This paper builds upon and extends aspects of the content of Professional Practice and Inquiry 1 and Professional Practice and Inquiry 2. It involves a critical analysis of ideas and issues that impact upon us as individual teachers and on teachers as a professional group. These issues may have impact at national, school and classroom levels, and for us as individuals they may impact on our relationships with colleagues and learners; on our curriculum decision-making and planning; on our teaching and assessment; and on our learning.

The paper encourages you to develop further, your philosophy of teaching, through critical reflection and discussion, based on both theory and practice. We aim to help make your move into beginning teaching an informed and satisfying one.

This paper provides opportunities for students to develop the skills, attributes, and knowledge related to the University of Waikato, Faculty of Education BTchg Graduate Profile and the Academic Rationale and Goals for its teacher education programmes, particularly those that relate to the purposes, principles, practices and issues around professional practice and inquiry.

Students completing this paper also develop their:

• Graduating teacher standards of professional knowledge, professional practice, and professional values and relationships as outlined in the Graduating Teacher Standards: Aotearoa New Zealand. Specific standards identified in this paper are standards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
• Cultural competencies of wananga, whanaungatanga, tangata whenuatanga, manaakitanga and ako as outlined in Tataiako: Cultural competencies for teachers of Maori learners. Specific competencies addressed in this paper are: T1-T4, A1-A4, M1-M5, W1-W4, WH1-SH5.

New Zealand Teachers’ Council Requirements

On graduation from an Initial Teacher Education Programme the provider must attest to the New Zealand Teachers’ Council that the graduand:

• is of good character;
• is fit to be a teacher; and
• has met the Graduating Teacher Standards.
  

The Initial Teacher Education provider can refuse to graduate a student from their teacher education programme who has not met the above criteria based on evidence collected during their programme. Indicators that a person is of good character and fit to teach include: regular and punctual attendance and positive contribution in class; the ability to relate to peers, students, teachers and university staff appropriately; and the ability to plan for a safe, high-quality teaching and learning environment. At the completion of each paper the lecturer is asked to attest to the Director of Teacher Education that individuals have displayed the attributes required of a successful teacher.

Enduring Concepts in the Professional Practice and Inquiry papers

The following are the enduring concepts that form part of all the Professional Practice and Inquiry papers (Professional Practice and Inquiry 1, 2 and 3, and Curriculum & Assessment). See the matrix of enduring concepts and understandings in the course outline.

• A teacher’s attitudes, beliefs and philosophy impact on teaching and therefore student learning.
• New Zealand teachers and learners work in a unique cultural context.
• Teachers are professionals.
• Teaching and learning is reciprocal (ako).
• Teaching is a critically reflective practice.
• Teachers have a developing body of knowledge and repertoire of strategies to promote learning.

Class activity for this paper is conducted primarily online in Moodle. However, during your on-campus block there will be two compulsory workshops: Wednesday, 22 February from 3pm-5.30pm and Thursday, 23 February from 11.30am-1.30pm in TT1.05.

Through participation in lectures and tutorials, assignments, and reading of the relevant literature, students explore and develop answers to the essential question for this paper, and the enduring understandings listed under it on the matrix of enduring understandings and concepts that follows:

Essential question: What issues impact on me as a teacher and on teachers as a professional group?

The place of discussion in our class

The following guidelines will be familiar to you from PP2 and are based on recent research with MMP students (Forbes, 2012).

In effect, online discussion is parallel to lectures and tutorial sessions on campus.

There are three levels of justification for the requirement that you engage in discussion as part of this class.

1. At the individual level, students should engage in discussion in order to learn from and with their peers and lecturers. Ideally, discussion should involve testing out ideas, sharing and building on other peoples' thinking, and gaining feedback and challenge from others' responses to our own thinking. There is very rarely ONE answer to any worthwhile question. Instead, this is about thinking of a higher order, where multiple answers and perspectives are possible.

2. At the community level, firstly students have a responsibility to each other to join a learning community and to learn together, supporting others' learning as well as their own. This is part of teacher education and is very good preparation for becoming a teacher. Students should contribute to online discussion so that they don't let their group members down, so that comments aren't ignored, and so that help is found when needed.

3. At the wider community level, future teachers must be prepared for teaching in the classroom/school, and for meeting the needs of the children you will work with. Discussion is one element in this preparation, and participation in discussion with colleagues (whether face-to-face or online) should expose future teachers to a range of thinking, perspectives, theory and issues. If students do not engage with this thinking, they may be less prepared for teaching, and less prepared for the professional discussions that will be ongoing throughout your careers.

What you are expected to do in discussion:

• Contribute to every discussion, at least twice.
• Keep each contribution to around 150 words maximum.
• Write in clear paragraphs, for ease of reading.
• Respond to others in the discussion, building on ideas with direct acknowledgment of your fellow participants.
• Share personal experience and perspectives of relevance to the discussion.
• Use the discussion to clarify understanding, and to engage critically and deeply with the theme, theory and issues.
• Aim to keep the discussion moving forward.

In relation to readings, these should be completed regularly in order to construct familiarity with theory and diverse perspectives. When you refer to readings, you should avoid lengthy direct quotes in discussion. Instead, discuss readings by paraphrasing the key ideas and applying your own thinking to these.

When directly using readings in discussion, it is not necessary to use full APA referencing if the reading is known to the class (e.g. it is from the book of readings). In this case it is fine to use the author's name only. However, if using an original source, that others may be unacquainted with, a full reference should be provided to enable others to track down and follow up the reading if they want to.

What you should avoid doing:

• Please do not avoid discussion, or post once and then disappear. These approaches breach the intent of discussion, indicate lack of regard for our class community and fall short of minimum attendance and participation requirements for this paper.
• Similarly, do not double-post (2 consecutive posts, or posts very close together). While this may be necessary when 'life gets in the way', it is not ideal and if everyone did this, there would be no discussion occurring throughout the week, limiting the chances for reflection and response within our community.
• Do not post lengthy contributions. Research suggests that your fellow students will not read your posts if they are too long.
• Do not post without firstly reading what others have said. This is often perceived as ignorant and disrespectful.
• Do not fixate on the personal. Although valued, it is a starting point. Your experiences are one set of possible experiences, and the goal is to begin with these as a starting point while looking more widely beyond the past or here and now.
• Do not play it safe, agreeing with all and sundry. This is dull, unimaginative, and does not assist in moving the discussion along. If you agree, say why and justify why your agreement matters.
• Please do not take things personally. Don't be quick to take offence, but rather give others the benefit of the doubt. Remember that:

1. Others may be playing ‘Devil's Advocate’ and proposing an extreme view in order to prompt thinking, and raise alternative perspectives.
2. It is easy to misinterpret tone and intention online. Use emoticons purposefully in order to soften and convey a constructive mood. J

What to expect from your lecturers in our online discussions:

Lecturers aim to join in each discussion, meeting similar expectations to the students. In short, we aim to:

• Be there.
• Be brief.
• Respond.
• Share our own stories.
• Promote deep and critical thinking (at times, we will play 'Devil's Advocate' in order to probe differing viewpoints).
• Keep the fires burning.

Feedback on discussion will be given within the discussion, formatively, so look out for lecturer comments on how the discussion is progressing.

Support is offered online via Moodle from tutors and peers. Support for accessing material is available from the University of Waikato library.

This paper has a credit value of 10 points. It is expected that you will complete a minimum of 100 hours of study to successfully obtain a passing grade for this paper. You will be expected to attend all scheduled lectures and tutorials and the remainder as personal study and preparation time to complete assessment tasks and readings.