Benefits and Challenges

This section will present the description of current collaboration between universities and schools from the point of view of teacher educators and student teachers. Teacher educators from Yangon University of Education and Sagaing University of Education will be presented in this section.

5.1. Placing of student teachers to schools

According to informal interviews with two educators from the universities, the two teacher educators from the Methodology Department (where the allocation of student teachers is mainly carried out) claimed that student teachers are placed to the schools in accordance with their respective subjects that are taken as their majors at university. According to the teacher educators, the relevance between the major subject and the subject responsible to teach at the school during the practicum is the first priority for the university teachers.

“We normally assign student teachers according to their major subjects. It is the first thing that we consider as the first priority. There must be harmony between what student teachers take as a major subject to teach and what subject they are assigned to teach at schools.”(Teacher educator 1)

5.2. Selecting of schools

Schools where the student teachers are placed to teach are selected based on different criteria.

“Transportation is the first consideration point to think in selecting of schools. We only assigned student teachers to the schools where transportation is convenient to get access for all student teachers.”(Teacher educator 1)

“And we also see the previous record or review of schools from student teachers last academic year. If the student teachers are complained about something terrible, we avoid these schools to place student teachers for their practical teaching”.(Teacher educator 2)

Basic education high schools which are easy to get to are chosen by the university as the partner schools for practical teaching.

5.3. Feedback and evaluation

As soon as the student teachers are placed in the schools, an evaluation sheet is sent to the schools by the university to evaluate student teachers during their practical teaching. The school teachers observe the student teachers and evaluate according to this sheet. These results are sent directly to the university and the student teachers are not allowed to see them. In the case of feedback from the university, student teachers described it this way:

“Normally, the university doesn’t support formal feedback for our practice teaching. But some teachers informally ask about the experiences of practice teaching during the lecture. The evaluation done by the school teachers is directly sent to the university. We are not allowed to see it. And we never know the results”. (Student teacher 1)

“The evaluation is not clear enough. We didn’t receive feedback and we didn’t know the evaluation made by school teachers who observed our classrooms.” (Student teacher 2)

186 5.4. Closeness between partners

When student teachers are doing their practical teaching at the schools, the university educators from all departments of the university go to schools to investigate the student teachers’ practical teaching. But according to the university educators, they usually go to the schools and talk with the principals. Few university educators observe the student teachers directly and they rarely talk or discuss with school teachers about student teachers.

“I went to the school and talked with the principal about how the school is regulating and working. But I never talk with the school teachers and never observe student teachers’

classroom.” (Teacher Educator 1)

“Usually, when I went to the schools where the student teachers are assigned for their practical teaching, I first talk with the principal. Then, I sometimes observe the student teachers’ teaching.

But I just only observe a few minutes. I couldn’t observe every student teachers ‘classroom.

Normally there are eight to ten student teachers are assigned to the schools and I couldn’t observe all of them, because I went there at most two times during their two weeks of practical teaching.” (Teacher Educator 3)

According to the interviews, some teacher educators didn’t even go to the schools they were responsible to observe – they simply spoke with the principal. Most had no experience of talking and discussing with school teachers who observe the student teachers’ classroom.

6. Conclusion.

Compared to the past, Myanmar Teacher Training Universities are collaborating more and more with organizations to produce qualified student teachers. Based on the findings of the case study, collaborations between universities and schools are emerging. There is an urgent need to build trust and closeness between partners if successful and effective initial teacher training is expected in the future.

References

Borg, S., Clifford, I., & Htut, K. P. (2018). Having an EfECT: Professional development for teacher educators in Myanmar. Teaching and Teacher Education, 72, 75–86.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.02.010

Ministry of Education, Myanmar: Vision of Education System

http://www.cesrmm.org/index.php/en/leadership1/ministryofeducation National Institute of Education. https://www.nie.edu.sg/teacher-education/practicum Sagaing University of Education. http://suoe.moe.edu.mm/?page_id=1629

Tsui, A., Edwards, G., Lopez-Real, F. J., & Kwan, T. (2009). Learning in school-university partnership: sociocultural perspectives. Retrieved from http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=359060

Unicef (2013). Development of a Teacher Education Strategy Framework Linked to Pre- and In-Service Teacher Training in Myanmar

Yangon University of Education. http://www.yuoe.edu.mm/

187

A

8. C

S

3. S

Professional Development in Spain: Centers for Continuous Education The Spanish context

The Spanish government operates a decentralized education system in which the Universities of Education conduct the initial certification for the teachers. The Spanish education system is managed by 19 Departments of Education, where 17 departments correspond to the regional governments and the rest to the two autonomous cities of the country. The regulation and coordination is done by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (MECD) through PL 2/2006. Within the ministry is the “Instituto Superior de Formación del Profesorado” (Teacher Training Institute) founded in 2000 in order to foster teacher training and guarantee good pre-service teacher training as well as proper in-pre-service teacher training adapted to the educational objectives of the European Union (EU). The regional governments the creation of training centers and institutes, and schedule and plan the activities necessary for continuous teacher training while ensuring diversified and free training offer through the promotion of continuous teacher training programs (PAFP).

In Spain, the education levels are divided into four stages namely: Pre-primary education (0-6 years old), primary education (6-12 years old), lower compulsory secondary education (12-16 years old) and post compulsory secondary education. The current acts regulating them include 2013 Act on the Improvement of the Quality of Education (LOMCE) and the 2001 Act on Universities (LOU) respectively (Eurydice, 2019). While in the past teachers only needed academic qualifications to teach, the change in the General Education Law in 1970 made it mandatory that additional training be offered. Hence, the teachers in Spain undergo both pre-service (initial training) and in-service training involve academic, pedagogical and didactic training for them to be allowed to teach in their respective institutions.

The initial education required differs depending on the different education levels where teachers teach. National education legislation sets the initial teacher training requirements for each stage. Prospective teachers have to complete a four-year undergraduate program for initial certification in three majors: kindergarten and elementary education at graduate level, and secondary education at master level (Chiner & Cardona, 2013). For one to teach in pre-primary and primary education, one must have a Bachelor’s degree in School Teaching of Pre-Primary and Primary Education while teaching in secondary school requires a bachelor’s degree, be an engineer or an architect, or hold an equivalent graduate degree, as well as having postgraduate pedagogical and didactic training. Furthermore, in order to qualify for teaching in technical/vocational Training centers, one ought to have a university degree, be an engineer or an architect, or hold an equivalent graduate degree, as well as having postgraduate pedagogical and didactic training (Pusztai & Engler, 2015). The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MEFP) sets the requirements for verifying the official university degrees of Bachelor and Master that enable the exercise of teaching in non-university education, vocational training and specialized education.

According to Livingston (2016), the initial teacher training that takes place in universities is inadequate to address the complexity of the teaching/learning process in the classroom the demands of a changing society. Today, Spanish educational legislation provides

188 for the development of continual training activities for teachers through the Annual Plan for Teacher Training (PAFP) set out by each regional government. The state regulation of Continuous training for teachers is contained in the Organic Law 2/2006 of Education. The training is done in Teacher Centers found in each regional government alongside other institutions such as university departments, Institutes of education, professional associations, unions, educational reform movements, and teacher training centers (Pusztai & Engler, 2015).

In addition, post graduate training is also offered in the education universities and it is divided into Masters and PhD levels according to the Organic Law 4/2007. Most of the postgraduate courses focus on diversity, ethnic minorities, cultural pluralism and teaching in a multicultural environment (Eurydice, 2019).