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Faculty of Education seminars

24 August 2005

'Complexity science and teacher education', by Associate Professor Tony Clarke, University of British Columbia, Canada.

When: Wednesday 31 August, 1 - 2 pm
Where: Room G25, building 6, Clayton campus

Teacher education based on the principles of community and critical reflective inquiry is in most countries still on the fringes of mainstream practice. Underpinning it is the important assumption that to become a professional requires an ongoing commitment to inquiry.

This seminar reflects on an experimental teacher education program, based on these principles, called the Community and Inquiry for Teacher Education that has been in place for the past nine years at the University of British Columbia . The 12-month program is nested within the larger teacher education program for elementary teachers and takes 36 pre-service elementary teachers each year.

'Reflections on western TESOL pedagogies: Vietnamese and Bangladeshi perspectives', by Dr Le Ha Phan and Mr Raqib Chowdhury, Faculty of Education.

When: Wednesday 24 August
Where: Room G25, building 6, Clayton

Australian-trained international teachers of English are expected to return to their countries equipped with contemporary approaches to language teaching. Aspects of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) teacher programs are however concerning to many such teachers.

Of particular concern are the programs' practicality and relevance in the home country, and the ways the programs are presented to TESOL students. These concerns challenge the often unquestioned value of western training as they reveal the underlying pedagogical values of the west, which still have close relationships with constructs of colonialism.

This presentation reports on the perceptions of Australian-trained Vietnamese and Bangladeshi teachers on these issues, including current practices of preparing TESOL teachers in Australian universities in relation to methodological approaches to curriculum, content and ideology.

Further information is available at www.education.monash.edu.au/research/news/seminars/.