College of Education and Human Development

Becky Fox in Russia to Lecture on the Changing Landscape of Education

Dr. Becky Fox is at the Higher School of Economics in Russia this week to present a series of talks on research regarding what education schools can do to improve the quality of teaching.

Rebecca Fox is an associate professor and academic program coordinator for the Advanced Studies in Teaching and Learning program at the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. Her presence in Russia reflects the college's increasing interest in developing partnerships with renowned universities worldwide.

The Higher School of Economics (HSE) is a highly regarded national research university that focuses on economics and social sciences. The university has an international student body of more than 20,000 students who study at its main campus in Moscow and three regional campuses in St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and Perm.

Dr. Fox was interviewed by the university's HSE news service.

Why are you interested in cooperation with foreign universities and the Higher School of Economics in particularly?

There is an increasingly urgent call for educators to prepare students to be world citizens and global learners, individuals who are not only capable of working and living in a rapidly changing and globalized world, but who also possess intercultural competence and international mindedness.

The importance of preparing a citizenry able to meet rapid global changes calls for opportunities in teacher professional learning. This includes building cross cultural capacity so that new global skills and concepts might be actively incorporated in K-12 schools and classrooms around the world.

We also need teachers to experience opportunities to develop their critical ability to communicate effectively across cultures. To this end, there is a strong need for a deeper understanding of the work we do individually and collectively. Developing world perspectives in education is an important aspect of developing capacity in education and sharing research across the world.

 

Moscow at night.

 

George Mason University has a long-standing relationship with our HSE colleagues in Russia through joint programs in history and economics. Faculty in the College of Education and Human Development are now also looking forward to engaging in dialogue about ways to collaborate with fellow faculty at HSE.

What is common and what is different for teachers in the USA and Russia?

Aside from surface differences in implementation or classroom dynamics or school contexts, I have always found that a commitment to learners and to the profession are common bonds that cross internationally.

The strong commonalities among educators are what bring us together, particularly when we can share research and educational practices across borders. When my colleague Wendy Frazier and I held a two year grant that we implemented in Far East Russia, we had the opportunity to listen to both the U.S. and the Russian teachers as they discussed “inquiries” they had about classroom practice. Many of these inquiries revolved around how students learn or why some students are not succeeding as well as they would like.

As the Russian teachers spent time in the classrooms of their U.S. partner teachers, they were keenly interested in the ready student dialogue and debate that occurred in class and the collaborative student working groups. When the U.S. teachers visited the Russian schools, they remarked on the depth of content knowledge displayed by the Russian students.

By working together the differences that were recognized at the outset turned out to be very small while the common goals of promoting deep learning for the students through engagement in problem-based learning revealed the similarities both groups held.

What concerns you most about the profession of teaching?

For me, supporting the continuing development of teacher knowledge is essential.

It should certainly begin with a robust, school-connected licensure program that aligns with professional standards, but it should not end there. Once in the classroom, advanced work should then build upon the important knowledge that teachers learn through classroom practice.

Teachers’ perspectives and experiences are paramount, and we can help them build on those through advanced work that includes advanced content expertise and the development of deepening reflective capacity that supports growing leadership, researcher skills, and a deeper understanding about both teacher and student learning.

Developing teachers’ knowledge also builds capacity in schools and provides increased understanding about how to support learners to achieve academic excellence and prepare them for a changing world.

I think the continuing education of teachers should be scholarly in its orientation and that teacher should be students of themselves toward their own more robust practice. Too often, coursework or professional development might be merely “designed and delivered” and the actual engagement of teachers is not as robust as it should be. Professional development should include the skills of inquiry that promote a deeper professional knowledge about practice and contribute to our collective understanding about what teachers and schools need.

What is your main message for the participants of the seminar in Moscow?

We have been able to develop a continuous loop of development, refinement, improvement, and change. Through performance-based assessment we have seen the ways that our work, and the research conducted by teachers, has supported our program’s conceptual framework of inquiry and reflection on practice. It is my hope that our work will stimulate more discussion among teacher educators at HSE about what education schools can do to improve the quality of teaching.

Are there any further plans for partnering with the HSE?

We sincerely hope that the dialogue that is established will be sustained and carried forward in innovative ways by faculty from George Mason University and HSE. This might involve collaboration on syllabi and program development or joint research endeavors. We also hope that we might consider some exchanges of faculty and look at other innovative ways to collaborate.

 

This interview originally appeared on the HSE news site.

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About CEHD

George Mason University's College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) includes two schools: the Graduate School of Education, one of the largest teacher preparation and education schools in Virginia, and the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism. CEHD offers a comprehensive range of degrees, certificates, courses, and licensure programs on campus, online, and on site. The college is distinguished by faculty who encourage new ways of thinking and pioneering research supported by more than $75 million in funding over the past five years.

For additional information:

• CEHD Communications: cehdnews@gmu.edu
• Graduate School of Education: gse.gmu.edu
• Advanced Studies in Teaching and Learning program: gse.gmu.edu/astl

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