traditions and transitions: inside the iceland college of education 1940-1962 allyson macdonald and...
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Traditions and transitions: Inside the Iceland College of Education
1940-1962
Allyson Macdonald and Guðrún Kristinsdóttir
Iceland University of Education
Umeå, Sweden, June 2002
Number of students and staff
Students rose in number from around 20 to over 30 during the period
There were 9 permanent teachers
Seven frames
Content Curriculum Teaching-as-task
Assess-ment
Initial state of the
student
Learning-as-task
Learning-as-
achievement
Content
Time allocation
Education
Languages
Content subjects
Skills subjects
Phys.ed.
Christian studies
Assessment
Traditional – oral and written examinations
External examiner
Certificate: ….(she) has completed the teacher’s
examination and now leaves the school with this documentary evidence that (she) has achieved a general level of education and psychological development which is needed to accept a teaching post with any primary school in the country.
Learning-as-achievement
I felt in my first teaching job that I was well prepared to teach reading and writing, and biology and geography…. And one wasn’t apprehensive… [I] didn’t need to do a lot to be prepared
We had probably never really acknowledged and yet never believed other than that we were able to teach in any sort of primary school… And later students had far more teaching practice but said that they weren’t able to teach this or that
Students – why go to the ICE?
Why did young people apply? FriendsLong summer holidaySalary No other options for upper secondary
education – this became increasingly important during this period
Summary of students
Average age 19,7 years in 1941
17,3 years in 1961
Sex More men in the 1940s
More men in the 1950s
Region Mainly from rural districts
Increasingly from the urban southwest
Entry requirements
Oral and written examinations: test of knowledge
More stringent requirements in the law from 1947 not implemented until the 1950s – good candidates were not applying for admission
Who were the teachers?
Age and sex
Middle-aged men (15/18), young men (2/18), young woman (1/18)
Salaries Similar to that in primary and lower secondary schools
Education One doctoral degree, several master’s degrees, seven with teaching certificates, almost all had spent some time studying abroad
Outside the classroom
Almost no research Some writing of teaching materialsSome in prominent positions in official committees Active in public service/voluntary workSome in the cultural world – theatre, drama, music, radioLeading sports coachesThe teacher with a Ph.D., second youngest with tenure, becomes editor of the teacher’s journal in 1955 and starts to become more visible
The principal: a life’s work
Born 1892, student at the college 1913, highly regarded teacher from 1921
Principal 1929-1962, lived in the college apartment for over thirty years
Poet and translator
Deeply troubled by events in Europe
The young psychologist
Joined the college in 1941 at age 25
By mid-1950s active in educational matters
Takes over as principal in 1962
Is the principal in 1971
The building 1908-1962
Shortcomings pointed out on opening day by first principal
No experimental school, no gymnasium, no dormitory
Promises 1944-46
Committee 1951
New building 1962
Transitions: course and students
Entry requirements: Student body changed considerably over timeExit requirements: Task ahead for graduates was changingA department of education had been set up at the University of IcelandExpectations for potential of research and development grewUnions asking for change
Traditions: teachers
Little change in course content and a traditional view of teaching within the college
Teaching staff very stable
Teachers had a life outside college
Culture and continuity: the building and the principal
Culture within the college: who controlled it? What should be preserved?
Apparent lack of options within the physical constraints
The principal: nostalgic; did not find it easy to accept change but participated
The young psychologist; seemed more active in preparing change
1958: The world war is long since finished. But the college
surroundings have never again enjoyed the sense of peace and calm, which prevailed in earlier times. The airport is still in place, and one of the main traffic roads in the town now passes in front of the college. The time is past, when few if any needed to pass the college other than students and teachers and old Henry from Greenborg with his wheelbarrow on his way to town or on his way back.
Much later
Here the talk on the ICE is concluded by Guðrún
Here I return with a short summary of recent developments
Recent history and the research requirement
1998
IUEUniversity level
Research
Social therapistsSecondary
Physical education teachersSecondary
Pre-school teachersSecondary
Negative Positive
Internal New staff must redefine themselves or leave
Old cultures disappear
Higher educational levels among staff
All staff must think in new ways
External New Research Council bill not good for social sciences
One definition of scholarly activity must fit all
Use the changes as an opportunity
rather than a threat!
Defining research and development
Have we gone too far in allowing others to define what teacher educators do?
Could it be that there is a lack of knowledge and understanding about the nature and activities of teacher education?
Is it absolutely necessary that we are measured according to the standards which others set for us?
Scholarly activity
Discovery
Integration
Application, practice
Teaching
Boyer, E.L. 1990. Scholarship reconsidered. Priorities of the professoriate. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching )
Consistency in the activities of university scholars
Could we not define ourselves as learners? as part of a learning community?
Should we not approach teaching and research in a consistent manner?