title: Supporting Licensed Science Teachers’ Professional Development in Adopting Learner-Centred Pedagogy in Tanzanian Secondary Schools

authors: Anney, Vicent Naano

subjects: Pedagogical Content Knowledge

abstract: The purpose of this study was to obtain a better understanding of the professional learning needs of Tanzanian science teachers who were recruited using an alternative route approach to teacher recruitment and to seek ways to address these needs. The alternative route to teacher recruitment usually refers (but not always) to the enlistment of university graduates, who are trained in a non-accredited teacher education programme, and then licensed or certified to teach in schools. In Tanzania teachers trained in this way are referred to as ‘licensed teachers’. This study first identified the licensed teachers’ professional learning needs in relation to pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) by examining their effectiveness in using learner-centred teaching methods in the classroom. The findings from this first phase of the investigation revealed that the licensed science teachers rarely used learner-centred strategies and their PCK was underdeveloped in this area. In the second phase of the study a professional development intervention (PDI) was developed and implemented to enhance the licensed science teachers’ PCK and improve their classroom teaching practices.    

This study used a multiple case study approach underpinned by an interpretive research paradigm. The study adopted the situativity theory to inform the professional development intervention, with the view that teachers’ learning and knowing are situated in and influenced by the physical and social context and participation in authentic activity as a community of learners. The participants of this study were six licensed teachers, twenty four students and five education officials. Data were collected from multiple sources such as classroom observations, one-to-one semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, documentary reviews and teachers’ reflective notes. The data were analysed thematically using the five components of PCK identified by Magnusson, Krajcik, and Borko (1999), as the analytical framework.

The results from the first phase of investigation showed that the licensed science teachers had underdeveloped PCK and did not use/understand learner-centred teaching methods. Instead their classroom teaching practices were dominated by teacher-centred teaching methods and they lacked the skills of preparing learner-centred science lessons. Also tests and examinations prepared by the licensed science teachers were found to be mostly testing the lower levels of Bloom’s knowledge taxonomy, that is, knowledge, comprehension and application, with few items relating to analysis. The evaluation of the PDI indicated that it had a positive impact on licensed science teachers’ PCK, with the licensed teachers showing improved classroom teaching practices after the PDI. Students’ learning was enhanced as a direct result of licensed science teachers’ improvement in their ability to design and teach lesson using learner-centred teaching methods. 

This study has implications for teacher education practice and students’ learning in countries using an alternative approach to teacher recruitment and for educational research. This thesis offers suggestions for reform in teacher education institutions, policy and practice and for further research into how to improve this form of alternative route to teacher recruitment. The most significant of these suggestions is the setting up of PLCs of teachers with on-going expert support and school leadership (headmasters/mistresses, district educational officers) involvement. This on-site structure for sustained, supported professional learning offers a way forward for improving PCK of many untrained licensed teachers currently working in Tanzanian rural community secondary schools. The thesis concludes that unqualified licensed science teachers working in schools need school-based professional development support to enhance their underdeveloped PCK, since students taught by licensed teachers are unlikely to be receiving the levels of knowledge and skills potentially needed to compete in the global economy.

text: Supporting Licensed Science Teachers’ Professional Development in Adopting Learner-Centred Pedagogy in Tanzanian Secondary Schools The purpose of this study was to obtain a better understanding of the professional learning needs of Tanzanian science teachers who were recruited using an alternative route approach to teacher recruitment and to seek ways to address these needs. The alternative route to teacher recruitment usually refers (but not always) to the enlistment of university graduates, who are trained in a non-accredited teacher education programme, and then licensed or certified to teach in schools. In Tanzania teachers trained in this way are referred to as ‘licensed teachers’. This study first identified the licensed teachers’ professional learning needs in relation to pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) by examining their effectiveness in using learner-centred teaching methods in the classroom. The findings from this first phase of the investigation revealed that the licensed science teachers rarely used learner-centred strategies and their PCK was underdeveloped in this area. In the second phase of the study a professional development intervention (PDI) was developed and implemented to enhance the licensed science teachers’ PCK and improve their classroom teaching practices.    

This study used a multiple case study approach underpinned by an interpretive research paradigm. The study adopted the situativity theory to inform the professional development intervention, with the view that teachers’ learning and knowing are situated in and influenced by the physical and social context and participation in authentic activity as a community of learners. The participants of this study were six licensed teachers, twenty four students and five education officials. Data were collected from multiple sources such as classroom observations, one-to-one semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, documentary reviews and teachers’ reflective notes. The data were analysed thematically using the five components of PCK identified by Magnusson, Krajcik, and Borko (1999), as the analytical framework.

The results from the first phase of investigation showed that the licensed science teachers had underdeveloped PCK and did not use/understand learner-centred teaching methods. Instead their classroom teaching practices were dominated by teacher-centred teaching methods and they lacked the skills of preparing learner-centred science lessons. Also tests and examinations prepared by the licensed science teachers were found to be mostly testing the lower levels of Bloom’s knowledge taxonomy, that is, knowledge, comprehension and application, with few items relating to analysis. The evaluation of the PDI indicated that it had a positive impact on licensed science teachers’ PCK, with the licensed teachers showing improved classroom teaching practices after the PDI. Students’ learning was enhanced as a direct result of licensed science teachers’ improvement in their ability to design and teach lesson using learner-centred teaching methods. 

This study has implications for teacher education practice and students’ learning in countries using an alternative approach to teacher recruitment and for educational research. This thesis offers suggestions for reform in teacher education institutions, policy and practice and for further research into how to improve this form of alternative route to teacher recruitment. The most significant of these suggestions is the setting up of PLCs of teachers with on-going expert support and school leadership (headmasters/mistresses, district educational officers) involvement. This on-site structure for sustained, supported professional learning offers a way forward for improving PCK of many untrained licensed teachers currently working in Tanzanian rural community secondary schools. The thesis concludes that unqualified licensed science teachers working in schools need school-based professional development support to enhance their underdeveloped PCK, since students taught by licensed teachers are unlikely to be receiving the levels of knowledge and skills potentially needed to compete in the global economy.

year: 2013

title: Optimizing the induction of alternating decision trees

authors: Pfahringer, Bernhard

subjects: computer science

abstract: The alternating decision tree brings comprehensibility to the performance enhancing capabilities of boosting. A single interpretable tree is induced wherein knowledge is distributed across the nodes and multiple paths are traversed to form predictions. The complexity of the algorithm is quadratic in the number of boosting iterations and this makes it unsuitable for larger knowledge discovery in database tasks. In this paper we explore various heuristic methods for reducing this complexity while maintaining the performance characteristics of the original algorithm. In experiments using standard, artificial and knowledge discovery datasets we show that a range of heuristic methods with log linear complexity are capable of achieving similar performance to the original method. Of these methods, the random walk heuristic is seen to out-perform all others as the number of boosting iterations increases. The average case complexity of this method is linear.

text: Optimizing the induction of alternating decision trees The alternating decision tree brings comprehensibility to the performance enhancing capabilities of boosting. A single interpretable tree is induced wherein knowledge is distributed across the nodes and multiple paths are traversed to form predictions. The complexity of the algorithm is quadratic in the number of boosting iterations and this makes it unsuitable for larger knowledge discovery in database tasks. In this paper we explore various heuristic methods for reducing this complexity while maintaining the performance characteristics of the original algorithm. In experiments using standard, artificial and knowledge discovery datasets we show that a range of heuristic methods with log linear complexity are capable of achieving similar performance to the original method. Of these methods, the random walk heuristic is seen to out-perform all others as the number of boosting iterations increases. The average case complexity of this method is linear.

year: 2001

title: Sharing the basket: Delivery options for Te Mātāpunenga

authors: Rumbles, Wayne

subjects: law

abstract: This chapter explores some of the options to achieve delivery of Te Mātāpunenga to these end users and briefly identifies some issues to be considered. Te Mātāpunenga has had a long gestation and has been the topic of discussion in some form or other at nearly every Advisory Panel meeting of Te Mātāhauariki Research Institute. Many of those discussions centred on the people who were going to use the material and how it was to be delivered.

text: Sharing the basket: Delivery options for Te Mātāpunenga This chapter explores some of the options to achieve delivery of Te Mātāpunenga to these end users and briefly identifies some issues to be considered. Te Mātāpunenga has had a long gestation and has been the topic of discussion in some form or other at nearly every Advisory Panel meeting of Te Mātāhauariki Research Institute. Many of those discussions centred on the people who were going to use the material and how it was to be delivered.

year: 2010