Raising student teachers’awareness around issues of professional conduct : an action research project
- Authors: Chishimba, Felix Nkalamo
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Teachers -- Training of , Teachers -- Professional ethics , Teachers -- Professional relationships
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:2012 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016338
- Description: The teaching profession, like many other professions, has rules and regulations that guide the conduct of its members. Teachers and those who aspire to take up teaching are expected to conduct themselves and discharge their duties in an impeccably professional manner. However, there is concern especially among education authorities regarding unprofessional conduct of some of those employed in schools and colleges. This action research study is a response to this concern. Its goal was to explore issues of professional conduct as part of the induction process of new members entering the teaching profession, and to thereby develop a better understanding of how best to raise student teachers’ awareness around professional conduct issues. The study used a qualitative research framework located in the interpretive paradigm. Three theoretical frameworks informed the design and subsequent analysis of the findings, namely, Burn’s transformational leadership, Mezirow’s transformative learning and Kolb’s theory of experiential learning. Two cycles of workshops around issues of professional conduct were conducted over a period of four weeks with a sample of 40 pre-service student teachers: final year students enrolled in the college’s three year Diploma in Education programme, all members of a science education class. Data collection strategies used were semi-structured interviews, observation and the use of reflective journals, among others. Analysis of the data involved identification of emerging themes and patterns. Initial findings indicate that prior to the commencement of the cycles of action research, participants appeared to have a limited understanding around issues of professional conduct, but that this changed as they participated in the workshops. The data of the study suggest that further steps need to be taken to establish optimal ways of incorporating professional conduct issues into the college’s teaching curriculum.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Teacher conversations: what happens when teachers talk
- Authors: Klitsie, Clara
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Communication in education , Interaction analysis in education , Teachers -- Training of
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:9589 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1021080
- Description: Teaching has a primary focus on engagement with students, but paradoxically, it can be experienced as lonely, private work, in classrooms behind closed doors, with an accompanying sense of deep disconnection from peers. When six experienced teachers sought to counteract this isolation, they formed a group which embarked on a shared journey of reflection and conversation, with the purpose of increasing selfknowledge, clarifying a sense of self as teacher, extending understanding of the selfhood of other teachers, and exposing the deeper sources of meaning underlying the vocation of teacher. This study sought to describe the information, opinions and beliefs which were exchanged among participants within the group and to describe the dynamics within the group. Furthermore, it sought to identify and describe the self-perceived impact of the experience of such a group, on the vocational vitality of each of the participants. Within an interpretivist epistemology a qualitative phenomenological research approach was adopted for the study. Data were obtained from two sources, consisting of transcripts of conversations from the meetings of a collaborative reflective group and from semi-structured individual interviews with group participants. These were analysed using an inductive approach with the aid of qualitative data analysis software: Atlas ti®. Findings from the study show that a high level of trust and a sense of safety were created through the use of guiding principles for meetings. Content chosen for reflective conversations and the general experience of meetings was perceived as providing a rare opportunity for participants to discover their selfhood as teachers. They reported that this understanding was further broadened by exposure to the selfhood of other teachers. Furthermore, members of the talk group reported that participation had resulted in a lowering of their sense of professional isolation and a renewal of vitality in their teaching.
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- Date Issued: 2014
A phenomenological exploration : how secondary school teachers cope with depressed adolescents in their classrooms
- Authors: Vermonti, Stefano
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Teachers -- Training of , Depression in adolescence , Inclusive education
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:9585 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020935
- Description: This study focuses on the perception of teachers who have depressed adolescent learners in their classrooms as well as explores how teachers cope with teaching depressed adolescent learners in their classrooms. For the purpose of this study, a qualitative research method was employed. Data was collected in the form of twelve semi-structured interviews with teachers in order to ascertain their perceptions on including and accommodating depressed adolescent learners in their classrooms. The data was analysed for emerging themes and sub-themes according to Tesch‟s eightstep data analysis process. This study highlights the characteristics, symptoms and causes of depression in adolescents and the effect it has on learners within our educational system. The results of the study indicate that the inclusion of depressed adolescents in the classroom can be problematic for teachers since they feel that they are not suitably trained to deal with these learners in a teaching and learning environment. The participating teachers indicated that they are not able to identify and support depressed adolescent learners in their classrooms effectively. The participating teachers feel that they require further training on how to refer these depressed adolescent learners and their parents for further intervention and support. Based on the findings of this study, the researcher constructed guiding principles in order to address the issues raised by the participating teachers. In the light of the guiding principles, recommendations were made towards teachers, parents, schools, health professionals, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and further research in order to accommodate depressed adolescent learners in South African schools effectively.
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- Date Issued: 2013
An analysis of teacher's skills in the identification of learners with behavioural and emotional problems
- Authors: Damons, Thirza
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Teachers -- Training of , Interaction analysis in education , Observation (Educational method)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:9451 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1012183 , Teachers -- Training of , Interaction analysis in education , Observation (Educational method)
- Description: This study aimed to explore teachers‟ abilities to identify learners with behavioural and emotional problems, to examine the strategies that they implement to address the challenges and their measure of success in addressing these. This study was qualitative in nature and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 volunteer teachers located in the northern areas of Port Elizabeth and an additional 50 teachers completed open ended questionnaires. The learning areas taught by the teachers varied. Descriptive and content analysis procedures were utilized to analyze the findings. The findings indicated that teachers lack the skills and knowledge to assist learners with behavioural and emotional problems. The teachers tended to view their roles as imparting knowledge rather than tending to the mental health of learners so they did not adopt approaches to assist the learners with their behavioural and emotional challenges. This was in spite of the fact that the learners' psychological and physical well-being impacted their academic achievement.
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- Date Issued: 2013