If teaching is a complex act, it is additionally complex for first-year teachers', who enter with the same responsibilities as veteran teachers yet encounter specific difficulties as beginning teachers. This paper uses existing research on beginning English teachers major concerns to frame the exploration of concerns faced by four beginning…

Most teachers look back on their first year (or years) of teaching with humility, many with some regret. The author stresses that teachers are always learners, especially so in their first years. At the beginning of each year, they start over again with new students. A learning teacher takes risks and makes mistakes but derives new information,…

This paper details a small-scale, research study into lecturers' perceived impact of microteaching within a postgraduate certificate in teaching in higher education in Ireland. Participants engage on the programme for a range of reasons: to broaden expertise and knowledge beyond the disciplinary boundaries within which they primarily operate; to…

This case study analyses a professional development (PD) program in global citizenship education (GCE) that seeks to develop teacher education candidates' knowledge and capacities as global citizens during a one-year Bachelor of Education program. In particular, we explore how pre-service teachers perceived and experienced PD in GCE as a component…

Referring to the experiences of three Muslim refugee girls recently settled in Australia, this paper examines issues of schooling and empowerment. The paper draws on teacher and student interview data from a study that investigated inclusive approaches to addressing issues of cultural diversity in a secondary state high school in Queensland. The…

Reflective educators try to devise ways to make classroom learning more experiential and engaging for their students. Simulations allow students to experience situations they might face outside of the classroom. Advocates of simulations purport that they are one of the most effective ways of teaching new concepts and ideas because they allow for…

As part of a larger project, "Task Types in Mathematics Learning," through the use of a questionnaire, we sought middle years mathematics teachers' insights into the task types they chose to use in mathematics, the reasons for these choices, and the ways (if any) in which their choices had changed as a result of their involvement in the…

This paper reports on the use of a reflective technique that incorporated video-stimulated recall to encourage reflection on practice. The author videotaped a series of mathematics lessons conducted by an experienced teacher, which were then collaboratively viewed and discussed, with the aim being to bring about changes in the teacher's practice.…

Almost ubiquitous in discourses about the development of teachers, reflective practice describes the process that occurs when persons are apprenticed to any meaningful activity. But reflective practice is a descriptive term for that process: it does not imply that the process is itself open to dissection and instruction. We contend that mistaken…

This article focuses on the induction and mentoring of early career teachers. The context is a suburban primary school in Victoria, Australia, as the school develops mentoring networks for graduate and beginning teachers. Instigated from a school-university partnership, the research draws from the traditions of practitioner research. In the…

Following a long history of religiously segregated schooling in Northern Ireland, a contested society characterised by division and conflict, pioneering parents set up the first integrated school 28 years ago to educate "together" pupils from the two main cultural traditions. Integrated schools generate an ethos whereby opportunities are…

How do college professors prepare for class? Teachers often approach the lesson planning process differently. Some, though quite different in their methods, come out with remarkably similar results. Two highly effective teachers engaged each other in peer-reflection as they explored their own methods of lesson preparation. As they conferred with…

This paper summarizes the pedagogical design, product development and empirical evaluations of the game series, Animal Class, in terms of design study. The design phases, as well as the evaluation phases (N=2718), were carried out between the years of 2005-2007. The pedagogical idea of Animal Class is to place a learner in the role of teacher in a…

While reflection continues to be promoted as a central feature of teachers' continuous professional development (CPD) activities in Scotland and elsewhere, a wider debate across professions and national boundaries has opened as to how reflection might be re-conceptualised to restore its social and critical dimensions. This paper seeks to…

During the winter 2007 art education graduate class at Eastern Michigan University, the professor and students experienced a journey as learners and teachers. This article is about their experiences exploring the educational potential of podcasts in teaching, particularly in a constructivist and situated-learning environment. Throughout the…