MCT904 Understanding Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice

Introduction

This course explores two intertwining themes: (1) Teacher as the curriculum maker, which explores from the interpretive perspective on how teachers acquire the knowledge, skills, and values in forming their identity in situated teaching practices and curriculum making. How do we understand the composition of teacher’s knowledge, practice, and skills in making curriculum alive? What counts as teacher quality in an era of accountability? How do teachers provide and practice leadership in curriculum making? How do teachers learn at different points in the teacher’s professional continuum and in different contexts? (2) Teaching as a practice, one that has been historically understood by scholars, practitioners, and policy makers from a range of theoretical perspectives. What does it mean to conceptualize teaching as a practice situated in relation to curriculum, assessment and learning? What are the many ways people have thought about teaching as a practice, and what are the consequences of those perspectives for how we understand teaching? Who can create, evaluate, and critique knowledge about teaching? The course will introduce some major frameworks that have been used to guide research, policy recommendations, and the work of teachers and teaching.

We consider the issues of teaching and teachers in an international context, drawing on research from Singapore and other countries. Some of our texts and video materials we will use will give us repeated opportunities to consider education in China, France, Japan, and the U.S. While they don’t constitute a central focus of the course, they will give us some chance for shared discussion that draws on multiple and sometimes conflicting descriptions and interpretations of teaching and teacher in a particular setting. Thus, we further pursue the context-related questions when we make the familiar strange in such an international perspective: In what ways is teaching an embedded practice that is shaped by the many contexts in which it is situated? How is learning to teach a process of entering a particular culture? What does it mean to work as a teacher in response to the discourses prevalent in globalization, and the local culture of the students and the community?

As participants consider various perspectives to exploring these questions, they will be guided to reflect upon their own teaching practices and professional identity, with references to educational reforms in schools and classrooms.

Learners must complete the following courses to attain the Graduate Certificate in Curriculum and Teaching (12 AU):

• MCT902 Crafting the Curriculum
• MCT921 Theory and Practice of Authentic Assessment
• One of the following electives:
  • MCT904 Understanding Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice
  • MCT912 Curriculum and Programme Evaluation
  • MCT913 Differentiating Curriculum and Teaching for Diverse Learners
  • MCT935 New Media and 21st Century Learning

Upon completion of the fourth course, learners will fulfil the AU requirements to attain the FlexiMasters in Curriculum and Teaching (16 AU).

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