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604/a000194
Chan, K.K.H., & Yau, K.W. (2021). Using Video-Based Interviews to Investigate Pre-service Secondary Science Teachers’ Situation-Specific Skills for Informal Formative Assessment. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 19, 289–311. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-020-10056-y
Gibson, S.A., & Ross, P. (2016). Teachers' Professional Noticing. Theory Into Practice, 55(3), 180-188, DOI: 10.1080/00405841.2016.1173996
Jang, H., Reeve, J., & Deci, E. L. (2010). Engaging students in learning activities: It is not autonomy support or structure but autonomy support and structure. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(3), 588–600. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019682
Kersting, N. B. (2008). Using video clips of mathematics classroom instruction as item prompts to measure teachers’ knowledge of teaching mathematics. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 68(5), 845–861.
Knight, R. (2015). Postgraduate student teachers’ developing conceptions of the place of theory in learning to teach: ‘more important to me now than when I started’, Journal of Education for Teaching, 41:2, 145-160, DOI: 10.1080/02607476.2015.1010874
Prilop, C.N., Weber, K.E., & Kleinknecht, M. (2021). The role of expert feedback in the development of pre-service teachers’ professional vision of classroom management in an online blended learning environment. Teaching and Teacher Education, 99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103276
Santagata, R., & Yeh, C. (2016). The role of perception, interpretation, and decision making in the development of beginning teachers’ competence. ZDM Mathematics Education 48, 153–165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-015-0737-9
Stahnke, R., & Blömeke, S. (2021). Novice and expert teachers’ situation-specific skills regarding classroom management: What do they perceive, interpret and suggest? Teaching and Teacher Education, 98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103243
van Es, E. (2011). A framework for learning to notice student thinking. In M. G. Sherin, V. R. Jacobs & R. A. Philipp (Eds.), Mathematics teacher noticing. Seeing through teachers’ eyes (pp. 134–151). Routledge.
10. Teacher Education Research
Paper
Investigating the feasibility of Immersive Learning Environments (ILEs) as tools to promote learning within Early Years
Devon Rossetti
University of Northampton, United Kingdom
Presenting Author: Rossetti, Devon
As a Senior Lecturer in Education and current PhD student, this presentation aims to explore both the methodology and methods selected for the next stage of this research project. The focus is on the use of Immersive Learning Environments (ILEs) and the promotion of learning within early childhood. The rationale for this research stemmed from witnessing the development of digital resources within education, as a Primary Teacher and Senior Lecturer. More recently, I have led the development of the Early Years Virtual Learning Environment (EYVE) to develop an immersive games-based learning experience for trainee professionals, providing an insight of how ILEs can be used to promote learning for higher education learners. This has allowed me to question whether the lessons which have been learnt can be applied within the field of early childhood. In the Education Technology Survey (DfE, 2021) it was revealed that 59% of teachers stated that both safeguarding, and data concerns prevented the integration of technology. Whereas Ofcom (2022: p13) identified that ‘58% of pre-schoolers parents felt that ‘the benefits of the internet for my child outweigh any risks’. This echoes disparity between home and setting environments and I feel the opportunity to explore ILEs as a platform between both stakeholders could support the prospect of working more collaboratively to support the 21st century child (Orben, 2021).
An ILE was defined by Sutherland (1965) as a ‘Wonderland which Alice walked’. This definition closely aligns to the scope of immersive technologies, recognising the diversity of each journey as an individual experience. In contrast, this concept of an ‘alternative environment’, Radiant et al., (2020: p3) states that ‘the awareness of time and the real world often becomes disconnected’. This barrier could suggest a negative perception for the application of ILEs within education which could be argued that when considering the position of early childhood there has been limited research surrounding the application of immersive technologies. Internationally, many practitioners remain unconvinced of how this can be used within play (Hatzigianni and Kalaizidis 2018), for example, disparity was shown between the application of digital technology within Greece and China with teacher knowledge and skills identified as a barrier (Liu et al., 2014). Johnston (2021: p5) highlights that immersion in early childhood is ‘screen-based play which is of great concern’ meaning that the integration of this approach is a barrier. Younger children often use screen-based technology to become ‘immersed’ in an alternative virtual environment, for example, ‘Playdoh touch’ (2017) enabled young children to create designs and characters with the playdoh to scan and engage within a game-play environment. This opportunity provided learners to create and animate a character, these are however, limited to the shapes provided by the creator, which already suggests that the element of creativity is one which is lost within this immersive experience. Perez (2016) argues that this type of immersion only offers to amuse learners for a short time, resulting in learning and development being prevented.
Drawing on the theoretical framework of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (1992), I argue that stakeholders need to identify the diversity of how young children’s knowledge is shaped through the exposure and influence of technology within a range of contexts. I feel it is also important to recognise that cultural context plays a vital role in children’s interpretation of their actions when using immersive technologies, supporting the key design features of ILEs (Taylor 2009; Bronfenbrenner 1992).
Furthermore, through understanding children’s diversity in knowledge towards immersive learning experiences, it provides an opportunity for educators and parents to reflect and support opportunities to develop skills within both the home and setting context effectively.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe presentation will focus on an action research-based research methodology. This was selected as I recognise that to support the effectiveness of the project the main intention is to bring ‘critical awareness, improvement and change in practice, setting or system’ (Wellington 2015: p34). The engagement of action research also demonstrates similarities in relation to the pace in which technology moves forward, identifying the need to plan and respond to what had been observed within the study. Koshy (2006: p5) states that ‘the process is likely to be more fluid, open and responsive’.
The research questions for this study are:
1. What are early years educators’ and parents’ understandings of (i) ILEs and (ii) learning in early childhood education?
2. What is the impact ILEs could have on the promotion of learning within the home and setting context?
3. How can key features of ILEs and learning be synthesised to design ILEs that promote learning in early childhood education?
The current intention of the project is to conduct a three-phase approach when applying the methods.
1. Phase 1 will use a questionnaire to gather both educators and parents’ perspectives of ILEs and learning within early childhood.
2. Phase 2 will then comprise of an observation and implementation stage which will apply a range of ILEs using Extended Reality (XR) within both home and setting contexts.
3. Finally, phase 3 will use focus groups to enable stakeholders to reflect on the effectiveness of the ILEs used within phase 2.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThrough applying a three-phase process within this research project it is hoped that this will enable me to reflect on the diversity of parents, practitioners’, and children’s perspectives of ILEs. This presentation will reflect on the beginning stages of the data collection process in Phase 1. As there is limited research in the application of immersive experiences within early childhood, it is important to review the perceptions. As Johnson (2021) suggests that immersive learning technologies may only be viewed as something which is primarily screen-based. I feel it is also important within this first phase of research to identify parents’ and practitioners’ perceptions as the diversity in settings and home experiences can establish whether immersive technologies are used and identify whether there are any commonalities. Konca (2021, p1097) highlights that children live ‘in digitally rich home environments… with parents and home settings playing a key role in children’s interaction with digital technologies’. This echoes the need for this research to identify the importance of home and setting contexts to understand how ILEs can potentially be used to promote both the learning and development of young children.
Within research, the context for digital play within early education is still in its infancy, with practitioners remaining unconvinced of how this can be used within play (Hatzigianni and Kalaizidis 2018), with disparity shown between the application of digital technology with teacher knowledge and skills being identified as a barrier (Vidal-Hall et al., 2020; Mertala, 2019). As the researcher, I recognise this will be the main challenge within my research process, supporting both practitioners and parents to understand the role of ILEs as a potential tool to support learning. As I move forward into phase 2 of the research process this will enable stakeholders to use, apply and observe ILEs within the environment.
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