Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Discuss about the Optimal Education Policies & Comparative Advantage.
The education issue chosen is the role of teachers in teaching science at primary schools. Basically, the role of a teacher is to impart knowledge into the brains of their pupils or students’(Field, 2013).A teacher has to set up a situation, environment where a student can be able to learn new things from the academic tutor and retain the already learnt information in their brains. This ability to provide a friendly environment for a pupil to learn totally depends on the ability of the teacher and how he or she believes in her efforts (Kårhus, 2010). It all traces back to how the teacher build self-confidence at the beginning before becoming a teacher, probably during pre-service period. A primary school teacher is the foundation of knowledge as a pupil continue to climb the academic ladder, the foundation has a lot of importance in the academic life. Often, science subjects are deemed to be complicated and it takes a lot of efforts for students to understand scientific concepts. Australian Journal of Teacher education has been chosen as the professional journal for the education issue that is the role of teachers in teaching science at primary schools. This journal is mainly purposed to enhance teacher education. This is done through the publication of researches and credible reports(WHITE, 2015). AJTE can be accessedfreely, published by Cowan University. The issues discussed in the journal are not limited to a single country or a limited group of people, it’s international.Articles published in this journal are purely things to do with teachers education, their roles and the issues that affect them be it social, political, change in schools and the academic curriculum. Manuscripts from various authors are thoroughly reviewed before being published which normally takes a period of two months before a script is published(“International Education”, 2018). For this reasons, this journal fits to be made a choice in the discussion of roles of teachers in teaching science at primary schools. The journal is able to serve and stick to its purpose because of the editorial board that see to it that articles availed to the public are strictly educational matter. Anyone can submit his or her article to AJTE as long as they are sure that the content in the articles are originally from and the author has full ownership of the copyrights (Bougheas, Kneller & Riezman, 2011).I chose this particular journal because of its contents and the kind of researches that it contains pertaining the general roles of teachers and even narrowed down to science in primary schools. You will find that the articles published are academic related and provides the necessary information about teachers, primary schools and scientific subjects. For instance, there is an article done by Petersen and Treagust (2014)., it’s a research that is about the role of teacher education in the growth of Pre-service teachers’ science teaching effectiveness in primary school education.The article provides an insight education to the teachers in matters dealing with primary schools science education which suits the issue in discussion. Articles in the journal have information that has been greatly researched on hence reliable and can be trusted. It is a well-known journal that has built its reputation over the years hence articles found in this journal can be used for reference in education matters and issues (Farr & Song, 2011).
The Significance of Research in Education
From this article, we audit the writing on the part of educator instruction courses and reasonable involvement in the advancement of pre-benefit science educating viability (Farr & Song, 2011). The article remarks on the setting of Australian essential science training to arrange the exchange (Bougheas, Kneller & Riezman, 2011). Research that inspects the part of science coursework and down to earth involvement in tertiary settings and the related effect on pre-benefit showing adequacy is talked about. Following a discourse on writing in this field, a few proposals and difficulties for the improvement of organizations between tertiary establishments and schools are displayed, with the point of enhancing the nature of essential science training in Australia (Bougheas, Kneller & Riezman, 2011).
Research is an important aspect in the lives of all human beings and for any conclusion to be reached and settling an issue, research must have been done in the given field to come up with facts. Research is best envisioned as the route toward getting in contact at time tested responses for issues through the organized and methodical amassing, examination, and clarification of data. It is a most basic gadget for impelling learning, for propelling headway, and for enabling man to relate more feasibly to his condition, to accomplish his inspirations, and to decide his contentions (???, 2010). The education sector has not been left out of this, various researches have been done lately to come up with ways of improving it and rectifying areas where it’s felt that all is not right. Research has been done all through from the past on education as the researches kept on making the education sector improve from time to time and is still done today to relate life, politics economy and education.For instance, studies have been done to establish the roles of teachers in the teaching of various subjects such as science and how the self-confidence of a teacher can affect teaching and learning(Schwartzman, 2015). It is important to understand what education is in the first place; education is the process by which people acquire knowledge, skills or certain habits through a procedurallearning. One can acquire education through storytelling, discussion with other people or listening to discussions or through directed research. To understand the meaning of contemporary education research, consider the meaning of the word contemporary which means of the present time. Education research is the systematic analysis, data collection of issues to do with education. Education research may involve a variety of issues such as student learning, teaching methods, teacher training or it could be classroom dynamics. Education researches are carried out to solve a particular problem in the education sector (Oztug & Karagoz, 2017).This kind of research highly demands for accurate observation and description whereby the studies are based on experiences that can be observed or empirical evidence. Education research activities are gathering factual information from the primary source which means that the data taken in this research process are firsthand information sources by the use of true and existing data. The result of education researches are availed to other parties which have an interest in the education problem that was being researched on, education research is a deliberate process and is carried out without any hurry as long as at the end of it all, there should be a solution on the problem that prompted the study. However, debates have risen recently in the field of education whereby some people have it that teacher should only deliver real and existing concepts rather than just delivering guessed content to students (SCALERA, 2011)
Recommendations and Impact on Decision making
Depending on the researcher, they may choose to major in a particular discipline in education which includes psychology, sociology, anthropology and philosophy (Kwenda & Ntuli, 2014).The contemporary education research I have analyzed is a study carried out by Petersen and Treagust, (2014). on the School and University Partnerships the article is based on The Role of Teacher Education Institutions and Primary Schools in the Development of Pre-service Teachers’ Science Teaching Efficacy. The research was carried out in accordance to the change in Australian curriculum in the primary education sector(Kezar, 2017). It seeks to find out the role and the importance of the teacher in the primary school education and to be specific, teaching of science subjects. Sciences are considered as the least taught subject n primary schools therefore, a teacher has a greater role in impacting the scientific knowledge in to pupil’s brain as early as the primary school level.
First of all, it is important to know who a teacher is; this is a person that has the ability to help others get knowledge, competence and values(Cobb, 2013). Teaching is profession that carries out its activities in the education sector; anyone can be a teacher as long as he or she is competent in a given field and can pass the knowledge to others. Therefore, a science teacher is the one who is specialized in impacting students with scientific values, competency, knowledge or beliefs.This contemporary research is of a great significance to the decision making in the primary school education sector. With the findings, teachers can be able to know how to go about in the teaching process and other concerned parties can get the insight information on the science teaching at primary schools(“College revises progress policies to resolve discrimination claims”, 2018). Some of the issues that were there in primary school education were inconsistencies in between schools in delivering the science curriculum. This was situation whereby different schools had their own ways and styles of delivering the science curriculum which brought about differences in the science education at primary schools. The research therefore was carried out to seek data from various schools and find out how science teaching was done at different schools yet they were all primary level of education.Another issue waslack of reporting of students’ knowledge. The researcher identified that there were no particular reports in the primary schools education sectors that reported on the scientific knowledge and skills achievements in science(Hicks, 2014).
Recommendations by researchers often lead to other researches being carried out and this research is one of them.It was carried out following the recommendation by one researcher in the Australian Journal of Teacher education recommending cultivation of national focus on developing curriculum nationally. According to this research, science is given the smallest time compared to other subjects taught in school. Different times are allocated for the science teaching at different schools according to the internal decisions made within the school(“The 8th International Conference for Research in Music Education”, 2012).The minimal time allocated for sciences was to some point unfair due to the value of science in a human being’s life. Most of the things that run the world and are important are science based yet it was being given very little attention at school. It should be noted that primary school is an academic level that everyone who has gone to school must pass through. It is basic foundation of what one is going to do in future and by the time one completes this level; he or she should have acquired basic knowledge in all fields such as the humanity, language and science(“Research in Mathematics Education”, 2010).Giving less attention to sciences is in other terms means that the child is being denied the chance to learn what he or she should learn at the right time. It is at the primary level that one starts to develop interest in a particular field and decide on what to specialize in as he or she moves to higher education level. Therefore, it’s important that a student acquires sufficient knowledge of science from as early as primary schools. Lack of it leads to students developing attitudes towards these subjects thinking that they are hard to learn yet in real sense, it’s because they did not get a good foundation of the subjects at primary(“Research Papers in Education: Policy and Practice”, 2011).
Self-efficacy is the belief within an individual to achieve their own goals. It determines if one is going to come up with a particular situation, the more one believes in his or her own ability, the faster and easier the person is going to cope and work towards desired goals(“Major problems and conditions facing graduate study”, 2009).The belief in oneself is what makes up human beings. One will avoid something that he or she thinks is difficult to do and does not belief in own ability. Self-efficacy is what is behind all social behaviors of individual, lack of self-confidence makes on less outgoing and does not want to get involved in particular activities. Self-efficacy determines the future performance. Even if people are taught the same thing at the same time by the same person, these people when given a task will perform it differently according to the self-confidence possessed by an individual and the expectorations of this person at the end of this task(Zakari, 2013.This relates to science teaching on both the students’ and the teachers’ sides. Student teachers may be taught in the same class but they come out differently. How do we explain that there are teachers who are considered as the best and others are viewed as poor teachers yet they attended the same school, same training and the same tutor? It can be explained in terms of self-efficacy .What determines how a teacher is going to deliver the knowledge to students is determined by self-belief in that if he or she thinks cannot deliver content well, definitely the results will be as the teacher expected. When a teacher has the confidence, will provide the necessary learning environment and a style that will end up producing the results they expected from their perceived capabilities(Kazeem&Balogun, 2013). A teacher has a role of providing students with knowledge, skills and values that will end up shaping their beliefs. One who has high self-efficacy will show a lot of efforts in content deliver to students. Self-efficacy can be cultivated or developed in various ways such as mastery experience. This is the mastering of a task through experience hence a person is bale to build confidence in that area through persistent efforts when performing the task.Another way of developing self-belief is through vicarious experience, it comes when a person makes observation of things that happen around them especially the things the people they look up to do, with time, that person will be confident that he or she can perform the task(Kazeem & Balogun, 2013). Seeing people who are close to us making us have a positive mentality that we can also do it and succeed just as they do. Verbal persuasion can also help boost an individual’s efficacy whereby an experienced person in a particular field encourages the person that he or she can do it.It is a form of motivation and giving someone morale to do something they think is difficult or that their abilities a less than the required carrying out an activity(Lam & Hannah, 2015). Science teachers have to build their confidence in teaching sciences through these ways so that they can be able to handle their students professionally in terms of content delivery.Failure to possess self-confidence, it could be the reason why science subjects are allocated little time due to less teacher who are ready to teach these subjects or they could be there but lack the passion to teach students.
Teacher education is important in developing skills in science teaching and learning.During their training before they become practicing teachers, they should be impacted with experiences that establish a sense of self-belief in their ability to learn science and in return be able to deliver the learnt content to their students. Teachers should be brought in a way that they can develop a sense of belonging to the teaching profession so that they can be able to trust in their ability, talent and passion for teaching(Bridge & Carmichael, 2015). The researcher has it that proper training of teachers lead to proper science teaching in primary schools which will help build upand develop a culture where science is also given priority and children get proper foundation on these subjects. Therefore, university should develop proper programs that will make teachers believe in their abilities and skills to teach science which will later be of great impact on their teaching performance since self-efficacy has a role in determining the future of an individual. Often, university students are just theoretically taught on science teaching without passing through the practical parts which would have given them experience and getting used to teaching activities. University content is structured such that whatever they learn at the higher education level is completely different from what the primary school curriculum dictates (Chow &Laine, 2014)
When they come out of university d enter the teaching industry, they are in ashock when they meet totally strange things from what they learnt hence they start doubting theirs ability to deliver content to their pupils. Universities should link with primary schools science curriculum s that the system of teaching teachers to be is related to what they are going to teach in future. Due to the limited time university tutors have, they are in a rush to catch up with time hence student teachers miss a lot of things in the process, making them less competent(Grant, 2010). Due to the different systems in different universities, other gives a lot of concentration to the practical part for the sake of attracting prospective clients. However some student teachers may not get the content they are supposed to gain despite the numerous practical programs at the university. This could be because their tutors do not enjoy teaching sciences hence take very little time to be with students and put very little concentration. At the end, student teachers come out of trainings half-baked. How do you expect such a teacher to enjoy teaching science to primary students when him or herself does not even know how to go about it? While in the pre-service, teachers in training should be given ample time to teach science and gain experience through learning as they practice teaching.Students are given very little time for pre-teaching which actually makes no sense(“IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication publication information”, 2011). The point of teaching student teacher is to give them the knowledge they need while giving them a chance to practice actually makes a big difference as the belief in science teaching and learning is permanently put into the students, with the belief, the student shall be able to develop very high self-efficacy which will then determine the kind of teacher he or she is going to be.Take for example, a student goes for training to be a teacher for a total of three years which include the pre-service session and the student is taken for practical or pre-teaching session for three months and the rest are just theoretical classes, now which is important between the two? It is awkward how university curriculum operates by giving minimal time to the important sessions(Johnson, 2014). Even in the number of classes, you will find that a student training to be a science teacher attends two or three science lesson within a week out of the ten lessons, the rest are just things that do not even relate to science.There is no way this student is miraculously going to get knowledge in science teaching and learning with such few classes related to science(Field, 2013).
The role played by a science teacher instructor is very important; it is the science teacher instructor that determines the kind of teachers that shall be released to serve as primary schools science teachers. Should the training for science teachers be poor, the result shall also be poor, and that is production of teachers with low level of self-confidence or no confidence at all(Field, 2013). Therefore, they should be competent enough to provide a proper training to teacher. Therefore, the role of the science it is responsible for providing teaching plans, experiences in learning and providing feedback that thereafter takes effect on the Australian Teacher Education. Training of teachers directly affects teaching culture in the primary school education and will end upbringing change to the whole academic systems when science is concerned. This is because competent teachers will enjoy teaching sciences hence the number of hours allocated for science subjects will increase(“College revises progress policies to resolve discrimination claims”, 2018). The way they teach also will make students develop positive attitudes towards science which will help develop and nature their love for science. The belief injected in students through teachers shall make them develop interest in the scientific world, they will want to specialize in sciences as they go higher and with time, there shall be enough science teachers in the industry as the subject shall get equal attention in the primary schools curriculum.in the recent reports, the United states is experiencing shortage of science, math and technology teachers due to the production of fewer teachers than the required. If this culture is also applied in America, t will not take a lot of time before sufficient teachers for these particular courses are produced(“College revises progress policies to resolve discrimination claims”, 2018). Through research, it has been established that there is an existing interrelationship between a science teacher educator and self-efficiency.It is evident that self-efficacy is developed all through a human beings life and at some point, it just needs to be strengthened and provoked to make someone know that they have a trust in their ability and trust that their efforts can bear fruits, not just any fruit but positive ones(Field, 2013).
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