Common Standards and Personal Development: Changing Ideas of What You Need To Know.

This study was designed to investigate how a sample of primary student teachers developed their understanding of scientific ideas, their perceptions of the knowledge that they needed to teach the school curriculum, the sources of their learning, and their views on becoming teachers of science. Focus is placed on their own understandings of their learning and any changes in their views about the subject. Seventeen preservice students were interviewed at the end of a 3-year program of primary teacher education at the point when they could look back at their learning and look forward to their first teaching position. Interviews focused on their understandings of the knowledge that they needed for teaching science in primary schools. Evidence from tests and self-audits of their science knowledge undertaken earlier in the program was used to prompt their reflection on what they had learned and how their ideas had changed. Their views were sought on how they had learned and on how well prepared they felt for teaching science in their early careers. Completion of the study coincided with the introduction of national standards in England that all students will have to achieve in order to qualify as teachers. These standards include the specifications of pedagogical and subject knowledge in science. The study has immediate significance for informing the processes whereby students' knowledge can be audited and advanced. It illustrates the tensions between specifying standards for teaching and recognizing individual differences among student teachers not only in their knowledge, but also in their approaches to learning. More generally, the narrowing of teacher education to technical-rational prescriptions is questioned. Attention is given to the personal dimension and the relationship that adult learners have to a subject as they make the transition from students to teachers. (Contains 13 references.) (ASK) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Tuesday. July II. 2000 Page: 1 Common standards and personal development: Changing ideas of what you need to know. Robin G. Smith, Sheffield Hallam University, England PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY f, TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) INTRODUCTION U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement E UCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as 'ved from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. 17 preservice students were interviewed at the end of a three year programme of primary teacher education, at the point when they could look back at their learning and forward to their first teaching post. The interviews focused on their understandings of the knowledge that they needed for teaching science in primary schools. Evidence from tests and self-audits of their science knowledge undertaken earlier in the programme was used to prompt their reflection on what they had learnt and how their ideas had changed. Their views were sought on how they had learnt and on how well prepared they felt for teaching science in their early careers. Completion of the study coincided with the introduction in England of national standards which all students will have to achieve in order to qualify as teachers. These include the specification of pedagogical and subject knowledge in science (TTA, 1998). The study has immediate significance for informing the processes whereby students1 knowledge can be audited and advanced. It illustrates the tensions between specifying standards for teaching and recognising individual differences among student teachers, not only in their knowledge but also in their approaches to learning. More generally the paper questions the narrowing of teacher education to 'technical-rational prescriptions. It argues for attention to the personal dimension and to thefelationship that adult learners have to a subject as they make the transition from students to teachers. The study is located in the burgeoning research tradition concerned with the nature of the subject knowledge needed. for teaching. which was stimulated by Shulman (1987). Parallel policy developments in England have emphasised conceptual and factual knowledge, although the latest standards prescribed for student teachers feature pedagogy and incorpo'rate some pedagogic content knowledge (TTA, 1998). Standards for teaching are now found in many countries but there are some differences in the content, style and view of learning that they emphasise. Kennedy (1998) has recently reviewed the research on maths and science knowledge for teaching in relation to standards and educational reform in the USA. She notes how conceptual, pedagogical, epistemological and attitudinal knowledge are all deemed necessary but that ewe still know very little about how to foster these kinds of deep understanding and reasoning abilitiesi (p. 260). In several countries studies of primary student teachers have investigated the development of knowledge, confidence and attitudes toward science teaching through preservice programs and into their early years in teaching (e.g., in Australia by Appleton, 1995; Ginns & Watters 1995; Skamp, 1997). These indicate the need to link learning of the subject to personal development as a teacher. In the present study the view taken of the students1 learning was one which acknowledged the influence of their prior experiences and individual perspectives, and the need to examine how students relate to the subject. In this paper the specific argument for learning to teach science is located in a general argument about what constitutes an appropriate model of professional learning for teachers, one within which the personal dimension is recognised but not prioritised over other aspects (Coldron & Smith, 1998; Smith & Coldron, 1996). This is consistent with the social constructivist view of science teacher development presented by Bell and Gilbert (1996) in which econstruction and reconstruction of knowledge is both personal and social 0 learners can reconstruct their knowledge through reflections (p. 57). A similar position was adopted by Gunstone et al (1993) who conducted a longitudinal study of secondary science teachers during a preservice program and their early years of teaching; their findings led them to propose that teacher education emust take account of, and build on, the individualis content, or task-based attributes and competencies, and the more general elements of intellectual competence and performance (e.g., those related to personal awareness, sense-of-self, or professional purpose). 1 (p.67). The position outlined above had implications for the methodology: Each student should be encouraged to voice their views, assisted to reflect upon their personal development, and provided with evidence to stimulate recall of their learning. It was necessary to use multiple sources of data. Gunstone et al (1993) make the point that the complexity of individual change in their study meant that a single source, such as their questionnaire, yielded inadequate information and that it was essential to have self-report and interview data. It was essential to collect individual students1 accounts of their experiences and to record their expressed views.