ERIC Number: EJ999231
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Nov
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0010-4086
EISSN: N/A
Comparative Pedagogies and Epistemological Diversity: Social and Materials Contexts of Teaching in Tanzania
Vavrus, Frances; Bartlett, Lesley
Comparative Education Review, v56 n4 p634-658 Nov 2012
This article examines how epistemological differences regarding knowledge production and material differences in the conditions of teaching influence teachers' and teacher educators' understandings of learner-centered pedagogy. Emerging from a 5-year collaboration between teams of US and Tanzanian teacher educators, the research focuses on six Tanzanian secondary schools whose teachers participated in a workshop on learner-centered pedagogy and pedagogical content knowledge. We find that teachers' views of knowledge production are profoundly shaped by the cultural, economic, and social contexts in which they teach. We conclude not only that teachers' working conditions are important contextual factors in comparative studies of schooling but that the conditions themselves need to be conceptualized more fully in theories of knowledge production and global/local reforms of teacher education. (Contains 1 table and 10 footnotes.)
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Comparative Analysis, Epistemology, Teacher Educators, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Teaching Methods, Partnerships in Education, Teaching Conditions, Secondary School Teachers, Workshops, Student Centered Curriculum, Teacher Attitudes, Cultural Context, Social Environment
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Tanzania; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A