The Role of Teacher in Adopting Inquiry

This study found that teachers appreciated their role as a facilitator of learning, though teachers organised their lessons with previous knowledge questions and opportunities for student-teachers’ inquiries. This research found that the majority of teachers believed that teachers are facilitators in student-teachers’ learning, though a few teachers believed that teachers would work better being a knowledge transmitter and a discipline keeper. Also most student-teachers’ responses indicate that teachers were putting their greatest efforts into maintaining discipline, although they tried their best to make the lesson inquiry-based. As a result, teachers often hold control over their class during the lesson so that student- teachers lost their interest in learning.

In addition, the teachers also often expressed the view tha t they should provide suitable instruction and guidance for student-teachers before asking student-teachers to engage in any inquiry and that they had reservations about accepting the principle “inquiry is about

seeking the right answer” as applied to student-teachers. Consequently, they prepare

model answers (i.e. the given answers or teacher-made notes). Thus, this study found that the role of teacher to interact with student-teachers takes the form of questions in ITE in Pakistan. Although, the teacher-educators used the terminologies of group work, discussion, open questions, so on, they did not discuss the substance of all the mentioned terms. It can be noted that they did not know or think about how these approaches would contribute to students’ learning.

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Moreover, it could be said here that the teachers had got the shell by showing the names of strategies and methods but not had the understanding on them. Also, it could be said that the teachers’ perceive or learn about new ideas without thinking about their implementation relating them to the classroom resources and teaching realities where the actual teaching takes place, it is put as a layer of ‘new practice’ on their traditional practice. In addition, it could be taken to mean that new expectations of change could be seen as a difference from the teachers’ previous experiences. Therefore, this is not unexpected that they remember some terminologies without an in-depth understanding. From the questionnaires and interviews responses, most teachers and student-teachers indicated that the teacher’s role is limited to the use of questions. The teachers generally asked questions instead of giving answers; also, teachers welcomed student-teachers’ questions and encouraged them to raise questions. Student-teachers disagreed with the views of teachers on the point of whether teachers challenged student-teachers’ questions and encouraged the student-teachers to rethink the whole process of inquiry. The facilitator role for teacher-educators is consistent with the science classroom as envisioned by the NSES, where an effective teacher-educator role is more than a facilitator in creating opportunities and promoting inquiry (NRC, 2000).

One of the major reasons for some teachers to resist the princip le of “teacher as facilitator

of learning” lies in the conventional practice and culture of the University of X. As

discussed in the literature review in Chapters 2, 3 and 4, the teachers in ITE in Pakistan tend to reproduce traditionally authoritarian and didactic patterns of instruction at the University of X. In addition, teachers were inclined to adopt a traditional teacher-centred approach in teaching. Some teachers may worry that once they have to stand aside and allow student-teachers to take ownership of their learning, the traditional pattern of teachers dominating the lessons may disappear. This may create discipline problems and the classroom may get out of control. In fact, those teachers who tended to resist the ‘facilitator role’ did encounter the difficulties they worried about.

Overall, then, this study found that teachers felt comfortable in their new role as facilitators of science learning. This finding is consistent with reports in the prior literature which suggest that teachers initially struggled with the implementation of inquiry teaching methods and gradually became familiar with the idea of inquiry, since it allowed them to begin thinking of working with student-teachers to generate ideas and the questions specific to student-teachers’ experiences (Hayes, 2002).

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The transition of practice in teaching in ITE is a complex phenomenon (e.g. Fullan, 1999, Mohammed, 2004). Given that the teacher-educators can be noted having difficulties rationalising their role in two ways. One role is based on their tacit perception of being a teacher, completing the textbook and preparing their students for an examination, particularly, in ITE in Pakistan. The second role is to enable students to participate actively in their learning according to the teachers’ understanding to a new pedagogy. Limited time and support did not allow and encourage them to reflect on the implications and gain insights; rather, it created a ‘tension of living between two opposites’, as a result, this expands a gap between theory and practice instead of improvement pedagogy in ITE. Therefore, change in teachers’ behaviour at the university was evident but, in the absence of support, the teachers were unable to work accordingly in their own context.

In ITE in Pakistan, the role confusion of the teachers might have set off their perceptions that inquiry-based learning should be limited to a certain extent so that they would not change their current teaching practice. Also, reflections during the process of learning in teaching in ITE progresses, realities of the social world’s changes and various new images of teachers emerge. Diversification of teachers’ as well as student-teachers’ roles present teachers as innovators, leaders, social reformers, and catalysts for educational cha nge, etc. (Ali, 2007; Ahmed, 2012, Khan and Saeed, 2009), and this perhaps encourages teachers in any society to combine their role as educators and active agents for social and educational change.

Little attention has been given to this subject area befo re this study into ITE in Pakistan; most teachers usually stuck with their authoritarian approaches and were therefore less friendly with student-teachers so this sometimes discouraged the student-teachers. The majority of student-teachers reported a concern that most teachers wanted strict discipline in class in ITE in Pakistani universities. Usually a friendly relationship does not seem to have been developed between teacher and student-teachers. In the University of X, student- teachers were not provided with enough time to do inquiry-based methods, so teachers involved them in small group discussions.

Also, ITE prepared teachers should see themselves as agents of social change who will work with their peers to their personal and academic problems in schooling and the broader society (Zeichner and Flessner, 2009 :24). Furthermore, a concern is noted on the difference between the student-teachers’ interpretations of their learning and expectations with their teachers. Most of the students were generally pleased with the teachers’ role as a facilitator of learning. Nonetheless, students appreciated the authoritarian teachers who

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took the responsibility of explaining/delivering them all the knowledge rather than those who try to engage them in problem- solving activities or try to make them think.

The teachers work according to the university expectation, which uncovers the problems of teachers’ adaptations of behaviour with respect to authority or culture. It could be seen as an unintentional imposition on the teachers who have had opposite experiences of working that might resist the change in understanding a new pedagogy but appeared in the changing their behaviours. Although the change in thinking can be noted through the teachers’ expression of interest towards student-centred learning approaches the practice did not change towards promoting student-centred teaching.