context and power: the subject conceptions and practice of pre- service geography teachers in...
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Context and Power:The Subject Conceptions and Practice of Pre-service Geography Teachers in Singapore
Tricia Seow GTE Conference 2008
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Subject Conceptions Research
• Implications for teacher practice
• Importance for teacher education
BUT
• Influences on formation of subject conceptions varied and complex
• Practice may not always match conceptions
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The Significance of Context
• Context affects pre-service teachers’ practice• Context goes beyond the classroom
Includes• National education structures and policies• Geography’s social and developmental context• School, departmental contexts
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Context and Power
• Context is embedded in power relationships which frame the parameters within which we perceive the world and constrain our actions within it
• Foucault’s “Discourse”
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Context and Power
• Pre-service teachers are enmeshed within the power structures of context(s)
Effect on subject conceptions?
Effect on practice?
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Contexts: An Analysis
Pre-ServiceTeacher
School Geography ContextCurriculum offered; Type of teaching exposed to
Academic Geography ContextCurriculum offered;Modules taken; Type of teaching exposed to
Personal ContextPersonal background;Interests; Travel…
Subject conceptions
Classroom Practice
National Education ContextNational education policies;Pay and promotion structures;Competitiveness and stratification of schools
School ContextSchool culture and mission;Relationships: staff, students, parents, community
Subject ContextSubject curriculum; Assessment formats;Dominant paradigms in subject
During school placement
Prior to teacher education course
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The Singapore Context
• Highly centralised and uniform• Prescribed national Geog syllabus: topics, skills
and values, teaching strategies and resources, assessment format, objectives, weightages, time frame
• One university, one teacher education college, one employer
=>implications for the subject conceptions of Singapore pre-service Geography teachers
=> implications for their practice
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The Singapore Context
• Stratified• Streaming and differentiation at every level from
primary school through to university• More innovation in curriculum and teaching
context for elite students
=>implications for the subject conceptions of Singapore pre-service Geography teachers
=> implications for their practice
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The Singapore Context
• Competitive• Annual rankings and intense rivalry• Teachers’ ranking and bonuses• ‘Drilling’ to perform well in exams
=>implications for the subject conceptions of Singapore pre-service Geography teachers
=> implications for their practice
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Embodied Agents
Teachers have bodies!… so what?
The body matters!
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Embodied Teachers Trained in the philosophical context of western metaphysical
dualism, many of us have accepted the notion that there is a split between the body and the mind. Believing this, individuals enter the classroom to teach as though only the mind is present, and not the body (bell hooks, 1994:17).
• Teachers’ bodies affect the way in which they perceive, are perceived and relate to the world.
=> What is the effect of pre-service teachers’ embodiment, and societal regulation of their bodies, on their conceptions of Geography, and on their practice?
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Contexts and Embodiment
EMBODIEDPre-Service
Teacher
School Geography ContextCurriculum offered; Type of teaching exposed to
Academic Geography ContextCurriculum offered; Modules taken; Type of teaching exposed to
Personal ContextPersonal background;Interests; TravelEmbodied characteristics
Subject conceptions
Classroom Practice
National Education ContextNational education policies;Pay and promotion structures;Competitiveness and stratification of schools
School ContextSchool culture and mission;Relationships: staff, students, Parents, community
Subject ContextSubject curriculum; Assessment formats;Dominant paradigms in subject
During school placement
Prior to teacher educationcourse
Embodied ContextRegulation of own body, bodily actions
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Hmmm…
• What is the role of the teachers’ body in the teaching and learning of Geography?
• Is there a stronger link between Geography and the body, than other subjects?