Category Archives: 1.2 Integrity

Encouraging the collegiate environment of EduShare

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Reading the blog posts assigned for today’s TDTs has inspired me to get my own blog up to date. At the start of Semester 1 I was really into GLOW and posting my TDTs. During this first semester there was such a huge focus on becoming an enquiring practitioner and a professional who challenges their self for their own benefit and of that of their practice. However, life did get in the way and there were other things that required more attention such as assignments and VIVA’s. All results are in so there really are no more excuses for me to not be re-engaging in the ePortfolio. I have understood from the beginning of this course that the intention of the ePortfolio is for me to show evidence of my understanding and working towards the SPR. However, the lack of engagement from my peers and lecturers on my blog posts is something that put me off before the Christmas break and I never got back in to the swing of things.

Personally, it takes me a lot of time to prepare, preview, draft, redraft and finally publish a blog post. I have a tendency (like now) to start writing and go off on different tangents. I then have to go back to my original thought and edit, edit, edit. I hope that with practice this becomes more straightforward and isn’t so consuming so I can utilise my time more effectively to perhaps research what I would like to write before jumping straight in.

I really enjoy reading my peers posts and I feel I benefit from them as I see different thought processes and opinions. There are a lot of people in our cohort so our ePortfolio’s do give everyone the opportunity to get to know each other better.

There was one post we were assigned to read today that really caught my attention – Problematic Problems. This is a very well thought out post and I can see Michelle’s train of thought and I really like how personalised it is e.g. including family members ideas of maths etc. Although she discussed her previous anxieties with maths I especially liked how you have included the next steps to prepare you for teaching maths. It is so informative and the further reading is especially helpful for your peers.

By evaluating the blog posts I will definitely be taking indexsome tips to make my own posts more interesting such as including more links, pictures, references and further reading. I’ve also realised considering how many of my peer’s posts I have read but I have never fully engaged in commenting on them. Without comments on the ePortfolio I feel we will remain anonymous which is counter intuitive to the intention of collegiate environment of EduShare. Without engaging in my own ePortfolio along with commenting on my peer’s work I would really be letting our hard work go unappreciated.

What, why, how – the power of enquiry

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An enquiring practitioner is responsible for maintaining and enhancing professional competency for pedagogical development. It means going beyond the role of reflecting and conducting practice based research for a deeper insight to improve practice.

Professor John Hattie said “The biggest effects on student learning occur when teachers become learners of their own teaching”.

Teaching in Scotland has been reconceptualised vastly within policy, legislation and what it means to be a teacher; the benefits of which are tangible in practitioner enquiry.  This quote places huge emphasis on the fact that practitioner enquiry should always be carried out in mind of improving practice for the benefit of the children being taught.  An enquiring practitioner creates space to review and engage in reflective practice to help gain an enhanced understanding of not only their own teaching but when working collaboratively.  Now, there is more emphasis about understanding incentives to drive teachers, colleagues and children forward to make a difference.

It’s easy to be critical of others however to challenge yourself takes confidence.  You wouldn’t do the things the way you do if you didn’t feel it was suitable.  What we, as students, need to understand that the fundamental principles of practitioner enquiry is not to root out weaknesses but to refine existing ideas on what it means to be a good teacher.

As first year students there is already huge importance on the Standard for Provisional and Full Registration in preparation for autonomous life-long learning.  Practitioner enquiry impacts on us all as students as we need to always have higher expectations of ourselves, become critically adaptive in how to improve our own learning and utilise this is practice.  Ultimately, the result of practitioner enquiry is to better meet the needs of children and improve achievement.

Improvement without reflection?

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Reflection, in its simplest form, is recalling what you have done and is an essential part of learning. There are different levels of reflection that can take many forms. A reflective model I am encouraged to use in my social work module is Stephen Brookfield’s Four Lenses: autobiographical, peer (student), that of or fellow professionals and theoretical. The lens titles have been adapted slightly to suit the module but ultimately have the same meaning. By looking at ourselves through an autobiographical lens we identify our own assumptions in order to reveal pedagogy that may need reinforced. A peer (student) lens focuses on observations, evaluations and group work. Fellow professionals can provide support and feedback to enhance learning and teaching. A theoretical lens offers a view to support, understand and consider teaching or learning.

Reflection correlates with one of the most important professional values of being a teacher in my opinion: integrity. The SPR description of integrity is “critically examining the connections between personal and professional attitudes and beliefs, values and practices to effect improvement and, when appropriate, bring about transformative change in practice”. We must reflect on what we do in order to improve ourselves; it is imperative to recognise strengths and weaknesses. Without reflection there can be no improvement or change and without reflection, we are doing, not only ourselves, but our students a disservice.

Reflective writing is an opportunity to critically analysis what you have or haven’t done and include suggestions of your intentions to improve and develop yourself. I am really enjoying using the ePortfolio to reflect on my university life so far. Previously my writing may only have been conveying information but my ePortfolio is helping not only identify where I am, but what I need to, to help shape me to be the best practitioner that I can.

Professional Attributes

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Integrity and conscience I think are the most important and have shared meaning. Professional integrity means having strong moral principles in the job you do and you want to do the best you can for yourself and for your students. Not only do we need to meet the standards within the GTCS, we need to maintain them through continued professional development in our careers.

Compassion, empathy, kindness, justice, fairness, patience, self-control and moral courage I feel all come under the same category as they all have similar meaning. All of the terms are subjective and can be hard to define by different people e.g. pupils, parents and colleagues. For example, teachers need to be open-minded and patient to allow equal opportunities for students to speak. We need to be concerned about all of our students and be empathetic to their emotions or feelings and also morally courageous to act on something if we feel that child is at risk. A just attitude, a fairness in rewards and punishments are just as important; we have all been through school before and know how unfair things can be. A “that’s just life” approach is not acceptable in the classroom.

All qualities are essential because we as educators need to adapt to the ever changing daily environment. I believe integrity is the most important as it comes in to question if we are not passionate and proactively striving to improve ourselves professionally – we can’t rely on experience alone.