Section archive - Programs & Practicum

Despite the available literature stressing the importance of involving parents in their children's early education, beginning teachers have often expressed that their professional training has not prepared them to work with families. The article describes a project designed to assist preservice teachers to work with the families of the young children they teach. The project gave the preservice teachers a hands-on opportunity to become a resource for the families, while giving the students confidence, competence and communication skills.

The article explores the topic of self-study, and how it is conducted and reported. The authors make an argument for the need for learning through self-study and its documentation, so that it may be accessible to others and meaningful for other preservice teachers and teacher educators. Although the term self-study suggests singular and individual research, the data, research methods, and ideas may contribute greatly to a deeper understanding of the relationships between teaching about teaching and learning about teaching.

The article examines the issue of networking and knowledge transfer as ways to facilitate school improvement. The networking idea is based the economic concept of the formation of social relationships between individuals, based on collaboration, spreading best practice, and driving innovation.

The authors introduce an overview of the Environment and Schools Initiatives (ENSI) perspectives on teaching competences. Since change is a primary element of sustainable development, the ability to adapt educational practice to a continuously developing world is of paramount importance for every educator dealing with that issue. The article offers two examples from ENSI activities in the field of developing teacher reflection regarding education for sustainable development ESD in teacher education: An action research, and project supporting workshops.