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Oxford University Press has just published the third edition of Saide's professional studies guide for teachers – Getting Practical. Getting Practical is one of two publications from the original Study of Education series prepared by Saide that have found particular favour with teacher educators and which have needed to be updated on a regular basis. The other guide focuses on curriculum. There is a strong link between the planning section of Getting Practical and the revised Curriculum guide, with the former arguing the need for teachers to be able to engage critically with the national curriculum and the latter providing the knowledge framework from within which to have that critical engagement.
The third edition of Getting Practical retains much of the content from the previous editions. However, the new edition features four main changes that were informed by feedback from users of the second edition.
First, the overall design of the guide has been changed so that pages are less busy and different sub-sections are even more easily identified.
Second, the section on planning has been updated to reflect the evolving policy and school curriculum context. The updated material strengthens the focus on teachers as knowledge workers who practise in a professional field whose very nature is concerned with change.
Third, a new section has been added, written by Mary Grosser, which explores different education paradigms. It considers the ways in which our assumptions about the purpose and nature of teaching and learning, whether or not made explicit, influence the choices we make about practice.
Finally, in recognition of the growing potential for integration of an increasingly diverse array of technologies in the practise of classroom teaching in order to stimulate greater learner engagement, and to help teachers to be more creative and effective, the discussion on education technologies in the second edition has been extended by Lizette De Jager. It now constitutes a stand-alone section to reflect the increased attention that teachers need to give to this issue.
Saide hopes that users will find the revised edition a useful update - and welcomes feedback to inform the fourth edition! |
