The Influences of Research into Alternative Pedagogies on the Professional Development of Prospective Teachers

Abstract

Graduate preparation of teachers and combining research with teacher education have been topical matters in various countries in recent years as attempts have been made to increase teachers' level of education. The aim of these efforts towards more scientific training has been to raise the status of teachers and help them cope with the constantly increasing challenges of their work. Since 1979 the training of teachers for a master's degree in education in Finland has consisted of a 4-year programme, but students are not always motivated by research work. They seem to regard it as unrelated to their studies and unlikely to profit them in their future work. Attempts have been made in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Oulu to solve this problem by combining research work with practical school experiments, alternative pedagogical ideas and deviance from the scientific positivistic research paradigm. The present article examines the aims and implementation of a student project carried out on these principles, the experiences obtained from this and its influences on the later professional development of the teachers concerned.

Theory, Practice and Reflection: A pre-service primary mathematics education programme

“…Yet many teacher education courses lack suf® cient challenge for students to grapple with problematic pedagogical issues (Allexsaht-Snider et al, 1995;Borko & May® eld, 1995). If we want teachers to practice innovative methods, we must provide the challenge and the opportunities for them to experiment with these methods (Lauriala & Syrjala, 1995), together with the support they require to overcome the inevitable dif® culties encountered. Challenging experiences, depending on their intensity and on students' readiness, may spur either psychological development or retreat (Perry, 1981).…”