Expecting the Exceptional: Pre-Service Professional Development in Global Citizenship Education

Abstract

This case study analyses a professional development (PD) program in global citizenship education (GCE) that seeks to develop teacher education candidates’ knowledge and capacities as global citizens during a one-year Bachelor of Education program. In particular, we explore how pre-service teachers perceived and experienced PD in GCE as a component of their professional learning and how this knowledge related to their understanding of curricula and pedagogical practices. First, we explore a model of effective PD and use this model to describe and analyze the GCE PD program, followed by a brief discussion of its context within the Faculty PD program; next, we outline the pre-service teachers’ conceptions of PD in GCE; and finally, we suggest ways that PD for pre-service teachers can be enhanced to meet the specific curricular and pedagogical demands of GCE. Our findings suggest that best practices for PD in GCE include consistent use of pedagogies such as experiential learning and explicit modeling; targeted instruction in specific intellectual, affective, and action domains of GCE; providing pre-service teachers with opportunities to practice and reflect on the implementation of GCE in classroom settings; and developing collaborative networks of support

Keywords

• Case Study, Professional Development, Global Citizenship Education

Kaynakça

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52. Table 3: Main and sub-themes of findings and related case descriptions Themes
53. Nature of the of the innovation being introduced
54. Case Descriptions of PD in GCE
55. Specific content of PD in GCE varied depending
56. on the activity or workshop, but generally
57. included background information on issues
58. commonly associated with GCE (social justice,
59. democracy, youth engagement, community
60. involvement, citizenship, environmental and
61. sustainability issues) which address both the
62. cognitive and affective components of GCE, as
63. well as modeling and provision of pedagogies,
64. lesson ideas, and classroom resources which
65. reflect the active component.
66. in complementary pedagogies for GCE.
67. Nature of the delivery system •
68. Modeling of complementary pedagogies for GCE;
69. Opportunities for experiential learning;
70. Opportunities for critical reflection and discussion;
71. Opportunities to learn from classroom
72. teachers with experience in GCE;
73. Collaboration with Faculty and community members.
74. Fall and Winter Institutes: one- to two-day
75. conferences which included a series of panel
76. presentations, keynote speakers and workshops
77. led by teachers, professors and non-governmental
78. organization volunteers and employees.
79. Participants selected from a variety of workshops
80. that generally employ participatory learning,
81. provide background information on specific
82. issues or organizations, and often equip
83. participants with classroom resources and/or lesson ideas.
84. In-class workshops: 60-80 minute workshops led
85. by professors, non-governmental organizations
86. such as CHF (formerly Canadian Hunger
87. Foundation), UNICEF etc. These workshops
88. provided important background information on
89. specific issues and organizations, sample lessons
90. and activities for bringing these issues into the
91. classroom, and often facilitated the provisions of
92. (or exposure to available) classroom resources;
93. these workshops frequently involved participatory
94. learning and modeling of classroom activities.
95. Film viewings: participants viewed films
96. (documentaries, feature films, classroom video
97. resources) related to issues common to GCE with
98. lunch provided; discussions were then facilitated
99. by GCE team members regarding participants’
100. learning and impressions of the films and
101. discussions regarding how these resources might
102. be used in their teaching. Participants were also
103. able to request or recommend future films to be
104. viewed and discussed.
105. Website: a website was launched to provide a
106. forum for pre-service teachers to discuss GCE,
107. share resources and lesson plans; links to existing
108. resources and organizations were added and pre
109. service teachers were encouraged to create and
110. submit lesson and unit plans and resource
111. reviews. Updates for upcoming GCE PD activities were also posted.
112. Transition to Practice: The GCE team took on
113. the organization of a day of workshops (within a
114. week of scheduled PD activities), for all B.Ed.
115. students during the last week of classes. The team
116. decided on an environmental sustainability theme.
117. The day included keynote addresses by
118. environmental advocates Lisa Glithero (founder
119. of Project EYES) and a Member of Parliament
120. and former teacher, Justin Trudeau, and offered
121. workshops facilitated by NGOs, classroom
122. teachers, and in-house and visiting university
123. professors. While many of the workshops focused
124. on themes of environmental sustainability, other
125. topics related to GCE were also represented, such
126. as civil liberties, social justice, and peace
127. education. Two of the focus groups used in this
128. study were conducted over lunch during the week
129. of Transition to Practice PD activities.
130. The B.Ed program in which this case study is
131. situated is a full-time one-year post-undergraduate
132. degree in the anglophone sector of one Canadian
133. Faculty of Education. The program is divided into
134. three divisions: primary/junior (kindergarten
135. grade 6), junior/intermediate (grades 4-10), and
136. intermediate/senior (grades 7-12). The program
137. has an enrolment of approximately 800 students,
138. the majority of whom are racialized “white” and
139. many are women in their mid-twenties. • •
140. Foreseen environmental barriers to GCE*.
141. While the GCE PD program under study is extra
142. curricular, members of the GCE team also teach
143. in the Faculty and as a result have opportunities to
144. incorporate GCE into their teaching, as well as
145. building bridges with other Faculty members to
146. offer in-class workshops in other courses and to
147. promote extra-curricular PD opportunities in
148. GCE. The GCE team receives considerable
149. support from the Faculty for publicity for PD
150. activities and collaboration in the planning of
151. conferences, workshops, and film viewings.
152. The school environments in which pre-service
153. teachers are conducting practica and looking for
154. future employment vary greatly from school to
155. school with regard to their openness to and
156. experience with GCE. While themes common to
157. GCE can be found in various provincial
158. curriculum documents (most notably
159. environmental sustainability), no explicit mandate
160. exists for many of its components such as social
161. justice and peace education. Given the substantial
162. demands of the existing curricula, therefore, some
163. see GCE as an “extra” that they may or may not
164. have time to include in their teaching. Similarly,
165. many progressive pedagogies used in GCE are
166. currently in use in many classrooms across the
167. country, however, these approaches vary with
168. individual teachers and the resources available to them.
169. Changed pedagogical practice •
170. Change in pre-service teachers’
171. understanding of GCE and required pedagogy.
172. Opportunities to develop instructional units in
173. teacher education classes and to implement these
174. units during pre-service teachers’ practica;
175. participating in film discussions regarding
176. pedagogical practices and potential resources;
177. organizing a university wide mini-enrichment
178. week comprised of global education activities for
179. grade eight students; and creating and
180. reviewing existing GCE resources for the website
181. all serve to develop pre-service teachers’
182. understanding of GCE and its required pedagogy
183. by engaging them as creators, evaluators, and
184. participants in learning.