Traditional assessment is based on perceiving and measuring knowledge possession and practical performance. This kind of assessment provides limited information about the capability of the learner to develop as a professional and to learn at work. In a typical skill test situation the teachers estimate how well the students know knowledge content…

This paper explores differences between traditions in relation to teaching and learning. As a relative newcomer from the Anglo/American curriculum tradition, I seek to highlight the ways in which Central and Northern European tradition of Didaktik has offered a new dimension and fresh insights to the notion of reflective practice. In particular,…

In this article, the author recounts her experience, through three practices: collaboration, inquiry, and reflection, when she first encountered the practice of Critical Friends Groups (CFGs) and describes how she creates a CFG-inspired learning environment. As a middle-school principal, she has found that the three practices--collaboration,…

The opportunity for high-achieving university students to take on leadership roles in mentoring and peer learning contexts is perhaps underutilised. Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) programs are an example where the role of the peer leader, who facilitates the study session, is crucial to the success of the program. The implementation of PASS…

This article features an innovative project called the "Teacher Learning Center" (TLC) that is jointly funded by the South Dakota Department of Education, Black Hills State University (BHSU), and the Spearfish School District in Spearfish, South Dakota. The purpose of this project was to provide opportunities for preservice and new…

At the 2007 annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, we presented a workshop entitled "How to do the Scholarship of Teaching." The workshop had three main goals: to introduce participants to the literature on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and to various SoTL outlets, to guide participants in the process of doing…

"A Nation at Risk" sounded the call for school improvement and offered recommendations for bringing it about. "No Child Left Behind" was even more prescriptive in its approach to raising student achievement. However, as the author of this article points out, for all their recommendations and strategies, both reform efforts neglect the essential…

Background: In exploring the complexity of teaching, scholars have suggested that greater attention needs to be paid to the teachers' thoughts and actions and to how these affect quality teaching. Up to today, very few studies have investigated the relationship between teachers' beliefs and practices even though it has an important role to play in…

Educational researchers have recently suggested that Schon's influential model of the "reflective practitioner" lacks a prospective, or future, dimension. In this study, we examine instances of future-oriented talk produced by novice English as-a-second-language (ESL) teachers during mentoring meetings in one North American university…

In Vietnam, despite the introduction of a new curriculum based on a child-centred education approach, there exist many problems and challenges in the educational process. To overcome these problems, the Vietnamese and Japanese governments have been conducting an in-service teacher-training programme, including school-based observation and…

This paper describes the findings of a study of general and special educators' perceptions of co-teaching in elementary and middle school classrooms. A total of 85 students, 20 general education, and 11 special education teachers participated in this investigation in which student drawings were used as both data and as tools to spark teacher…

How do issues of equity inform music teaching and learning? What does it mean to teach music through the lens of social justice with social consciousness? The two authors of this paper challenged each other to reflect on these questions and how they pertain, past and present, to their lives as performers, pedagogues, and researchers in various…

This inquiry explores the educative meaning of interruptions or breaks in teacher's experiences by looking at their role in reflection and listening. Reflection and listening are not only two vital and distinct aspects of teaching, but are also interrelated and as such can serve to productively inform one another. In this context, I develop the…

In this article, the author shares her practicum experience in a nine-month English program and a gruelling assessment schedule for her other five subjects. During her practicum several incidents occurred that caused a shift in the way she perceives the role of an English teacher, and they have informed her English teaching practices. She reflects…

The purpose of this study was to explore the content of reflective dialogues between student teachers in music and their cooperating teachers, as well as to understand the effects of reflective dialogue on professional development. I was guided in this analysis of 49 transcriptions of interviews and reflective dialogues between student teachers…