Training for Small Group Instruction in Pre-Service Teacher Education: Pedagogical Instructors’ Perceptions

Abstract

According to the New Horizon educational reform, all teachers in Israel must implement small group instruction within the school curriculum. Small group instruction is perceived as an opportunity to provide a supportive learning environment that can enable schools to reach their educational aims in individualized ways. Having examined the implementation of small group instruction by novice teachers, our objective is to present the results of a research which aimed to clarify how pedagogical instructors perceive training for small group instruction, and how small group instruction is embedded in their curricula. Data were collected from 16 pedagogical advisors pertaining to EFL, Physical Education, special Education, and Sciences. The findings emerging from this research shows a duality in the pedagogical instructors’ perceptions of the importance assigned to teaching for small group instruction hours. On the one hand, small group instruction hours are perceived as important enough to constitute part of teacher training, but on the other hand, they are considered as a subject that it is preferable for students to learn to implement during their practice teaching. Therefore, this research places training for implementing small group instruction on the educational and public agenda as a dual issue, presenting a gap between perceptions of its importance and its absence from the training program in the teacher education process.

Keywords: Small group instructioneducational reformpedagogical instructorsteacher education

Introduction

At the center of the 'New Horizon' Educational reform stands the promotion of teaching-learning and developing social-moral and emotional aspects through small group instruction. The 'New Horizon' reform recognizes the need for a variety of frameworks in which to organize learners (classroom, small group instruction teaching - teacher-pupils and small groups with teachers) to reach educational and teaching goals. Furthermore, the reform recognizes the complexity of the teaching profession and the need for ongoing professional development therein. Moreover, according to the reform, teachers' jobs at school will be made up of classroom teaching hours, small group instruction and non-teaching hours. Every teacher is obligated to implement small group instruction to teach pupils either individually or in groups of 2-5 pupils (Ministry of Education, 2010). As such, small group instruction is part of every teacher's job in Israeli schools.

According to Ministry of Education guidelines, small group instruction is used first and foremost for reinforcement, deepening and enriching teaching subjects, but also to nurture pupils' social and emotional aspects. In addition - and this is perhaps the crowning glory of small group instruction - time is also devoted within their framework for personal conversations between a homeroom teacher and every pupil, called 'heart to heart conversations'. As mentioned, small group instruction is devoted to advancing pupils' achievements, learning, social performance and wellbeing.

From an organizational perspective, every school receives a basket of small group instruction hours made up of the total number of hours allocated to each staff member. It is up to the school to allocate these hours according to its needs, based on mapping pupils' needs dictated by learning, social and emotional measures. Every three to five months (depending on the professional judgment of individual schools), there is turnover between pupils who have had regular encounters and others, who are awaiting their turn. As such, teachers have the responsibility to prepare work plans for small group instruction hours and present them to school principals for approval. Previous research carried out about the implementation of small group instruction hours focused on their implementation by teachers in their first year of teaching (Od-Cohen & Hadari, 2015) and pointed out the need for organized and institutional training for small group instruction in order to enable a smooth entry into teaching.

In light of the aforesaid, the question arises whether teacher training colleges and first ans formost pedagogical instructors entrusted with didactic content and practice teaching should prepare student teachers to teach small group instruction as part of teacher education curricula.

Problem Statement

The introduction of the 'New Horizon' and 'Oz LeTemura' reforms into elementary and high schools respectively created a new learning framework: small group instruction hours in which teachers are placed with small groups for an entire lesson. Studies argue that instructing pupils in small groups is a challenging task that affects pupils' cognitive, social and emotional aspects (Cazden, 2001). The literature regarding teaching in small groups presents this teaching approach as an opportunity for teaching focused on individuals, that enable nurturing their cognitive abilities by emphasizing the learners' diversity and adapting teaching for each individual's needs (Gardner, 1996). Teaching in small groups creates an opportunity for new discourse in current pedagogy (Reichert, 2009). Consequently, the teacher's role is to be a kind of mentor and facilitator that enables cooperative learning, to provide an appropriate teaching environment (Lazarowitz, 2007), and to propose learning tasks adjusted to children's learning styles (Reichert, 2009). That is to say, individual pupils s are the focus and schools organize themselves around them (Bishop, 1971). The Branco Weiss Institution defines small group instruction teaching as based on an approach of small group instruction and focused educational processes. Each learner receives small group instruction guidance according to his/her needs, with attention paid to his/her abilities and personal style. The small group instruction approach sees practice and execution adjusted to each learner as the center of the learning process. The small group instruction way of thinking as a teaching method whose purpose is inviting successful experiences for learners was developed in Israel at the Branco Weiss Institution (Galili, 2013). Emerging from literature is the understanding that teachers' effectiveness and professional growth are found in their initial training, that is to say teacher education colleges, as well as their ongoing professional development in in-service frameworks (Avdor & Kfir, 2013).

Teacher education colleges in Israel today provide general knowledge, pedagogical-formal knowledge and unique professional behaviors (Lamm, 1988, 2000), with pedagogical instructors, serving as a type of teaching 'guides', responsible for pedagogical knowledge. The role of pedagogical instructors in the context of practical teaching days is, in fact, to be mediators between college and the field. They are the ones who find schools suitable for practice teaching, contact training teachers and take care of the technical and organizational aspects of these days. In new practical teaching models, pedagogical instructors are members of school staffs who collaborate in planning practice teaching processes in accordance with their schools' curricula.

Pedagogical instructors fulfill an important role in structuring student teachers' knowledge. They accompany their groups of students in personal and group guidance. They are required to help students develop through a long journey entailing wonderment, questions and dilemmas along the way, to make the transition from a learning student status to that of novice teacher, capable of taking responsibility for a learning class and integrating into school culture and everything this entails (Zilberstein, 2005).

Studies have found that practice teaching constitutes a most significant part of teacher education. Students greatly appreciate pedagogical and didactic escorting as well as pedagogical and didactic teachers (Smith & Lev-Ari, 2004). Reichenberg & Wertheim (2002) pointed out two knowledge components that were found to be most important among pedagogical instructors: knowledge of pedagogical instruction and knowledge of teaching skills. Pedagogical instruction, according to Rodgers (2002), leads to reflective activity. This activity provides teachers with new insights about pupils' learning abilities and enables them to discern gaps that result between what they have taught and what children have actually absorbed.

Recently, a new practice teaching model has been introduced to teacher education in Israel and that is the Academia-Classroom program (2014). The program, whose basis is the goal of reinforcing the partnership between academia, schools and districts, is meant to provide a response to three central challenges: promoting significant learning in classrooms by integrating two adults to work simultaneously in classrooms; improving student teachers' training and professional development of experienced teachers; developing the career ladder starting from student, through interns and specialized training teachers and pedagogical instructors on behalf of academic institutions.

The central aim is establishing partnership between academic teacher education institutions and the school system in Israel in order to improve the quality of teacher training processes, teacher induction processes, teaching and professional development and to promote significant learning in educational institutions.

Academic teacher education institutions are partners with the Ministry of Education in leading a common educational vision and implementing it within the education system. Academic teacher education institutions serve as leaders of change and provide a response to the needs of the education system on the issue of training. Teacher training is relevant and linked to the field and emphasizes intensive practical work and deepening the link between practice and theory. Pedagogical instructors are empowered as influencers on schools and educational institutions and leaders in educational processes within a district, community and educational institutions. School Principals and experienced teachers continue to develop in academic teacher education institutions working towards advanced degrees in teaching and education areas. Academic teacher education institutions are making the transition from training based mainly on academic aspects to training based on field experience in teaching similar to clinical training that exists in medical schools (÷

Pedagogical instructors are responsible for planning and structuring practice teaching in educational institutions and are partners in them. They accompany groups of students who are placed together in a school. Their involvement in school is broad. They closely accompany school processes and are in contact with school principals and other stakeholders in order to create systematic experience for students at educational institutions both in teaching roles and as part of a team and members of an educational community. Pedagogical instructors are involved in developing staff of schools in which practice teaching is carried out, together with students, according to needs determined in cooperation with school management. They are partners in the training of teachers who train students and are specializing in the roles of teacher tutors/colleagues (Ministry of Education, 2014).

The introduction of reforms has become a fact of life today for teachers (Priestly, 2011) and mostly as top down steps taken without involving them in the process. The expectation is that they will change patterns of behavior and even values and basic assumptions as part of the process (Fullan, 2006, 2011). Teachers are required to adapt to ongoing social changes, developments in knowledge and growing accessibility to knowledge while understanding their future roles. Like teachers, pedagogical instructors are also required to prepare student teachers for changes and reforms in education. Teachers do not feel like partners in top down change processes or agents of changes, feelings that are the basis for successful educational reforms (Avidov- Unger et al., 2013).

When teachers and pedagogical instructors are perceived by policy makers solely as reform implementers, implementation is expected to be superficial and characterized by an absence of a sense of ownership, passivity, reduced autonomy and limited motivation for improvement (Luttenberg et al., 2013). Not much research was found focusing on pedagogical instructors perceptions pertaining to training for small group instruction within the New Horizon educational reform, hence the significance of this study.

Purpose of the study

To examine existing perceptions among pedagogical instructors at colleges of education with regard to training towards implementation of small group instruction.

The study asked the question: What perceptions exist among pedagogical instructors with regard to training for implementing small group instruction in schools?

Research Methods

In order to understand implementation of small group instruction hours by pedagogical instructors in teacher education colleges, we chose qualitative research according to the interpretive-constructivist approach (Tzabar Ben-Yehoshua, 2001). In order to carry out this research, we chose the qualitative approach. As researchers operating on the basis of the interpretive-constructivist paradigm, we sought to reach an understanding of the researched reality on the basis of interpretive contact with research partners, 16 pedagogical instructors employed by teacher education colleges and responsible for didactic lessons and practice teaching. Tzabar Ben-Yehoshua (2001) defined qualitative research as research with participants and not on participants, and as a research approach suitable for examining peoples' perceptions, views and actions, and enabling reaching a profound understanding of phenomena. According to Richardson (1996), this research approach is particularly relevant in situations in which complex issues are researched, whose examination in experimental studies that summarize their findings in a quantitative-statistical manner, does not exhaust the studied phenomenon, and therefore cannot present a comprehensive picture of its underlying interpretations. Indeed, quantitative measurement will not allow for in-depth study of a phenomenon. Moreover, according to Creswell (2012), qualitative research is a crucial process in understanding human society. By using this research approach, researchers can build a complete and clear picture of information gathered in the natural environment, through interviews, reports, observations, and more (Shkedi, 2011). As such, we found this approach to be the most appropriate for our study.

Since the aim of this study was to collect information about pedagogical instructors’ perceptions regarding training for small group instruction hours in teacher education colleges, participants in this research were 16 pedagogical instructors from one teacher education college in Northern Israel. Research participants came from a variety of areas such as English, physical education, sciences, Judaism, special education and early childhood. We believe that this population represents all areas of teaching at the college. All participants gave their informed consent to participating in the research. In addition, to maintain anonymity all identifying details have been removed in order to protect the privacy of participants.

Since the qualitative research approach focuses on understanding the essence and meaning of phenomena, such as the phenomenon of implementation of small group instruction hours in teacher education by pedagogical instructors through their perceptions as those who are involved in this process, when we come to examine the complex reality of life in which people from different worlds are involved, the appropriate research tool to collect information from these people is the semi-structured interview. Semi-structured interviews allow for providing insights, thoughts and opportunities to describe actions directly related to the studied issue. The interviews took place in the framework of conversations and included questions relating to central predetermined issues that where congruent with the research question. Nonetheless, interviews allowed for flexibility with regard to the order in which questions appeared and openness to additional subjects (Creswell, 2012). Data collection was carried out throughout the academic year 2015-2016. In addition, 16 syllabi related to courses in didactics and practice teaching were reviewed. Course review as document analysis (Creswell, 2012) was carried out in order to discover to what extent small group instruction appeared as a topic in these syllabi.

Data garnered from the semi-structures interviews was analyzed using 'content analysis', which is meant to infer inductively from 'units of text', i.e. transcribed interviews, the pedagogical instructors’ perceptions. Units of analysis were words, expressions or sentences that were aligned to the research aim, research question and studied issues. The analysis process commenced at the initial mapping stage, during which interviewees' statements were compared in order to find similarities and differences, inductively. Similar ones were put together into the same category according to their content match (Shkedi, 2011). The theoretical framework determined at the initial stage of research also comprises the basis for presenting the research findings. The process of categorization was done as interpretation and conceptualization, that is to say, creating a system of concepts that should provide meaning to the data.

Findings

Content analysis referred to the research question: What perceptions exist among pedagogical instructors with regard to training for implementing small group instruction in schools?

Content analysis of the data collected in semi-structured interviews and analyzing the syllabi yielded nine categories that are detailed below in Table 1 .

Conclusions

The picture emerging from analysis of data collected from pedagogical instructors is duality in their perceptions of the importance of teaching for small group instruction hours. On the one hand, small group instruction hours are perceived as important enough to constitute part of teacher training, but on the other hand, they are considered as a subject that it is preferable for students to learn to implement during their practice teaching.

This duality is reinforced in light of pedagogical instructors' perceptions showing that characteristics of small group instruction hours embody great potential to nurture both struggling pupils and those who require enrichment, to special adaptation and planning and as a factor to motivate learning. In other words, pedagogical instructors recognize the importance of training to teach small group instruction hours, but on the other hand prefer that students learn to implement them as part of their practice teaching. School reality shows that the context in which small group instruction hours are implemented is rather broad and means of implementation are many and varied. This versatility creates a muddle amongst pedagogical instructors who are also burdened with many roles and tasks connected to their work with students (Lamm, 1988, 2000). In addition to pedagogical instructors being guides for student teachers, according to their perception of pedagogical instruction in teacher training, pedagogical instructors are part of a school team who plan together the practice teaching process together with schools' syllabi (Zilberstein, 2005).

Pedagogical instructors fulfill an important role in building students' knowledge of teaching. They accompany their group of student teachers in personal and group training. They are required to help students develop and go through a long journey entailing many wonderments, questions and dilemmas along the way, to make the transition from status of learning student to that of novice-teacher, capable of taking responsibility for a learning class and integrate into school culture with all that this entails (Zilberstein, 2005). Therefore, in light of this multitude of roles, it is not surprising that pedagogical instructors have a list of priorities and within this framework, prefer to leave responsibility for the training for small group instruction hours to training teachers and students' self-learning.

Another factor that can explain this duality is the background from which pedagogical instructors themselves emerged. In any case, pedagogical instructors' sources of knowledge about small group instruction hours lie in their experience as former school teachers and personal initiative to investigate the subject according to information sources from the Ministry of Education (Ministry of Education, 2014). However, the relatively new 'New Horizon' reform in the Israeli education system, and its top down (Fullan, 2006, 2011) implementation without making teachers or pedagogical instructors partners in the new initiative. Pedagogical instructors are required to train student teachers for changes and reforms in education, but they do not feel that they are designers-partners or change agents, feelings that form the basis for successful reforms in education (Avidov- Unger et al., 2013), and therefore it seems, their abstention from including small group instruction hours in teacher training.

Additionally, in the light of the reality in colleges that not all pedagogical instructors are experienced at teaching small group instruction hours or even teaching at school generally, it is possible to say that their own knowledge is limited in this subject, and therefore they do not feel qualified enough to train students to teach small group instruction hours in which they themselves do not have sufficient experience. The result is that the amount of training for small group instruction hours, according to pedagogical instructors and the document analysis, remains minimal within the overall process of training for small group instruction hours. Moreover, pedagogical instructors understand that students prefer to learn the subject of small group instruction hours from their training teachers during their practice teaching, which leads the pedagogical instructors to believe that its training is perhaps redundant.

The pedagogical instructors’ perceptions regarding consultation on small group instruction hours is that they consult colleagues with practical experience in the area. As part of their responsibility to fulfill their role as pedagogical instructors, they choose to focus more on organizational aspects and pedagogical approaches rather than on teaching content aspects. In addition, it appears that pedagogical instructors perceive their main task as training students to cope with whole heterogeneous classes. Consequently the issue of small group instruction is perceived as a subject with which does not need explicit training as anyone can cope with it, and therefore is secondary in its importance.

To summarize, this modest research places training for implementing small group instruction on the educational and public agenda as a dual issue presenting a gap between perceptions of its importance and its absence from the training program in the teacher education process. From previous research carried out on implementing small group instruction by novice teachers in the first year of teaching (Od-Cohen & Hadari, 2015) clearly shows the necessity of this training as a proper process of induction into teaching. In light of the current research findings, and in order to allow proper implementation of small group instruction, not just as part of implementing the 'New Horizon' educational reform but also to allow novice teachers to implement small group instruction hours as a critical teaching process to improve and reinforce learning at schools and raise achievements of the education system, we recommend training pedagogical instructors themselves in this critical area. Therefore, it is recommended to develop, within teacher training institutions, frameworks to professionally develop pedagogical instructors so that they will be able to pass knowledge and skills along to student teachers as part of the training process.

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