Becoming a Teacher: UNISA Custom Edition Study Notes

Nature of Teaching: Good teaching is a complex, challenging activity that requires more than the technical transfer of knowledge; it demands the intersection of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and an understanding of learners.
Reflective Practice:
- Definition: Focused, intentional thinking aimed at deepening understanding to inform future action.
- Types (Schön):
  - Reflection-in-action: Silent 'self-talk' and adjustments during teaching.
  - Reflection-on-action: Retrospective evaluation after the teaching event.
  - Reflection-for-action: Planning and anticipating future encounters.
The DATA Process: A four-step tool for reflection comprising Description, Analysis, Theorising, and Action.
Teaching Philosophy: A personal statement of goals, values, and rationales that help a teacher act consistently through professional dilemmas.

A Pedagogy of Care: Rooted in the ethics of Noddings, it emphasizes the relationship between the 'one-caring' (teacher) and the 'cared-for' (learner).
Core Elements:
- Engrossment: Non-selective attention to the learner's needs.
- Displacement of Motivation: Directing energy toward the learner's projects and wellbeing.
Values of a Caring Classroom (Shor):
- Participation: Interactive strategies that establish trust.
- The Affective: Recognizing the link between emotions and cognition.
- Problem Posing: Challenging passive learning by offering subject matter for critique.

Learning Theories:
- Behaviourism (Skinner): Focuses on stimulus, response, and reinforcement (positive and negative).
- Cognitive (Piaget): Emphasizes internal mental structures (schemes), stages of development, and the process of assimilation and accommodation.
- Social Constructivism (Vygotsky): Focuses on the social context of learning and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)—the gap between what a learner can do alone and with guidance.
Multiple Intelligences (Gardner): Recognizes diverse strengths such as musical, spatial, and bodily-kinaesthetic intelligences.
Information Processing: The flow of data from sensory input to short-term memory, processing, and long-term storage.

Curriculum Concepts: Distinguished from a syllabus (a list of topics). Includes the official (intended), enacted (practised), and hidden curriculum (unintended learning).
Theoretical Models:
- Tyler: Technical approach focusing on pre-determined objectives and evaluation.
- Stenhouse: Process approach viewing the teacher as a researcher and curriculum as a descriptive proposal.
- Freire: Critical approach focused on social liberation and dialogue.
South African Context: The transition from Outcome-Based Education (OBE) to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), which provides clearer content specifications.

Purposes: Differentiates between Assessment for Learning (AfL) (formative; helping learners improve) and Assessment of Learning (AoL) (summative; for grading and standards).
Principles: Assessment must be valid, fair, reliable, and authentic.
Models:
- Norm-referenced: Comparing learners to peers.
- Criterion-referenced: Judging against pre-set standards.
Strategies: Use of rubrics, self-assessment, and peer-assessment to foster metacognition.

Inclusive Philosophy: Moves from a "medical model" (fixing deficits) to a "social rights model" (removing environmental/systemic barriers).
Legislation: Guided by White Paper 6, which promotes the inclusion of learners with diverse needs through full-service schools and district support teams.
Barriers to Learning: Can be intrinsic (e.g., visual/physical disabilities) or extrinsic (e.g., poverty, language barriers, or inflexible curricula).