10. Teacher Education Research
Paper
Pedagogical Model of Education Studies at the University of Málaga
José-Ignacio Rivas-Flores1, Analia Elizabeth Leite - Méndez1, Piedad Calvo León1, María-Jesús Márquez-García1, Daniela Padua-Arcos2
1University of Malaga, Spain; 2University of Almería, Spain
Presenting Author: Rivas-Flores, José-Ignacio
This paper sets out to analyse and understand the training processes of education professionals that are taking place at the University of Malaga and what pedagogical models are being implemented and their relationship with the possibilities for change in the education system. In this faculty, teachers of pre-school and primary education, pedagogues and social educators are trained. The training of educators in Spain is heavily regulated by the central government, therefore, this study is presented as a case study of a more global reality.
The training of education professionals is always in the spotlight of educational policies as well as biased ideological debates. Most of the time these debates are conducted according to one's own ideologies and the beliefs and assumptions about education that they imply, but they are rarely contrasted with rigorous research or critical diagnosis. We are dragging behind us traditions based on established ways of doing, and professional models that assume pedagogical models based on institutional cultures and not on educational knowledge (Kincheloe, 1998). For their part, documents from international organisations involved in education, such as UNESCO (2015), insist on the role of teachers and educational agents in the processes of change and transformation of education, as one of the necessary factors for the improvement of society and the achievement of the democratic principles and values of justice, freedom, equity, solidarity and diversity. The document states that "we must therefore rethink the content and objectives of pedagogy and teacher training" (p. 58). The challenges facing teachers nowadays make new demands on their training, which are not always present: diversity, the climate crisis, interculturality, as well as situations arising from new learning scenarios and social relations, through the mediations of the digital world (Martínez & Fernández, 2018; Freire, 2012; Cobo & Moravec, 2011). How are current pedagogical models in faculties of education addressing these emerging situations, both from the point of view of content and practices?
This project, promoted by the Research Institute for the training of education professionals, brings together 15 teachers from different areas of knowledge in an interdisciplinary, open and complex proposal. We start from the idea that current training processes assume an established framework, from institutional traditions, and their epistemological, ontological and ethical frameworks in which the institution's training actions are framed, as well as the regulatory framework that establishes the conditions for their development, both at macro, meso and micro levels (Leite, et al. 2017; Márquez et al. 2022). This also involves taking into consideration the university institution and its educational, political, social and cultural characteristics.
To this end, as specific objectives, we set out to analyse the point of view of the various state about the educational processes that are being developed: Training processes, structure of teaching work, personal trajectories, professional representations, etc. (Korthagen, et al., 2006). An epistemological study is also proposed on the design of university studies, in the light of current training proposals from educational theories and research; to assess the professional development of the faculty's graduates and their assessment of their strengths and weaknesses, as a result of their professional practice; to generate a diverse, complex and democratic discussion forum among the groups involved; to create a forum for discussion among the groups involved in the process; and to promote the development of the faculty's teaching staff and their professional development.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedWe propose qualitative research with a biographical-narrative perspective. The methodological strategies are proposed in three phases:
Phase O. Elaboration of a personal narrative by each member of the research team about their training experience, as a student and as a teacher. The framework of understanding shared by the research team is sought.
Phase 1. Approach to the field.
- Semi-open interviews with representatives of the different levels of the faculty: students (12, 3 per specialty), teaching staff (12, 3 per specialty) and, as far as possible, graduates (8, 2 per specialty). They will be taken from levels and degrees: first and final term students, from the 4 degrees of the faculty and, where appropriate, from the different mentions or specialties; teaching staff from the different departments and areas, different teaching categories, and with different lengths of service at the centre.
- Interviews with academic responsibles for the centre in their different areas of responsibility: Dean's office, department directorships, coordinators of the different areas .....
Phase 2. Discussion.
- Inter-school focus groups for the analysis, assessment and interpretation of the results of the interviews. Four focus are proposed: access, didactic models, learning contents, practicum.
- Discussion group with agents external to the faculty, such as: educational administration, professional and trade union organizations, management, inspectorate, etc.
Phase 3. Document Analysis.
- Analysis of the content of the official documents and regulations of the Faculty of Educational Sciences, to understand the educational and training model that takes shape in them. In this sense, at least documents covering the three levels of normative concretion will be reviewed: Faculty, University, State.
With a view to the final report, it is of interest that it be openly debated both in the faculty itself and in Malaga society, and therefore dissemination strategies based on discussion, debate, public presentation, etc. will be designed. In addition to the conventional academic means of disseminating research advances. It is therefore proposed that the results be presented at a seminar for reflection with interested parties, to discuss the results obtained and venture possibilities for future action to improve the training model of the faculty. This seminar will be attended by faculty members, in service teachers, education professionals from different fields, representatives of the schools and academic authorities of the province with responsibilities in education.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe results that are initially emerging can be differentiated in terms of students and teachers:
STUDENTS
- The students' professional expectations are linked to their biographical trajectories linked to family patterns and previous experiences with teachers. They also focus the teaching profession on a welfare, service and care function.
- Students do not question the established training model. They maintain a very structured view of education. In this sense, they question the practices of collaborative work and co-evaluation, even though they recognize their educational potential.
- Perception of competitiveness linked to the obsession with qualifications, as opposed to learning. This leads to a strong pragmatism in their own training and an over-emphasis on the practical dimension. This implies a lack of theoretical and conceptual solidity, although there is some frustration at not having learned enough.
- Good assessment of the atmosphere and human relations in the faculty, with a good assessment of the teaching staff, especially in terms of their human qualities.
TEACHING STAFF
- They have very different backgrounds, but show a strong motivation for education, often linked to social and political commitments. The university as a profession is not usually the first professional choice. Sometimes this choice is linked to experience with some teachers when they were students.
- They hold the profession in high esteem in intellectual terms, but their training orientation is biased towards a technical approach. Focused on the transmission of knowledge with models that they know do not work, although they recognize that there is also social and citizenship training.
- Feeling of strong personal involvement: I am a teacher 24/7. This is also related to the obligation to do research to be able to develop a university teaching career.
- Questioning of students for their lack of commitment and motivation.
ReferencesCobo, C. & Moravec, J. (2011). El aprendizaje invisible: Hacia una nueva ecología de
la educación. Barcelona: Universidad de Barcelona. De Lissovoy, N.; Means, A., & Saltman, K. (2015). Toward a New Common School Movement. Blulder, Colorado: Paradigm Publishers.
Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass.
Freire, J. (2012). Educación Expandida y nuevas instituciones: ¿Es posible la transformación? En R. Díaz (coord..), Educación expandida (págs. 67-84). Sevilla: Zemos98.
XXI.Fricker, M. (2017). Injusticia epistémica. Herder Editorial.
Furlong, John. (2013). Education–An anatomy of the discipline: Rescuing the university project? Abingdon: Routledge
Martínez, J. B. & Fernández, E. (2018). Ecologías del aprendizaje: Educación expandida
en contextos múltiples. Madrid: Morata.
KINCHELOE, J. Knowledge and critical pedagogy: An introduction. Dordrecht: Springer, 1998
Korthagen, F. A. J., Loughran, J., y Russell, T. (2006). Developing fundamental principles for teacher education programs and practices. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22 (8), 1020-1041.
Kumashiro, K. (2020). Surrendered: Why progressives are losing the biggest battles ineducation. Teachers College Press
LEITE, A.E.; CORTES, P.; RIVAS, J.I (2017) Narrativa y creatividad en la universidad. ¿Es posible transitar otros caminosen la enseñanza y el aprendizaje? En CORTES, P.; MARQUEZ, M.J. Creatividad, comunicación y educación: Más allá de las fronteras del saber establecido (p. 151-164). Uma Editorial.
MARQUEZ, M.J.; LEITE, A. E.; KIRSCH, W. (2022) Novel metaphors for a novel school: Narratives, voicesand experiences from pre-service teachers engaged in service learning in Spain. In Teaching and TeacherEducation, 119.
Novoa, A. M. (2019). Tres tesis para una tercera visión. Repensando la formación docente.Profesorado. Revista de Currículum y Formación de Profesorado, 23(3), 211-222.
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Walsh, C. (2013). Pedagogías decoloniales. Prácticas insurgentes de resistir, (re)exisitir y (re)vivir. Abya-Yala.
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10. Teacher Education Research
Paper
Personal Relevance of Course Content in Inquiry Based Learning Arrangements in Online Higher Education Teaching
Susanne Oyrer, Christine Mitterweissacher
Private University of Education, Diocese Linz, Austria
Presenting Author: Oyrer, Susanne
In recent years, the urgent discussion about teaching at colleges and universities online has triggered a rapid redesign of courses using modern media.
In the summer semester 2021, and 2023 respectively, the pedagogical-didactic goal was to enable three groups of students of an online-course on social science research methods to acquire practice-oriented knowledge about working methods in social science research with a participatory, research-based teaching approach and to involve them cognitively and affective-emotionally. They should implement these working methods in a research project of their own choice.
In addition, a data-based evaluation was carried out on the quality of the online course with regard to the personal relevance (Balwant, 2017) of the content, the development of the criteria of research-based learning (Reitinger, 2016), as well as their social science competencies.
Studies by Eccles and Wigfield (2020, p. 59) have shown that student performance depends on positive emotions of those students. These emotions, in turn, are largely based on perceived control within courses, as well as the perceived value of the course content. Loderer, Pekrun and Lester (2020) as well as Pekrun and Linnenbrink-Garcia (2012) were also able to show for the tertiary education sector how the perceived control of learning arrangements and the ascribed value correlate with the cognitive and motivational engagement as well as the cognitively and emotionally conditioned behavior of students.
Value and control remain the precursors of learning emotions online (Loderer, Pekrun & Lester, 2020, p. 2), whereby in the online situation, external factors, such as dependence on the internet connection or technical possibilities, or disturbing environmental influences can have a negative effect on the control factor. On the other hand, benefits such as dislocated learning, time saving, etc. can have a positive impact on learners' perceived control.
Due to the possibility of individualisation and self-determination (Reitinger, 2016), inquiry-based learning seemed to be a suitable concept for the design of personally relevant teaching. Having a choice (Reeve, 2004), exploring authentically, hypothetising, and discussing ideas, processes, or results are crucial to inquiry based learning. At the same time, these are elements of self-determined learning that take into account the interests and concerns of the learners. In this way, inquiry based learning can provide valuable learning opportunities that allow the learner a great deal of control over the learning process.
The challenge was to implement this in the online situation.
Accordingly, three research questions emerged:
To what extent do students experience a participatory, research-based learning process in online lessons?
To what extent do students experience the course content in online lessons as personally relevant?
Does this practice-oriented social science project also provide students with theoretical knowledge of social sciences´ research principles?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedIn this quantitative empirical study, a questionnaire was filled out by the students at the end of the course (n=56). It contained three parts: Personal Involvement (PII), Inquiry based learning (CILI), and course specific knowledge concerning research methods in social sciences.
The Personal Involvement Inventory (PII) is based on Zaichkowsky's concept of involvement (1994) in terms of personal relevance. Zaichkowsky's understanding of involvement focuses on the affective and cognitive relationship between the person and his or her activity. This view of involvement finds parallels in the study of emotions in the educational context (Pekrun et al., 2009).
The personal relevance of courses was tested by 5 items of 2 categories based on the valid PII from the advertising industry:
(1) Affective factors: engaging, exciting, stimulating, interesting, intriguing
(2) Cognitive factors: significant, relevant, important, valuable, useful
The questionnaire CILI, Criteria based Inquiry learning inventory (Reitinger, 2016), was used to test whether the online lessons gave students opportunities for research-based learning. It is based on 4 criteria which emerge, when inquiry learning takes. This inventory was used to test, whether the students experienced situations that allowed for these criteria to emerge.
Finally, 10 items of the questionnaire aimed at the knowledge of the participants regarding methods in social sciences.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe PII was used to measure the personal relevance of the course content for the students. All values of all five cognitive and five affective items are above the statistical standard. The course had a high value and benefit for the students. In addition, the affective items show that the positive emotions relevant to the learning process strongly predominated.
The CILI questionnaire (Reitinger, 2016) contains 12 items, i.e. 3 items for each of the four criteria of research-based learning. The results show that all criteria of research-based learning were developed. During the course, the criteria of hypothetizing and critical discourse were particularly pronounced, followed by the opportunity to explore authentically in a self-determined way.
The data also show that the course objective, namely the teaching of methodological skills in social science research, has been achieved.
Factors of success were defined by the students themselves: these were the work in small groups by means of break-out sessions, independence and self-determination and the relatively free management of time. All these are factors that confirm the high level of control students have over their own learning process.
The study shows, that positive emotions relevant for learning and personal involvement can be triggered successfully by inquiry based learning arrangements in online higher education teaching.
ReferencesArtino, A. R. Jr. (2012). Emotions in online learning environments: Introduction to the special issue. Internet and Higher Education, 15, 137 – 140.
Balwant, P. T. (2017). The meaning of student engagement and disengagement in Ryan, R.M. & Deci, the classroom context: Lessons from organisational behaviour. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 41, 389-401. http://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2017.1281887.
Deci, E.L. (2000). Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being. American Psychologist 55(1):68-78. DOI:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
Daniels, L.M. & Stupnisky, R.H. (2012). Not that different in theory: Discussing the control-value theory of emotions in online learning environments. Internet and Higher Education, 15, 222 – 226
Eccles, J.S. & Wigfield, A. (2020). From Expectancy-Value Theory to Situated Expectancy-Value Theory: A Developmental, Social Cognitive, and Sociocultural Perspective on Motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101859
Loderer, K., Pekrun, R. & Lester, J.C. (2020). Beyond cold technology: A systematic review and meta-analysis on emotions in technology-based learning environments. Learning and Instruction, 70, 101-162.
Pekrun, R. & Linnenbrink-Garcia, L. (2012). Academic Emotions and Student Engagement. In S. Christenson, A. Reschly, & C. Wylie (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Student Engagement. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614- 2018-7_12
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Reitinger, J. (2016). On the Nature and Empirical Accessibility of Inquiry Learning: The Criteria of Inquiry Learning Inventory (CILI). In J. Reitinger, C. Haberfellner, E. Brewster & M. Kramer (Eds.), Theory of inquiry learning arrangements. Research, reflection, and implementation (pp. 39-59). Kassel University Press.
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