Professional training in mathematics education: a study of programmes, practices and prospects
Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2012.
An integrated course for English medium of instruction teacher trainees in South Africa
Research regarding the specific needs of the L2MI teacher points to the need for developing a training course that not only ensures advanced levels of personal proficiency in the medium of instruction, but also certifies the ability to apply methodological and presentational skills that enhance and promote learning in the L2MI subject content classroom. This article describes the design and implementation of an integrated course for second language medium of instruction (L2MI) teacher trainees. Based upon the profile of effective L2MI and deriving outcomes for language, methodological and presentational skills from this, the course is both practical and functional. The hybrid model that was used for the design of the course is based on a combination of an Outcomes-based and a Backward Design model for course design and consists of six distinctive steps. The integrated course was developed within the BEd teacher-training programme and introduced for one semester. The students and the course instructor reviewed some aspects of the course and the Instructional Plan afterwards.
Educating the Educators: Rethinking Subject Matter and Methods
gate? In addition to general requirements in their professional education such as psychological and social foundations and student teaching, what specifically do social studies teachers need to know and be able to do? What, in particular, do they need to study in the subject matters of the social sciences (defined here, for purposes of brevity, to include history and geography), and what should they learn about its effective direction to desired results, that is, method? Usually answers to the first question require reference to the liberal arts component of teacher education and the second to methods in the professional education component. As we shall see, this separation of subject matter and method in the education of social studies teachers, although conventional, poses problems.