There is tension growing in early childhood education between an emphasis on higher learning standards, teacher-directed activities, and evidence-based instructional methods and maintaining active, dynamic and integrated learning experiences for young children. This short essay highlights the ways in which our existing values and beliefs,…

This paper focuses on the exploration of the development of reflective ability as a core competence of prospective teachers. How can reflection and discourse competence be developed by teacher students during their teacher education studies? Currently a method that is experimentally applied in the field of teacher education at the University of…

Emerging approaches to faculty support are moving away from a "fixing" model to a "relational" model. In this article, the author describes a program of faculty support that places trust and community-building at the center of its efforts. The result is a program in which faculty members engage in a peer-to-peer approach to…

Recent calls for a shift to clinically-based models of teacher preparation prompt a research focus on the quality of classroom experiences in which pre-service teachers engage and the level to which theory and practice connect to inform those experiences. Developing a theoretical framework to conceptualize an approach to this work is an essential…

In this qualitative study a more flexible alternative of conceptualising changes over time in teams is tested within student project teams. The conceptualisation uses turning points during the lifespan of a team to outline team development, based on work by Erbert, Mearns, & Dena (2005). Turning points are moments that made a significant…

This paper examines the relationship between reflective practice and instrumental learning within the context of continuing professional development (CPD). It is argued that instrumental learning is a unique process of adult learning, and reflective practice's impact on learning outcomes in instrumental learning contexts remains unclear. A…

Validity is a central issue in portfolio-based assessment. This empirical study used a quantitative approach to analyse the validity of the inferences drawn from a disciplinary course work portfolio assessment comprising profession-specific and learning competencies. The study also examined the problems involved in the development of the…

This case highlights a school principal's leading practice as she worked to transform the social and educational status of students, teachers, and community in a small urban primary school. We employ shadowing, a technique popularized in work-based education and photography, as reflective and research tools. Teaching notes provide insight into the…

Play is considered an important activity of the early childhood years. Research supports the contribution of play to children's development, learning, and well-being. In spite of this, time for play is being pushed out in many early childhood programs by greater time allotted to formal instruction in narrow academic skills to be tested eventually…

Self-talk (ST) is a strategy that has been found to change behavior by decreasing interference or distractions to better face challenges related to an impending task. Self-talk is typically a dynamic use of words, phrases or cues that may be positive, negative, instructional or motivational in nature. Physical education teachers and coaches have…

In this paper, we address the phenomenon of clients who present their concerns in the medicalised discourse of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition" ("DSM-5"). We contextualise this phenomenon, highlighting how a "diagnose-and-treat" logic increasingly pervades everyday…

How can higher education educate graduates who know more than "just knowledge"? Such an education includes developing in students an awareness of the limits of their knowledge, an ability to discern what kinds of knowledge are appropriate in a given situation and a sensitivity to different forms of knowing. When is scientific rigour…

This study examined the convergent and predictive validity of self-regulated learning (SRL) microanalytic measures. Specifically, theoretically based relations among a set of self-reflection processes, self-efficacy, and achievement were examined as was the level of convergence between a microanalytic strategy measure and a SRL self-report…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the current context, scope and problems in the provision of work-integrated learning (WIL) in legal education and how the adoption transformative pedagogies in WIL which is offered in legal education can foster personal and social transformation in addition to enhancing lawyering skills. The paper…

Over the last two decades, the education system has witnessed a shift from summative, product-oriented assessment towards formative, process-oriented assessment. Among the different learning and assessment initiatives introduced in the slipstream of this paradigmatic turn, the portfolio seems to have become one of the most popular. By redescribing…