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A little less balance in new teachers' professional development

This thesis reports on an interpretative case study about student teachers’ and new teachers’ personal interpretations in their teaching practice, during and after an international teaching internship. The main aim of this study was to describe how an international teaching internship interrupts existing, familiar ways of thinking or acting. The findings are an interpretation of how this interruption influences student teachers’ and new teachers’ “personal interpretative frameworks” (Kelchtermans, 2009) during their teacher training programmes and transition from student to teacher. This framework reflects the basis on which a beginning teacher grounds their personal decisions or judgements for action and answers the questions: ‘how can I effectively deal with this particular situation? and ‘why would I work that way?’ (Vanassche & Kelchtermans, 2014, p. 118).

The Atlas of European Values Project: Possibilities of Mapping the Values of Europeans and Challenges for Geography

The European Values Study (EVS) is a large-scale, cross-national and longitudinal research programme on basic human values, initiated in the late 1970s. A product of this research is the Atlas of European Values (AoEV), published by the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands for the second time. The Atlas of European Values offers maps and background information on the opinions of the population in 46 European countries. In chapters about Europe, family, work, religion, politics, society and well-being, diversity and similarities in values patterns are shown. On the website www.atlasofeuropeanvalues.eu maps of the European Values Study are accessible for free. In addition, the website offers different map tools, videos, background information and other teaching materials that are very useful sources of information for geographers and geography teachers. The most important theories to explain the value patterns that the research shows us are modernization theories. In this article, the basic findings on values are explained with respect to the theoretical frame and some examples with a special focus on Turkey are given. The findings challenge geography and other sciences, to what extent mapping the values of Europeans is possible. Two of these challenges are regionalizing the data and exploring the "context" for explaining the differences among countries.

Linking theory and practice

Portraying the developing PCK of Dutch pre-service geography teachers

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is used to describe the knowledge teachers use to teach a specific subject to a specific audience. Although PCK is linked to student success and motivation, relatively little is known about the PCK of geography teachers. Through a mixed methods approach, we surveyed a group of 73 Dutch pre-service teachers in their final year of geography teacher education. We used the PCK-consensus model to address both PCK-on action (teacher knowledge) and PCK-in action (teacher practice). We investigated the former through a CoRe-assignment and the latter through a quantitative survey. Teacher’s PCK-in action focussed on teacher-centred lessons with ample attention for visualisations, current events, and efforts to engage students. The results for PCK-on action confirmed the content dependency of PCK. Pre-service teachers chose different geographical topics and used different goals and strategies when teaching these topics. In this context, we also found that they experienced difficulties when teaching controversial issues. In a final step, we combined the results of both methods for 9 teachers in individual PCK portraits. These portraits show that coherence between PCK-elements and, therefore, PCK-quality is still weak for most pre-service teachers. Consequently, their fragile subject matter knowledge seems to influence their developing PCK.

Geography teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is the knowledge teachers use to teach a specific subject to a specific audience. The importance of PCK to quality teaching is widely recognized. However, an overview of research about geography teachers’ PCK is missing. To fill this gap, we conducted a systematic review. We analyzed 43 empirical studies, but only 9 used PCK as a framework. Most studies addressed instructional strategies or teaching orientations. The studies were too diverse to draw conclusions on geography teachers’ PCK in general. But portraits of 16 geography teachers emphasized the necessity of geographical knowledge and teaching experience for PCK-quality.

Online supplements to Geography teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge: a systematic review

Online supplements to Smit, E., Tuithof, H., Savelsbergh, E., & Béneker, T. (2023). Geography teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge: A systematic review. Journal of Geography. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221341.2023.2173796 Supplement 1: Extended information on selected studies Supplement 2: Full references of studies used in the review Supplement 3: Codebook Abstract: Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is the knowledge teachers use to teach a specific subject to a specific audience. The importance of PCK to quality teaching is widely recognized. However, an overview of research about geography teachers’ PCK is missing. To fill this gap, we conducted a systematic review. We analyzed 43 empirical studies, but only 9 used PCK as a framework. Most studies addressed instructional strategies or teaching orientations. The studies were too diverse to draw conclusions on geography teachers’ PCK in general. But portraits of 16 geography teachers emphasized the necessity of geographical knowledge and teaching experience for PCK-quality.