NW 10 Teacher Education Research Archives

Developing the resilience of first-year students under martial law in Ukraine

by Dr Hanna Afuzova | NW 10 Teacher Education Research, NW 5 Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education, UERA

War traumatises everyone it touches, especially children and young people. The World Health Organisation has noted that at least 10% of people who have experienced traumaticevents as a result of armed conflict have had serious mental health problems (and 10% of them will have behaviours that interfere with their ability to function effectively). The aggravation of the military conflict in Ukraine has made it important to implement the project “Development of Resilience of First-Level Higher Education Students in the Context of the Military Conflict in Ukraine”, which was made possible by the Ukrainian Educational Researchers Association with the support of the European Educational Research Association.

This study was conducted at the Faculty of Special and Inclusive Education of the Dragomanov Ukrainian State University (Kyiv) at the beginning of the academic year 2022-2023. Students had started studying from a distance, not only in different regions of Ukraine, but also in other countries as refugees.

Why focus on first-year students in Ukraine?

In the current realities of Ukraine, first-year students at Ukrainian universities are at risk of deteriorating mental health. Former school leavers had not yet fully adapted to the challenges and restrictions of receiving educational services in the COVID-19 pandemic [8; 15; 17], and the start of professional training again required a change in lifestyle, way of thinking, attitude towards themselves and others, in accordance with the requirements of the newly developing social situation [6; 9; 10; 11; 14]. And all this was happening against the backdrop of escalating military aggression by the Russian Federation, which was accompanied not only by a risk to life and health, but could also cause mental trauma or damage to basic structures of personality, starting with physiological reactions to stress, and ending with the general picture of the world and self-image [18].

After the first week of studying at the university under martial law, Ukrainian first-year students reported a deterioration in their mental health: symptoms of distress (asthenia, increased anxiety, lowmood, restless sleep, tension) and somatisation (headaches) prevailed. In some cases, this was combined with certain manifestations of anxiety (anxiety/panic attacks, fear of public embarrassment). More than half of the surveyed first-year students associated the deterioration of their mental health with their studies and the situation in Ukraine (52.1% and 66.2%, respectively) [2].

Why focus on resilience?

Adaptation to a difficult life situation, and overcoming and preventing negative consequences, is significantly influenced by the availability of certain personal resources. In this context, it is worth talking about resilience as a systemic element in the structure of a well-being personality, a positive mental state that leads to adequate adaptation in adverse circumstances. At the same time, resilience should be viewed as a resource that allows a person to choose the appropriate type of coping [13].

Resilience as a factor in maintaining mental health under martial law can be defined as an individual’s ability to return to normal functioning and to restore the previous state after a certain period of maladjustment due to stressful experiences[7]. It is also about the individual’s ability to prevent the emergence and exacerbation of psychological problems and dysfunctional disorders by “mitigating” the impact of the socio-psychological consequences of emergencies by actualising their own internal resources[3]. In other words, resilience should be viewed as a continuous, active process of emergence or development of new forces and resources for adaptation and recovery, which has uneven dynamics in the face of new risks [12].

According to the results of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10), 38% ofUkrainian first-year students do not have the skills to maintain and support mental health, which is confirmed by their low levels of resilience [5]. Accordingly, these students have a reduced ability to influence a complex or atypical situation, lose their own resources, have difficulties in solving new challenges and issues of life, and have difficulties adapting.[16].

What contributes to preserving and restoring Ukrainian students mental health?

The structure of resilience includes three components:

cognitive – represented by such components as openness to experience, tolerance to uncertainty and positive thinking
emotional – involves emotional stability, emotional intelligence and extraversion
behavioural – search activity, prosocial behaviour [3].

In other words, if a person does not lose the ability to think flexibly in an objectively or subjectively difficult life situation, he or she is more likely to be able to regulate his or her emotional state and prevent a physiological stress response. Given an adequate emotional response, they will seek a constructive solution to the problem, including by seeking social support.

The level of resilience of Ukrainian first-year students is closely related to the following components:

extraversion – orientation towards other people, connections with them, support
prosocial behaviour – orientation towards socially useful actions
emotional stability – orientation towards emotional self-regulation
openness to experience – orientation towards learning new experiences and skills

The level of resilience also depends on the complexity of the problems faced by the student [4].

How to develop first-year students’ mental health under martial law

The innate ability of a person to be more or less resistant to stress should not be underestimated. However, without either a spontaneous (by imitating the stress-resistant response of significant others and identifying with them) or specially–organised process of acquiring resilience skills, this may not be enough when the traumatic nature of the situation exceeds the individual’s inborn reserves to withstand its negative impact.

Therefore, a training programme on developing resilience in first-year students was developed to familiarise participants with a set of psychological tools that will help harmonise their self-image, self-concept and attitude to themselves; actualise and activate self-knowledge processes; and form emotional and behavioural self-regulation skills that will strengthen their psychological stability (resilience).

This training programme consists of six modules, each of which contributes to forming and developing important mental health competencies:

The ability to communicate, develop relationships with other people, and to seek social support
The ability to express their thoughts and feelings, focus their attention, and be empathetic to themselves
The ability to identify and build on their value orientations, understand the meaning of their lives
Positive thinking skills to strengthen self-confidence and increase their self-esteem
The ability to build mutual support and effective cooperation and nurture life-giving relationships
The building of skills for effective regulation of energy and emotions [1].

The programme was attended by 18 first-year students. 7 students took part in a one-day offline course, while the remaining 11 students were involved in two online psychological support groups and received training over a six-week period.

After participating in the scheme, 75% of the participants showed positive changes in their resilience, especially among the participants of the online psychological support groups. However, given the small number of students who had an objective opportunity to take the training in the harsh realities of Ukraine, it is worth talking about the need for further testing.

Activities to preserve and restore students’ mental health are ongoing. Elements of the training programme are used in the educational process in such disciplines as Psychological Counselling, Psychological Rehabilitation, Psychological Correction, etc. The training programme is also being actively implemented in the work of the Centre for Psychological Support and Social Adaptation at the Faculty of Special and Inclusive Education of Dragomanov Ukrainian State University.

Key Messages

At least 10% of people who experience traumatic events, such as the war in Ukraine have serious mental health problems
A project by the Ukrainian Educational Researchers Association and EERA was launched to support Ukrainian first-year students
The project focused on first-year students, as they were coping with the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the transition from school to professional training
Ukrainian students reported a deterioration in their mental health after the first week of studying at the university
The EERA and UERA programme focused on building the resilience of Ukrainian students, to help them cope with the stress of studying during martial law
75% of participants showed positive changes in their resilience after taking part in the programme
Futher activities to preserve and restore students’ mental health in Ukraine are ongoing

Dr Hanna Afuzova

Associate Professor of the Department of Special Psychology and Medicine, Faculty of Special and Inclusive Education, Drahomanov University, Ukraine

Hanna Afuzova holds a PhD in Psychology and is an Associate Professor of the Department of Special Psychology and Medicine, Faculty of Special and Inclusive Education, Ukrainian State Drahomanov University (Kyiv, Ukraine)

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8112-8943

Researcher ID: HZI-0197-2023

References and Further Reading

Afuzova, H. (Eds.). (2023). Rozvytok rezylientnosti zdobuvachiv pershoho rivnia vyshchoi osvity v umovakh voiennoho konfliktu na terytorii Ukrainy [Development of resilience of first-level higher education students in the context of military conflict in Ukraine]. Retrieved from URL Методичні рекомендації з розвитку резильєнтності – Google Диск [in Ukrainian].
Afuzova, H. V., Naydonova, G. O., & Krotenko, V. I. (2022). Osoblyvosti psykhichnoho zdorovia pershokursnykiv na etapi adaptatsii do profesiinoho navchannia v umovakh voiennoho stanu [Features of The Mental Health of First-Year Students at the Stage of Adaptation to Professional Education Under Martial Law]. Habitus, 41, 278–273. https://doi.org/10.32782/2663-5208.2022.41.49 [in Ukrainian].
Afuzova, H. , Naydonova, G. O., & Krotenko, V. I. (2023). Rezylientnist yak chynnyk zberezhennia psykhichnoho zdorovia v umovakh voiennoho stanu [Resilience as a factor in maintaining mental health under martial law]. Habitus, 53, 100–104. http://habitus.od.ua/journals/2023/53-2023/16.pdf [in Ukrainian].
Afuzova, H., Krotenko, V., & Naydonova, G. (2023). Rozvytok rezylientnosti pershokursnykiv na etapi adaptatsii do profeisinoho navchannia v umovakh voiennoho stanu [Development of first-year students’ resilience at the stage of adaptation to professional training under martial law], Psykhichne zdorovia v umovakh viiny: shliakhy zberezhennia ta vidnovlennia: zbirnyk materialiv I Vseukrainskoi naukovo-praktychnoi konferentsii (z mizhnarodnoiu uchastiu) [Mental health in the conditions of war: ways of preservation and restoration: collection of materials of the First All-Ukrainian Scientific and Practical Conference (with international participation)]. Kyiv, 5–8. [in Ukrainian].
Afuzova, H., Naydonova, G., & Krotenko, V. (2023). A study of Ukrainian first-year students’ resilience at the stage of adaptation to training and professional activities under martial law. Studies in Comparative Education, (1), 4–13. https://doi.org/10.31499/2306-5532.1.2023.288413
Androsovych, K. A. (2015). Psykholohichni chynnyky sotsialnoi adaptatsii pershokursnykiv v umovakh osvitnoho seredovyshcha profesiino-tekhnichnoho navchalnoho zakladu [Psychological Factors of Social Adaptation of Freshmen in the Educational Environment of a Vocational School]. (Candidate`s thesis). Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University. Severodonetsk. [in Ukrainian].
Assonov, D., & Khaustova, O. (2019). Rozvytok kontseptsii rezyliiensu v naukovii literaturi protiahom ostannikh rokiv [Development of the concept of resistance in the scientific literature in recent years]. Psykhosomatychna medytsyna ta zahalna praktyka, 4(4), e0404219. https://doi.org/10.26766/pmgp.v4i3-4.219 https://uk.e-medjournal.com/index.php/psp/article/view/219 [in Ukrainian].
Education and COVID-19: challenges and opportunities (2020). Retrieved from URLhttps://en.ccunesco.ca/idealab/education-and-covid-19-challenges-and-opportunities
Enes, R., & Tahsin, I. (2016). Coping styles, social support, relational self-construal, and resilience in predicting students’ adjustment to university life, educational sciences. Theory and Practice, 16(1), 187– https://doi.org/10.12738/estp.2016.1.0058
Fryer, L. K. (2017). (Latent) transitions to learning at university: A latent profile transition analysis of first-year Japanese students. Higher Education, 73(3), 519– https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0094-9
Gonta, I., & Bulgac, A. (2019). The Adaptation of Students to the Academic Environment in University. Revista Romaneasca Pentru Educatie Multidimensionala, 11(3), 34-44. https://doi.org/10.18662/rrem/137
Grygorenko, Z., & Naydonova, G. (2023). The concept of “resilience”: history of formation and approaches to definition. Public administration and law review, (2), 76–88. https://doi.org/10.36690/2674-5216-2023-2-76-88
Kireieva, Z. O., Odnostalko, O. S., & Biron, B. V. (2020). Psykhometrychnyi analiz adaptovanoi versii shkaly rezylientnosti (CD-RISC-10) [Psychometric Analysis of the Adapted Version of the Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10)]. Habitus, 14, 110-116. https://doi.org/10.32843/2663- 5208.2020.14.17 [in Ukrainian].
Nelson, K. J., Smith, J. E., & Clarke, J. A. (2012). Enhancing the transition of commencing students into university: an institution-wide approach. Higher Education Research & Development, 31(2), 185-199. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2011.556108
Nestorenko, Т., & Pokusa, Т. (Eds.). (2020). Education during a pandemic crisis: problems and prospects. Opole: The Academy of Management and Administration in Opole.
Odnostalko, O. S. (2020). Resursy stiikosti osobystosti v umovakh skladnykh ta netypovykh sytuatsii zhyttia [Resources of Personality Stability in the Conditions of Difficult and Atypical Situations of Life]. (Candidate`s thesis). Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University. Lutsk. [in Ukrainian].
Özüdoğru, G. (2021). Problems faced in distance education during Covid-19 Pandemic. Participatory Educational Research, 8(4), 321-333. https://doi.org/10.17275/per.21.92.8.4
Ulko, N. M. (2016). Psykhoeduktsiia yak chynnyk sotsialno-psykholohichnoi reabilitatsii [Psychoeduction as a Factor of Socio-Psychological Rehabilitation], Sotsialno-profesiina mobilnist v umovakh suchasnoi osvity: materialy Mizhnarodnoi naukovo-praktychnoi konferentsii [Social and Professional Mobility in The Conditions of Modern Education: International Conference Proceedings]. Kyiv, р. 16. [in Ukrainian].
World Health Organization. World health report 2001 – Mental health: new understanding, new hope. Geneva: Switzerland; 2001. [Google Scholar]

Silent heroes – Celebrating Peru’s Early Childhood Educators in times of crisis

by Tom Chambers | BERA, NW 10 Teacher Education Research, NW 14 Communities, Families, and Schooling in Educational Research

We are counsellors, we are nurses, we are legal helpers, even parish priests, we are multifaceted.

Maria

Leader/Teacher, Peruvian public school

These are the words of a Peruvian public-school early childhood educator/leader, as she described how her role morphed into one of holistic accompaniment, not just to her young students, but to their families as well during the extended period of school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. They highlight one of the many challenges thrust upon a previously maligned and disenfranchised workforce in a moment of crisis, but much more than this, they offer us a glimpse into the lives of early childhood education(ECE) stakeholders in Peru during this period.

The Peruvian Context

Life in Peru was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent social distancing requirements, which meant that education institutions were closed to in-person teaching for more than 18 months. Educational outcomes, whilst seeing an upward trend in the years leading up to the pandemic in terms of PISA scores, were still below the OECD average (OECD, 2018). The system was still considered to be struggling in terms of providing equal access to quality teaching and learning experiences as ‘poor, rural, indigenous girls are 91% more likely to be left behind in quality education than their wealthier, urban, non-indigenous peers’ (Alcázar et al., 2020, p12).

Public school teachers are historically perceived as having low prestige and relatively low pay in comparison to other professions (Saavedra & Gutierrez,2020), a significant contextual consideration when we ponder the critical role they not only played in ensuring educational opportunities for children, but also in support and guidance for families.

The challenges faced by early childhood educators

Within this complex context, initial findings from my multiple case study doctorate research project, where semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents, leaders and teachers at four early childhood settings, suggest that early childhood educators across private, public, rural, and urban areas faced several significant challenges. These included increased workload burdens, adaptation to the use of technology, their own emotional well-being, connecting in meaningful ways with children, and dealing with the day-to-day uncertainty. And from the outset of the strict social distancing measures put in place, they were bombarded with the demands of work.

If, for example, they did not have their child’s next call scheduled, or they didn’t know the questions to ask them, or they had a problem sending their evidence, there would be messages at midnight or at one in the morning… even at four in the morning, the phone rang. It didn’t matter if it was Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, the same.

Catalina

Teacher, Peruvian public school

Significantly, access to high-quality internet and devices in Peruvian homes is limited, so online lessons were not an option for many families. Instead, they relied on sending and receiving messages, usually via WhatsApp or SMS texts, which resulted in early childhood educators being the first point of call for parents, reframing their role in society.

And our role was more emotional accompaniment for the families, not only with children, with families too

Almudena

Teacher, Peruvian public school

If educators were able to connect virtually with children, they were faced with the challenges of adapting their pedagogical approach to foster relationships and engage young children through screens. A task that was initially faced by just the educators working in the private sector but soon by many in the public sector too.

It has been a very difficult time. For me, as a professional, no? Because in spite of having made every effort to bond with my students, it’s a dehumanising process, you are in front of a computer and have no contact with them.

Rosario

Teacher, Peruvian private school

Implications and conclusions

This blog post, rather than endlessly listing the challenging circumstances faced by early childhood educators in Peru during the pandemic, seeks to draw attention to their resilience and achievements, providing a voice to those often overlooked in vulnerable communities.

Resilience in educators was evident in the mere fact that ECE was able to be adapted and continued regardless of the extreme and unprecedented challenges faced. However, as Gu (2014) states, resilience in educators is not merely coping in the face of adversity; it encompasses a moral and vocational-like commitment to make a difference and support learning. Critical to this dedication was their ability to develop positive interactions with parents and foster supportive relationships with peers, as they shared online teaching practices and provided emotional accompaniment. These coping strategies are underpinned by collaboration, which was key in bringing the ECE community together, and ensuring the best outcomes for children.

This has significant implications for the future as the relationships forged between parents and teachers, alongside the new professional and personal skills developed by teachers, can be vital in addressing learning gaps and bridging inequalities. In highlighting these issues, there is the potential for the profession’s low prestige in Peruvian society to be changed or at least challenged.

Key Messages

Celebrating the efforts and dedication of early childhood educators during the pandemic provides a voice to those often overlooked in vulnerable communities
Resilience in educators includes a moral and vocational-like commitment to make a difference and support learning
The development of positive interactions with parents was critical, as was the fostering of supportive relationships with peers
The relationships forged, and the professional and personal skills developed by teachers during the pandemic, can be vital in addressing learing gaps and bridging inequalities.

Tom Chalmers

PhD Student at the University of Greenwich, UK

Tom Chambers is an early career researcher studying a part-time PhD at the University of Greenwich, London. His research is focused on exploring the impact of the pandemic on the key stakeholders associated with early childhood education (ECE) in Peru. The research will not only have implications for educational policy and practice but also highlight the inequalities in accessing high-quality ECE in countries in the Global South.

He has recently completed a two-year period of part-time volunteer work as a desk researcher with La Fundación Baltazar y Nicolás, a Peruvian NGO involved with supporting parents of young children in Peru. Tom is an experienced early years/primary educator and holds a Master’s in Education also from the University of Greenwich

Twitter/X: @TomChambers1984 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tom-chambers1984 ORCID: 0009-0000-4439-9592

References and Further Reading

Alcázar, L., Bullard, M., &Balarin, M. (2020). Poor education and precarious jobs in Peru: Understanding who is left behind and why. Southern Voice, 64. https://southernvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Education-Jobs-Peru-Alcazar-Bullard-and-Ballarin-2020.pdf

Gu, Q. (2014). The role of relational resilience in teachers career-long commitment and effectiveness. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 20(5), 502–529. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2014.937961

OECD. (2018). Programme For International Student Assessment (PISA) Results From PISA 2018. In OECD COUNTRY NOTE. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/PISA2018_CN_PER.pdf

Saavedra, J., & Gutierrez, M. (2020). Peru: A Wholesale Reform Fueled by an Obsession with Learning and Equity. In F. M. Reimers (Ed.), Audacious Education Purposes: How Governments Transform the Goals of Education Systems. Springer.

Peru: A Wholesale Reform Fueled by an Obsession with Learning and Equity | SpringerLink

Using ChatGPT in an educational technology course for maths teacher candidates

by Dr Bengi Birgili | Emerging Researchers' Group, NW 10 Teacher Education Research, NW 16 ICT in Education and Training

There has been a lot of discussion in educational research circles about the use of AI in education, in particular, ChatGPT. We asked doctoral research assistant, Bengi Birgili to tell us about how she is using (and teaching the use of) ChatGPT in the classroom. Dr Birgili introduced a fully flipped university context from the view of a researcher instructor. In this post, she explains how she and her students used ChatGPT in an instructional technology course offered in the Spring 2023 semester. This blog post includes not only her ideas and experiences but also those of 30 pre-service teachers studying in the mathematics education department in the faculty of education in Istanbul, Türkiye.

I have been teaching an educational sciences course at the intersection of Instructional Design and Instructional Technologies and Materials Design (EDS 206) at the Department of Mathematics Education (Grade 5-8), MEF University, Istanbul, Türkiye for 2 years. MEF University is known as the first fully flipped university in the world. You can find out more about the course at the end of this blog post.

This semester, additionally, we had a new visitor to this course. ChatGPT! Yes. Let’s share our experiences in this course.

Using ChatGPT in an educational technology course

I heard that ChatGPT, developed by Artificial Intelligence Developer Open AI, was released as a prototype on November 30th, 2022. I noticed that it attracted people’s attention in a short period of time with its detailed justifications and understandable answers in many fields of information. Many instructional technologists, educational scientists, and even linguists from Türkiye have started using it. It has become popular in our country as well as all over the world.

As a Ph.D. holder of educational sciences and a mathematics teacher; based on my limited experience, I can describe ChatGPT as a companion. Although the database has kept its information until the last updated date, it provides us with companionship in terms of sharing basic, responding fact-based prompts, and comprehensive information. Users must, of course, be aware of the issues that have been raised about the accuracy of the AI too (or see the impact of AI for more information).

Despite this caveat, when I look at it from the perspective of an educator, I believe that teacher candidates can benefit from ChatGPT, when used for the right purposes.

In the EDS 206 course, I demonstrated ChatGPT for a week. Then, I allowed the teacher candidates to experience it for themselves. Some of them asked ChatGPT to talk about common misconceptions made by middle school students in fractions in mathematics, and some of them asked for sample questions of their lesson plan preparation. While discovering ChatGPT, they also learned new instructional design models. They put into practice what they learned in our course while interacting with it. For the accuracy of the information, they had to compare what they learned in the course with the information provided by ChatGPT. At this level, they also started to use their high-level cognitive skills. In their article writing assignments, they were free to use ChatGPT, as long as they referenced appropriately.

To sum up, by following the correct instructions, we teacher educators, can admit ChatGPT as a mentor somewhere in a teacher education program. Nevertheless, it should be used as a means, not an end.

Students’ experiences using ChatGPT

After the ChatGPT experience, I asked my students: “Can you share with me in a paragraph your first experience with ChatGPT in the EDS 206 course, and explain whether it is useful and how your learning experiences in the faculty can get benefit from it?” I made a thematic analysis of their general ideas and initial thoughts. According to the findings of the thematic analysis, I inferenced the following categories.

Junior-year teacher candidates, studying in the faculty of education and a flipped university, were introduced to ChatGPT for the first time in this course. They were aware that ChatGPT is an up-to-date, innovative, and popular AI-based tool and they gained the specific awareness.

“I think #ChatGPT is a nice artificial intelligence application for people who are researchers and curious. As a teacher candidate, I was introduced to ChatGPT for the first time in EDS206 class and I saw the benefits of the application. During the lesson, my group mates and I experienced that ChatGPT can translate between languages, solve mathematical equations, and offer various suggestions on the subject….”

“I was introduced to the ChatGPT application in the EDS 206 course. In the lesson, we sought an answer to the question of how to use the ChatGPT application in education. We asked the ChatGPT application to develop a training model.”

All of them found ChatGPT useful for their learning. They see it as a privileged step of being an innovative teacher. When they asked questions regarding maths education, lesson planning, teaching methods etc, ChatGPT provided them with creative and useful examples. For instance:

“…We got surprising results. We discussed these results in class. I think the answers will be useful and effective. I think the most useful feature of the ChatGPT application is that it gives creative and useful examples for desired situations….”

“…While we were experiencing ChatGPT, when we asked “What is the most appropriate teaching model that can be applied on the subject of fractions in mathematics?”, it brought out various models. Although the question we asked was very specific, it brought out more than one model and, most importantly, it explained the focus points of these models with them….”

“…. I wanted to develop a material on “Factors and Multiples” within the scope of the EDS206 course. I wanted to add examples from daily life to my material. I asked ChatGPT to provide me with examples, and source books/sites on this subject. I was redirected to many pages. When we want to make a study by analyzing many sources in education and synthesizing these sources; I can say that ChatGPT is very useful to work step by step.…” (Female, senior year teacher candidate)

Almost all of the teacher candidates emphasized that ChatGPT encouraged them to use higher-order thinking skills. For example, they stated that they used cognitive skills such as analysis, synthesis, interpretation, and discussion together in the flipped class.

“….When we want to make a study by analyzing many sources in education and synthesizing these sources, I can say that ChatGPT is very useful to work step by step. On the other hand, I can say that it provides ease of learning and analyzing many pieces of literature for students. I can say that individuals who will produce a new study will have the chance to design a roadmap for basic errors, to access the materials to be used here, and to design a synthesized version of many sources if they wish. For this reason, I can say that it also provides a lot of convenience in the production of new works.”

“…. When we further advanced our question and asked it to choose one of these models and create a lesson plan that suited us, its answer really impressed me. Determining the necessary materials, which sections we will divide the lesson into, how many minutes these sections will take, and what we will do in them were explained in detail…”

On the other hand, only a few of them asserted the possible negative aspects of ChatGPT. Since it depends on machine learning and Artificial Intelligence, the accuracy and validity of the information given by ChatGPT must be tested and controlled from other scientific sources.

“…. Thanks to the information data in ChatGPT, it is a very useful application that allows us to save time by extracting logical answers in the context of cause and effect. If I take a negative aspect, it should not be forgotten that this is an artificial intelligence, if important information research is being conducted, ChatGPT’s responses should definitely be verified with other sources.” (Female, senior year teacher candidate)

Final thoughts

Last but not least, according to my short-term and unique experience regarding ChatGPT, I feel that the contribution of ChatGPT to teacher education is emerging. However, ethical issues should always keep the minds occupied. While discussing the benefits, the critical points and probable negative aspects should be paid attention by the instructors and teacher candidates. We think that ChatGPT will continue to be like a companion that provides motivation during individual learning or unguided instruction, and saves time – as long as it comes from the primary right academic source.

Key Messages

Teacher candidates can benefit from ChatGPT, when used for the right purposes
Teaching students reported that they found ChatGPT useful for learning, and saw it as evidence of being an innovative teacher
ChatGPT encouraged teacher candidates to use higher order thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, interpretation, and discussion
Students should be aware of the limitations of tools such as AI and the importance of verifying the information provided with other sources
The use of AI tools in teacher education is still emerging, and critical points should be considered by instructors and teacher candidates

References and Further Reading

About the educational science course

The educational sciences course sits at the intersection of Instructional Design and Instructional Technologies and Materials Design (EDS 206) at the Department of Mathematics Education (Grade 5-8), MEF University, Istanbul, Türkiye.

Upon successful completion of this course, students [aka teacher candidates] are expected to be able to:

explore various ways of thinking about the use of technology in education
demonstrate how to use a variety of multimedia tools to enrich learning opportunities
identify appropriate teaching methods and electronic media to support objective-based lessons
design learning experiences that engage learners in individual and collaborative learning activities
create electronic multimedia to support specific learning objectives
use technology to represent topics or concepts in a static or interactive format.

I have been offering the course with an active learning environment both in COVID-19 pandemic times and now in a hybrid format. Teacher candidates apply what they have learned about weekly instructional technological tools, participate in pre-class/individual space and in-class/group space experiences, share their experiences and thoughts during flipped class activities, sometimes evaluate themselves, collaborate, and reflect while learning instructional design theories and practicum with material design.

At the beginning of the semester, the teacher candidates are assigned middle school mathematics content from the national mathematics education curriculum. They learn to design digital materials in order to improve their digital competencies. For example, Bubbl.us, Kahoot, Desmos, Geogebra. They prepare teaching materials for 6th grade students using the digital tools they learn about in the EDS206 related to the mathematics topic they were assigned. However, they design not only independent teaching and learning materials, but also instructional design models and so learn to integrate their digital materials into their ID models.

For more information about EDS 206 please do not hesitate to contact me.

On AI and accuracy

The field of Artificial Intelligence is changing rapidly, and it can be difficult to keep up with the current situation. Here are some articles that we found when this blog post was published.

ChatGPT: Everything you need to know about OpenAI’s GPT-4 tool

ChatGPT and facts (January 2023)

The impact of AI on content accuracy (October 2023)

ChatGPT accuracy getting worse (June 2023)

Dr Bengi Birgili

Research Assistant in the Mathematics Education Department at MEF University, Istanbul.

Dr Bengi Birgili is a research assistant in the Mathematics Education Department at MEF University, Istanbul. She experienced in research at the University of Vienna. In 2022, she received her PhD from the Department of Educational Sciences Curriculum and Instruction Program at Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara. Her research interests focus on curriculum development and evaluation, instructional design, in-class assessment. She received the Emerging Researchers Bursary Winners award at ECER 2017 for her paper titled “A Metacognitive Perspective to Open-Ended Questions vs. Multiple-Choice.”

In 2020, a co-authored research became one of the 4 accepted studies among Early-Career Scholars awarded by the International Testing Commission (ITC) Young Scholar Committee in the UK [Postponed to 2021 Colloquium due to COVID-19].

In Jan 2020, she completed the Elements of AI certification offered by the University of Helsinki.

Researchgate:https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bengi-Birgili-2

Twitter: @bengibirgili

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bengibirgili/

ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2990-6717

Medium: https://bengibirgili.medium.com

Reimagining Teacher Education Pedagogies and Policies in the Context of Mass Global Migration

by Dr Akin-Sabuncu, Dr Lee, Dr McDevitt, Dr Goodwin | NW 10 Teacher Education Research

Diversity across the world is hardly new, but its nature is changing given the growing number of refugee and migrant children, placing increasing stress on schools to meet their learning needs [1] These increases in transnational mobility have teachers struggling to reconsider their everyday practices to accommodate many more newcomers in their classrooms, even while immigrant and refugee students lag behind their nonimmigrant peers academically. [2] [3] [4]

In 2019, the number of international migrants reached 272 million; 33 million of them were children. Among the world’s migrants are nearly 29 million refugees and asylum seekers who have been forcibly displaced from their own countries. An additional 41 million people in 2018 were internally displaced due to conflict and violence, an estimated 17 million of whom were children. [5]

The need for teachers to become more responsive to changing social conditions and student populations is gaining urgency [6][7][3][8] as recent reports [9] emphasize the support of children from low socio-economic, migrant, or “disadvantaged” minority backgrounds. This highlights teacher supply and preparation as an urgent issue affecting immigrant and refugee education globally. [10]

Reimagining Teacher Education Pedagogies and Policies Across Turkey, United States, and Hong Kong

Our purpose in this study was to gain insight into quality teachers for immigrant students. Using social justice as a lens, we focused on teacher educators, whose research and experience center on preparing teachers to teach immigrant students and considered their perspectives on teaching immigrant students for educational equity. To this end, in a multiple case study, we examined teacher educators in Turkey, the United States (US), and Hong Kong (HK), as each context presents a distinct case of immigration.

In Turkey, immigrants have recently consisted largely of refugees displaced by war. The US has, historically, long received immigrants, motivated by push factors such as political conflicts, as well as pull factors such as economic opportunities. HK’s colonial past and subsequent re-integration with greater China has meant minimal “traditional” immigration, but rather ethnic minorities who are non-Chinese residents, imported workers, and migrants from mainland China.

We acknowledge the essentializing nature of these characterizations of immigrant, which simplifies the complexity of the phenomenon as it unfolds in each context. Our intention was not to mask the multilayeredness of immigration generally, or in each of these contexts, but to illuminate the varied ways in which the concept of immigrant manifests internationally, and to forward our cases as three specific examples.

Theoretical Framework

We conceptualized the perspectives of teacher educators for teachers of immigrant students using theoretical frameworks articulated by two scholars of social justice teaching and teacher education. First, we used bell hooks’ notion of teaching to transgress [11] to illuminate teacher practice and preparation that can “enables transgressions” needed to dismantle entrenched educational hegemonies experienced by immigrant youth and “[make] education the practice of freedom” [11]. Second, we used Cochran-Smith’s theory of teacher education for social justice which “is intended to challenge the educational status quo and be transformative” [12] by interrogating the central issues of teacher education: teachers, curriculum, teaching contexts, and outcomes. Our study offers insight into what seems to be emphasized (or absent) in pre- and in-service teacher education to support immigrant learners, both within the confines of each unique context and also through collaborative global dialogue across three cultural boundaries.

Teacher Educators’ Perspectives on Preparing Teachers to Teach Immigrant Students

Through our study, we aimed to gain insight into educating immigrant students and what seems to be emphasized (or absent) in pre- and in-service teacher development and practice to support immigrant learners in these three contexts, based on the perspectives of teacher educators who do the work of preparing teachers to teach immigrant students. In doing so, we asked the following question: “Using social justice as a lens, what insights do teacher educators in Turkey, the US, and HK, offer on preparing teachers to teach immigrant students?”

We framed each context as an individual case and examined the perspectives of practicing teacher educators from the US, Turkey, and HK, given the unique insights professionals from each context can offer for teacher preparation/development for educating immigrant students. Our study included 22 teacher educators from Turkey, the US, and Hong Kong, whose research interests and experiences center on preparing teachers to teach immigrant students.

We present the findings from our preliminary analysis of our interview data under three themes of teacher educators’ identity, their work, and implications for teacher education, policy, and research.

Findings

Teacher Educators and Who They Are

Our analysis revealed that the topic of educating immigrant children was personal to many teacher educators whom we interviewed. They either had a first-hand experience of being an immigrant child or had generational family histories of immigration. Other teacher educators also mentioned that in addition to their personal histories, their professional and educational histories mattered when engaging persistently in topics of research and teaching related to educating immigrant children.

Teacher Educators and The Work That They Do

The teacher educators intentionally integrated their research on issues around immigrants and immigration and the elements of social justice with their teaching. For example, they discussed including specific pedagogies on how to teach immigrant students in their teacher education courses and bringing their research into teaching to provide evidence from the field. In addition, many teacher educators elaborated on building partnerships and collaboration as key to teaching immigrant students. Some were involved in family-community partnerships and others were in collaboration with colleagues who have direct immigrant backgrounds or are close to immigrant communities because they believed that such collaboration and partnerships can offer important perspectives on how to teach and partner with immigrant students and families.

Teacher Educators and the Work That Needs to be Done

The narratives of the teacher educators across the three national contexts pointed toward what further work needs to be done to ensure education that is equitable and socially just for immigrant students around the globe. The first is a radical reform in teacher education programs; second is learning about and navigating policies that are often against immigrants; third is the need for research that is context specific but also cross-cultural and transnational as one way to respond to the mass global migration.

Within these themes, we also drew upon bell hooks conception as “education as the practice of freedom,” and used bell hooks’ concepts to illustrate teachers’ enactments. An example of our participant, YM, is here.

Findings

Example of a Webinar: Pre-service Teachers in Dr. Akin-Sabuncu’s Life Studies Education class at TED University

The theoretical lenses afforded by hooks and Cochran-Smith enabled us to discern connections between teacher educator identities and work, and teacher preparation for educating immigrant students. Our findings showed: 1) the relationship between identity and commitments to teaching marginalized populations as each respondent articulated a clear connection to immigrant students as key to their work, an insight into “which teachers are recruited” for social justice teaching [12]; and 2) inserting “a counter-narrative account” that “insist[s] that everyone’s presence is acknowledged” [11] by building bridges between immigrant communities and families and teacher preparation curricula, and enabling the capacities of immigrant students contained in everyday, ordinary actions to be instructive to new and experienced teachers and researchers.

Our study illuminates the need for teacher educators to design preparation programs that explicitly address immigrant students, enable novice teachers to make professional connections to immigrant communities through personal, authentic experiences, stretch the curriculum beyond the confines of the university to engage local communities and make full use of the rich resources and partners they represent. Through this study, we present a broader, more global view on teaching and teacher education for (im)migrant students, provide a window into the knowledge and skills teacher educators need to emphasize in their preparation, and offer lessons for and across different national settings.

Their narratives across the three jurisdictions highlighted what further work needs to be done to ensure socially just education for immigrant students around the globe. First is radical reform in teacher education programs; second is learning about and navigating policies that are often hostile to immigrants; third is the need for research that is context-specific but also cross-cultural and transnational as one way to respond to mass global migration.

We are looking forward to sharing our findings at the annual meetings of the ECER-2022 and WERA-2022!

GENE Awards

EERA is delighted and honoured to be partnering with the Global Educational Network in Europe (GENE) to make significant research funds available to our members to further research in the area of global education.

These research awards are funded by Global Education Network Europe (GENE), the European network of Ministries and Agencies with national responsibility for policymaking, funding, and support in the field of Global Education. For this reason, the subject area for research projects undertaken is that of Global Education.

The purpose of the award is to support quality research around the themes outlined here – which have been identified as of interest to policymakers. Gathering of existing research, application of existing research from other areas of education to Global Education, follow-up studies, all are perfectly acceptable. It is not expected that the research has to draw policy conclusions – but to make available up-to-date, policy-relevant research from which policymaker can draw their own conclusions.

References and Further Reading

[2] American Psychological Association (APA), Presidential Task Force on Educational Disparities. (2012). Ethnic and racial disparities in education: Psychology’s contributions to understanding and reducing disparities. Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/ed/resources/racial-disparities.aspx

[12] Cochran-Smith, M. (2010). Toward a theory of teacher education for social justice. In A. Hargreaves (Eds.), Second international handbook of educational change (pp. 445–467). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. https://www.academia.edu/4346572/Toward_a_Theory_of_Teacher_Education_for_Social_Justice

[9] European Commission. (2013a). Education and training in Europe 2020: Responses from the EU member states. Brussels: Eurydice. https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/education-and-training-europe-2020-responses-eu-member-states_en

[6] European Commission. (2013b). Supporting teacher competence development for better learning outcomes. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/repository/education/policy/school/doc/teachercomp_en.pdf

[11] hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress. New York, NY: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Teaching-to-Transgress-Education-as-the-Practice-of-Freedom/hooks/p/book/9780415908085

[7] Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2010). Educating teachers for diversity: Meeting the challenge. Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264079731-en

[3] Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2016). Supporting teacher professionalism: Insights from TALIS 2013. Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264248601-en

[8] Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2019). TALIS 2018
results (Volume I): Teachers and school leaders as lifelong learners. Paris: OECD
Publishing. https://www.oecd.org/education/talis-2018-results-volume-i-1d0bc92a-en.htm

[10] Paine, L., Blòmeke, S., & Aydarova, O. (2016). Teachers and teaching in the context of
globalization. In D. Gitomer & C. Bell, (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp.
717-786). Washington, DC: AERA. https://www.academia.edu/27448289/Paine_L._Blomeke_S._and_Aydarova_O._2016_._Teachers_and_Teaching_in_the_Context_of_Globalization._AERA_Handbook_of_Research_on_Teaching

[1] Public Policy & Management Institute. (2017). Preparing teachers for diversity: The role of initial teacher education.Brussels: European Commission.

[4] Sugarman, J. (2017). Beyond teaching English: Supporting high school completion by immigrant and refugee students. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/beyond-teaching-english-supporting-high-school-completion-immigrant-and-refugee-students

[5] UNICEF. (2020). Child migration. Retrieved from https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-migration-and-displacement/migration

Developing the resilience of first-year students under martial law in Ukraine

Why focus on first-year students in Ukraine?

Why focus on resilience?

What contributes to preserving and restoring Ukrainian students mental health?

How to develop first-year students’ mental health under martial law