Domain and Pedagogical Competency and Currency: A Framework for Capability Development of Adult Educators

This article proposes a framework for capability development of adult educators (AEs) in Singapore. Globalisation, demographic changes and digital innovation, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, have accentuated the importance of adult education and changing role of AEs. The immediate implications of these effects on the professionalism of AEs and the significance of their development trajectories are acute. With an increased focus on the need to ensure AEs are current in both their pedagogic and domain competences, we introduce discussions on the need to develop a conceptual framework to generate a deeper understanding of their knowledge, skills, attitudes, beliefs and practices of AEs. This framework can be used by practitioners as a tool to facilitate professional reflection and development, and by policy makers to support continued improvements to the quality of adult education. Our overall aim is to promote the importance of varied and continued opportunities for the professional development of AEs at policy, organisational and individual levels.

E-Classroom Interactional Competencies: Mediating and Assisting Language Learning During Synchronous Online Lessons

Interaction is seen by many English language teachers and scholars as an essential part of face-to-face English language classrooms. Teachers require specific competencies to effectively use interaction as a tool for mediating and assisting learning. These can be referred to as classroom interactional competence (CIC). However, the situation created by the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic which began in early 2020, and the recent advancement in technologies have led to teachers conducting synchronous online lessons through video-conferencing software. The online environment is distinctly different from the face-to-face classroom and teachers require new and additional skills to effectively utilise interaction online in real time. This exploratory study used an online mixed-method survey of 75 university level English language teachers who had engaged in synchronous online teaching due to COVID-19, to explore the competencies that teachers need to use interaction as a tool to mediate and assist language learning in synchronous online lessons. Teachers were found to require three competencies, in addition to their CIC – technological competencies, online environment management competencies, and online teacher interactional competencies – which together constitute e-CIC. The findings provide greater insights into the needs of teachers required to teach synchronously online and will be of interest to teachers and teacher educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of RELC Journal is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Changing Teacher Educational Contexts: Global Discourses in Teacher Education and Its Effect on Teacher Education in National Contexts

Teacher education has gathered interest globally and nationally among teachers, educators, researchers and policy makers. Madalinska-Michalak, O 'Doherty and Assuno Flores (2018) observe that regional/ national, social, economic, political and historical factors impact upon teacher education and 'it is also impacted by global problems and tendencies' (pp. 567). This paper builds on these debates and examines the effects of global discourses of teacher education in the national contexts of developed and developing countries, for example, Guyana, Japan, South Africa, United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK). This includes consideration of teacher education and training before and during the current global COVID-19 pandemic (UNESCO, 2020). The paper concludes that teacher education continues to be under scrutiny due to global and national expectations, the demand of and how they are positioned in preparing teachers for the 21st century. Notwithstanding, as globalisation becomes more integrated in societies globally teacher education curricula not only has to retain its emphasis on standards, but equally its agility to ensure that the needs of all learners are met.

The role of teachers in a sustainable university: from digital competencies to postdigital capabilities.

An increase in online and hybrid education during and after the Covid-19 pandemic has rapidly accelerated the infiltration of digital media into mainstream university teaching. Global challenges, such as ecological crises, call for further radical changes in university teaching, requiring an even richer convergence of 'natural,' 'human' and 'digital'. In this paper, we argue that this convergence demands us to go beyond 'the great online transition' and reframe how we think about university, teachers' roles and their competencies to use digital technologies. We focus on what it takes to be a teacher in a sustainable university and consider emerging trends at three levels of the educational ecosystem-global developments (macro), teachers' local practices (meso), and daily activities (micro). Through discussion of examples of ecopedagogies and pedagogies of care and self-care, we argue that teaching requires a fluency to embrace different ways of knowing and collective awareness of how the digital is entwined with human practices within and across different levels of the educational ecosystem. For this, there is a need to move beyond person-centric theorisations of teacher digital competencies towards more holistic, ecological conceptualisations. It also requires going beyond functionalist views of teachers' roles towards enabling their agentive engagement with a future-oriented, sustainable university mission.

Self-Evaluated Teacher Effectiveness in Physical Education and Sports during Schools Closedown and Emergency Distance Learning

This quantitative study scrutinized the self-assessment of Physical Education and Sport teachers about their online physical education (PE) classes, which stemmed from the closure of schools and mandatory distance education during the COVID-19 outbreak. The data collecting tools of the study were the "Evaluation of Teacher Effectiveness Questionnaire in Physical Education (SETEQ-PE)" developed by Kyrgiridis et al. (2014) and adapted to the Turkish Ektirici et al. (2016). The participants were composed of 172 volunteer physical education and sports teachers who were determined via convenience sampling model. The data collected covered such demographic information as age, gender, sports-type, teaching, and schoolwork experience besides the items related to distance education, hardware support, proficiency in technological infrastructure, and application/software. The findings of the study showed that certain variables such as technological competencies, technical support provided by the school, and application/software support were influential in the participant physical education teachers' self-assessment. In addition, it was found out that SETEQ-PE variables such as technological competencies, technical support provided by the school, and application/software support affected to PE and sports teachers' self-assessment responses. However, no significant differences were determined in SETEQ-PE results about synchronous or asynchronous implementation of the physical education lessons, gender, and age.

Teacher Education in the Digital Transformation Process in North Cyprus: A Situation Analysis Study

While the world was already moving towards a digital future before 2020, the coronavirus pandemic accelerated that significantly in many sectors. This is certainly true with regard to digital transformation in the classroom, which gathered pace almost overnight when schools shutdown and lessons first moved online. At the time, the shift served to highlight how unprepared most of the sector was for digital transformation. At this point, both teacher and student skills and competencies for digital transformation have been questioned and many academic studies for literature have been put forward in this context. In this research, teacher education and competencies are questioned in the transition to the digital transformation process in Northern Cyprus. In addition, tools for measuring digital competencies and teacher-oriented changes will be introduced. It is thought that determining the competencies of teachers and the tools measuring these competencies within the scope of the digitalization process will be effective in ensuring quality in education on behalf of Northern Cyprus in the future and will shed light on future research. In the literature review, although the existence of studies belonging to Northern Cyprus in measuring the digital competence of teachers/teacher candidates' is remarkable, it has been determined that there are not enough numbers according to the importance of the subject. Considering the rapid transition and adaptation to the digital transformation process, especially during the pandemic period, since teachers are the most important part of digital education, it is foreseen that more qualitative or quantitative research is needed to interpret and measure digital competencies.

Digital Competences of Vocational Instructors with Synchronous Online Learning in Next Normal Education

This research study was conducted with the following objectives: to develop, evaluate and, investigate the vocational instructors' satisfaction with the online instructional management developed using the synchronous online learning with 2,233 vocational instructors from the Office of the Vocational Education Commission, Ministry of Education, from five regions of Thailand, namely the Central, the Northern, the Northeastern, the Southern, and the Eastern Regions and Bangkok. The research findings revealed that the vocational instructors' digital competence consisted of the following abilities: (1) analysis of course content, (2) application of video conference systems, (3) management of online classes, (4) management of online learning resources, (5) management of online learning activities, (6) development of tests, (7) development of instructional media, (8) development of instructional videos, (9) arrangement of active-learning activities, and (10) online evaluation and assessment of instruction. The vocational instructors' digital competence in online instructional management after the synchronous online learning was found to be significantly higher than before the learning, at the p-value rate of 0.01. "Overall," 93.19% of the vocational instructors were reported to pass the evaluation of online instructional management. The vocational instructors were found to be satisfied with their own digital competence in online instructional management at the highest level.

Primary Teachers Difficulties Related to Compulsory Distance Education during COVID-19

Due to a lack of preparation, teachers were not emotionally or cognitively prepared to use new approaches. Teachers discovered that while teaching online, elementary school teachers face various challenges. Summarizing and categorizing the difficulties encountered by primary school teachers in compulsory distance education will add to the literature, ensuring the dissemination of online instruction technological tools at both the distance education and primary education levels. The study sought to categorize the difficulties encountered by primary teachers. In order to figure out the purpose of the study, the study data including primary teachers in the COVID-19 period was synthesized. The study was accepted as a meta-synthesis. The education database ERIC was searched using the keywords "Primary Teacher", "Distance Education", and "Online Education", and 79 studies were located as a result of the search. After eliminating ineligible studies, 23 of the 79 collected studies remained. As a result, students, parents, infrastructure, and teachers are all affected by the challenges. Cutting-edge technologies and a strong internet infrastructure are required for online education. Teachers are unable to maintain the minimum level of compulsory distance education due to limited internet connection and a lack of technological resources in many places. As a result of the strain, teachers felt inadequate. In many classrooms in poor countries, there is a lack of access to professional expertise and help for the use and integration of ICTs. COVID-19 has made this an issue for almost all schools, not just those in underdeveloped countries. The importance of online learning for elementary children and teachers has gotten considerably less attention. Teachers can take pedagogical diversity professional development training online and experience it as if they were students. The practical advantage of identifying the difficulties that teachers have faced is to aid teachers in overcoming such obstacles and to give the appropriate assistance. Successful distance education can only be achieved when teachers are supported in all areas of difficulty.

K-12 Teacher Perspectives on the Pandemic Pivot to Online Teaching and Learning

The study examines teacher perspectives on preparedness to implement the transition of over 50 million K-12 students to online and virtual teaching formats. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, students were instructed to remain at home and to avoid the potential dangers of virus spread in schools. Once this transition began, and then continued on as the pandemic ignited, attention and scrutiny was aimed at how well teachers had been prepared for this shift. Relationships between these perceptions in terms of years of teaching, grade level, content area, school type, and school level were examined in this study. Over 140 teachers, ranging from kindergarten to senior English teachers completed the survey. The researchers analyzed emerged patterns and sentiment scores for the most prevalent themes. The study sought teacher perceptions of preparation as provided by schools, districts, and universities as well as perceptions on how engaged parents and students felt during this dramatic and sudden shift. Findings demonstrate that significant differences exist between how teachers perceive their levels of preparedness for teaching remotely depending on their teaching experience. It was evident that the pandemic affected K-12 school systems in one state harsher than in higher education. Conclusions from this study better inform future decisions of this nature and that could ensure higher levels of teacher preparation.

Ready or Not: Gulf Country Teachers' Challenges toward Teaching Online Courses in Emergency Cases in Higher Education

The purpose of this study was to determine the challenges faced by teachers from the Arabian Gulf countries of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait while teaching virtual online courses. Because online learning in higher education in these countries had not occurred before the current pandemic, the teachers and students faced new challenges for the first time, including online communication, inadequate training, insufficient practice, and incompetence in online assessment. Seventy-six teachers of higher education in Kuwait or Saudi Arabia participated in this study, which was a survey created by the first author to determine the effectiveness of communication, training, practicing and assessing students' performance during the pandemic. Results indicated that no differences were found between the two countries, while participants felt that training was adequate for the task of converting to remote teaching, they were concerned about nonverbal aspects of communication and assessing online work. Suggestions included obtaining participants from other Gulf countries, refining the survey, and involving different types of institutions such as private colleges. The results of this study imply that for many teachers, improvements in communication and assessment are necessary to improve online teaching, which is likely to continue in these countries after the pandemic is over.

Is It Teacher Leadership? Validation of the Five Features of Teacher Leadership Framework and Self-Determination Guide

When teachers have a practical, easy to use tool to self-assess acts of teacher leadership, they are better equipped to develop as leaders by self-determining to whom or what they are committed (relatedness), what they know and can do (competence), and when and how to act (autonomy). The purpose of this mixed methods study was to assess the validity of the Five Features of Teacher Leadership Framework and Self-Determination Guide (FFTL) through field testing by credentialed teacher leaders. Twenty-five credentialed teacher leaders representing all six regions of the United States participated in the study. The FFTL was favorably viewed by all 25 teacher leaders, revealing reasonably strong confidence in the tool's face, content, and construct validity. The findings suggest that participants considered the FFTL credible enough to trust as a guide for self-determining acts of teacher leadership. By describing an act of teacher leadership and using the FFTL to self-determine the degree to which the act accomplished the five core features of teacher leadership, the teacher leaders in this study were empowered to grow and develop as leaders privately, in their own way, and at their own pace. More research is needed.

The Collaborative Model for Teaching o-SEL: Preparing Educators to Design Online Environments for Social-Emotional Learning

In this study, we sought to develop a model to provide educators with training and resources to effectively support and guide social-emotional learning (SEL) in PK-12 online environments, which we refer to as o-SEL. We utilized five national sets of standards and competencies to guide the development of six online modules for educators to gain skills, knowledge, and resources to help students learn SEL-related skills. Qualitative methods and analysis were employed to examine our research question. We utilized design thinking as a strategy for developing o-SEL professional learning. Five SEL experts were identified and invited to participate in a brief survey to determine areas of focus and then we conducted two one-hour focus groups. The focus group discussion was transcribed, coded, and analyzed to determine emergent themes related to areas of SEL needs in online learning environments. Based on our findings, we identified six elements (i.e., Empower, Engage, Motivate, Include, Collaborate, Extend) for educators to foster inclusive o-SEL environments for PK-12 learners that we describe as the Collaborative Model for Teaching o-SEL. We discuss the positive impact that o-SEL instruction can have on student learning outcomes, while also designing inclusive and culturally relevant support structures. This study calls for further investigation regarding teacher application of the o-SEL model and impact of o-SEL on student learning.

Key factors in the educational digital transformation of educational organizations

We are currently working in the Knowledge and Technology Society. Education has a key role with emerging demands. The COVID19 has increased the situation and is making visible the need for a real and profound transformation in the digitization of educational organizations. At a scientific level, digital transformation processes have been approached in a fragmented frame. To provide a holistic vision, the policies are working for the comprehensive development of digital competence. We are talking about the European Framework for Digitally Competent Educational Organizations, and its implementation in Andalusia through the Educational Digital Transformation. The aim of this work is exploring how this process of digital transformation occurs from the perceptions of the members of the educational community. To do this, it is designed a qualitative and longitudinal research. The cases were selected based on their level of commitment and participation in the Digital Transformation Program. A semi-structured interview was used for data collection. In the results obtained, aspects related to equipment, teachers and students are identified. As well as the emergence of digital culture as a key factor. In this regard, it is possible to think that, to a higher level of digitization of the organizations, corresponds a greater digital culture. As well as a model of cultural transformation with a favourable predisposition to the digitisation of these.

The Mediating Role of Student Independence on Graduate Quality in Distributed Learning

This study explores factors that affect graduate quality in distributed learning during the Covid-19 pandemic period. We use survey research methods in conducting the research. We collected the data by distributing online questionnaires =to private high school and vocational high school teachers in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. There were 916 online questionnaires collected from respondents. All data were analyzed using SPSS and Lisrel. The results showed that the teacher quality, the learning process quality, and school management's quality had a significant effect on student independence and graduate quality. In this case, the level of student independence becomes a mediating variable that links the teacher quality, the learning process, and school management with the graduate quality in distance learning. Further research on the process of the effect of student independence on the graduate quality is needed. © 2022 Eskisehir Osmangazi University. All rights reserved.

From the Eyes of EFL Teachers in Turkey: Synchronous and Asynchronous Online Teaching During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this study, the perceived competency of English teachers working at various education levels in Turkey was investigated. A survey developed by the researchers was used to understand how competent teachers felt in online teaching and reveal their challenges in the process. The descriptive and referential statistics and content analysis in the study showed that English teachers felt competent in lesson planning and teaching grammar and vocabulary. However, they felt less competent in teaching students with disabilities and sustaining student interaction and motivation. This finding was also reported as a challenge along with some technological difficulties. The study presents some implications for EFL teacher training. (C) Association of Applied Linguistics. All rights reserved

Assessing Indonesian Teachers' Perspective on the Implementation of Distance Learning Due to COVID-19 Based on Online Survey

On account of preventing transmission of COVID-19 measures, schools worldwide are a closure. This study aimed to assess the teachers' readiness and hardship on the implementation of distance learning due to COVID-19, using a questionnaire survey. The data were collected during school closure through an online survey. The participants of this research were 355 teachers. The results showed that the teachers' main difficulty was the inability to communicate intensively with students, and student participation in every learning session was difficult to monitor and control. Teachers also discussed their desire to know more about how to do an online assessment. Teachers' readiness to implement distance learning in the next semester was only 16.9% that teachers stated they were very ready. Within this study's limitation, 94.6% of teachers showed providing the chance to use distance learning in post-pandemic. The teachers also expected to receive distance learning training and improving technology facilities.

Telework Experience of Pedagogues during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Strong Learning Seniors and Relaxed Leaders?

Due to the wide application of remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, the foundations of the education system have been shaken;education has entered a new era of teaching and learning on digitalized platforms. How do pedagogues evaluate their experiences when information technologies have become the main axis of carrying out their work? What impact did telework have on pedagogues as employees of an education institution or as individuals? What could be expected from older pedagogues in the shift to using digital means of teaching? These were the main questions raised in this research, the results of which are presented in this article. This research is original because the differences in experiences of telework were studied not only in terms of age and nature of work (professional/leader) but also the type of education institution. This delineation is of key importance in understanding the virtual work challenges faced by pedagogues in schools, professional education institutions, colleges, and universities.

Lecturer Autoethnographies of Adjusting to Online Student Interactions during COVID-19

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed South African historically disadvantaged institutions, that had not yet reached advanced levels of technology use in teaching and learning, to find immediate solutions to salvage the disrupted academic year. Interactions with students, which had predominantly been face-to-face, shifted to various online platforms for lecturers to adopt emergency remote teaching approaches. Most of the lecturers were unprepared or incapacitated to make the shift to online environment. Studies have looked at the online teaching and learning experiences of students and lecturers during the COVID-19 pandemic but very few have taken an autoethographic approach to their inquiry and situated experiences in historically disadvantaged institutions. In this article, as lecturers, we use autoethnographies to provide an account of adjusting to interacting with students online during national lockdowns at a historically disadvantaged institution. The Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) was applied to guide the study. This reflexive approach is valuable, as it captures professional encounters and reflections needed to understand the effects of rapid changes to teaching and learning in response to the pandemic. Given the education disparities that already existed between South African higher education institutions before COVID-19, the article contributes to the discourse on how historically disadvantaged institutions can advance higher standards of teaching and learning to serve students better. Our reflections point to the personal, technical and structural challenges of maintaining regular online interaction. Our findings show that different approaches and techniques were applied to adjust to virtual teaching and learning. As teaching and learning methodologies have the potential to ingrain social inequalities, we made recommendations on how to improve online interactions with students from historically disadvantaged contexts.

Is It Possible to Teach English through EBA TV? Exploring Student Teachers' Concerns and Self-Efficacy Beliefs

This qualitative study explored student teachers' perceptions and feelings about teaching English in an emergency remote teaching platform, Educational Information Network TV. To this end, sixty-eight student teachers participated in this study. The participants were first invited to watch English language courses specifically designed for primary and secondary-level education provided through this medium of instruction. They were later asked to write two-page reflective journals on the strengths and weaknesses of these courses drawing upon their own feelings and opinions. Their written reflections were content analyzed, and the findings revealed two main themes: student teachers' concerns and self-efficacy beliefs. More specifically, the student teachers were concerned about macro-level factors, pedagogical issues, teachers' competencies, and context-dependent factors. Additionally, the findings shed light on the contributing factors to their self-efficacy beliefs. They attributed their future success to student-oriented factors, teacher-oriented factors, and parental involvement. The overall findings showed that their concerns outweighed their perceived self-efficacy beliefs. We hope that these findings will inform second language teacher education programs for the future since it could be of pivotal importance to prepare student teachers for distance or online learning platforms by helping them deal with their concerns and enriching their self-efficacy beliefs in their own teaching contexts.

Pre-Service Teacher Experiences during COVID 19: Exploring the Uncertainties between Clinical Practice and Distance Learning

Teacher preparation programs assist candidates with the pedagogical, theoretical, and practical application of teaching and learning. This article explored the dialog between a state education agency and teacher preparation programs' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The author presents a research study of current teacher performance expectations (TPEs), online readiness, and the design of distance learning in pre-service teacher clinical practice. The participants are 10 current preservice teachers. The researcher collected data from fieldwork supervisors, observations, and survey results from participants. Kolb's experiential theory was used in the analysis of co-requisite policy and observations of field experiences of students in a teacher education program. The article analyzed data that suggested that in-person observations and opportunities to practice classroom instruction contribute to teacher readiness and relationship building in comparison to online learning. Furthermore, states will have to re-assess their teacher certification requirements, quality control efforts, and mandatory exams since COVID-19, which may lead to the reauthorization of the pre-service guidelines. Program learning outcomes and critical assignments that allow candidates to demonstrate content knowledge and instructional delivery are being compromised. The finding were that pre-service candidates did not have the opportunity to demonstrate mastery of specific teacher performance expectations within the distance learning format. This article aims to encourage further research teacher education and distance learning to discuss potential alternatives to certification and creative ways to embed flexibility into teacher preparation. Substantial changes can lower the quality of a program and significantly decrease effectiveness while increasing data misrepresentation. Distance learning can potentially limit quality supervision and teacher mentoring. In addition, pre-service teachers will enter classrooms with substantially fewer clinical practice hours.