| Library Guide - Initial teacher education |
I am your Liaison Librarians for Initial Teacher Education, Jane Faux . If you need help with finding or accessing any of the sources mentioned in this guide, I will be happy to help. Contact me in the library or as follows:
Email: education-librarian@newman.ac.uk
Tel: 0121 476 1181 ex.1413
This subject guide is intended to help you find relevant information and resources to support you during your course. It provides a comprehensive overview of the best resources for Initial Teacher Education.
Remember, a comprehensive literature search of the available resources will allow you to read widely around the subject, absorb a range of viewpoints and reach your own conclusions on a topic based on what you've read. Exactly the kind of behaviour your lecturers are looking for!
The library catalogue is accessible from designated computers in the library or online via the library website.
You can search the catalogue by keyword, title, author or year. The keyword option is especially useful for searching a particular subject as it performs a flexible search.
An online help guide to using the catalogue is available (click on the Help tab in the library catalogue). If you need any further help please ask a member of library staff.
The School Experience Collection is a special collection of resources to support you during school placements. The collection includes books, big books, lesson planning materials, CDs, videos and DVDs, posters and artefacts covering all subjects and key stages. You can search for these resources on the library catalogue by selecting ‘School Experience Resources’ from the drop-down collections box on the search screen. The School Experience Collection is located on Level 0 of the library.
If you have any suggestions for useful resources to add to the School Experience Collection, please contact your Liaison Librarian.
Quick reference sources, which are available in the Reference and Education Reference Collections on Level 1 of the library and online, provide a useful starting point for your research. Sources include encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, directories and yearbooks and you can use them to find:
• Explanations and definitions of particular terms or topics.
•
Contact addresses or information on people or organisations.
•
Factual and statistical information.
The library subscribes to the following services which can be accessed from the ‘Electronic Resources - E-Reference’ page of the library website:
• Britannica Online – Academic Electronic version of this authoritative encyclopedia. Also links through to full-text journal articles on topics covered in the encyclopedia.
• Oxford Reference Online - Quick reference information together with authoritative, in-depth articles. Contains the full text of over 130 dictionaries, including A Dictionary of Education, plus an encyclopaedia, thesauri, and guides to English grammar and usage.
The Library uses the Dewey decimal system to classify and arrange its books by subject. The catalogue will give you the shelf number of the book you need, and tell you if it is in the library or out on loan. The following are some examples of shelf numbers relevant to Initial Teacher Education:
| Education (general) |
370 |
| Educational psychology | 370.15 |
| Sociology of education | 306.43 |
| Teacher training | 370.71 |
| Educational research | 370.72 |
| Teaching practice guides | 370.733 |
| School organisation/management | 371.2 |
| Teaching and learning methods | 371.3 |
| Guidance and counselling | 371.4 |
| Behaviour management | 371.5 |
| Special needs | 371.9 |
| Bilingualism in education | 371.971 |
| Primary education (general) | 372 |
| Early years education | 372.21 |
| Secondary education (general) | 373 |
| Secondary school subjects | 375 |
Some of the library’s most popular texts are now available to you electronically through our e-book service, Dawsonera.
Dawsonera can be accessed from the Electronic Resources - E-books page of the library website. You will need to be logged into Athens to access the full-text books which the library has purchased (details can be found in the ‘Athens information’ section of the Electronic Resources page on the library website). Individual titles can also be accessed via the library catalogue.
For some modules you may be required to purchase some or all of the texts from the ‘essential reading’ on your reading lists. You may find the following retailers useful:
Abebooks Online bookshop especially useful for second hand and out of print books.
Amazon Online books, often much cheaper than RRP!
Waterstones Search and buy online or try their branch located on the University of Birmingham Edgbaston campus – they often have textbooks in stock that are difficult to obtain from elsewhere. Telephone them on 0843 2908153.
Journals are an excellent source of information. They show evidence of wider reading, are important for research and help you to keep informed of any changes and developments in the study of your subject area. They are published more frequently than textbooks, so the information they hold is often more up-to-date.
You can search for journal titles on the library catalogue by selecting ‘Journals’ from the drop-down collections box on the search screen. The journal collection is for reference only, so titles should always be accessible. Journals are shelved alphabetically by title on Level 1 of the library.
Examples of titles that you may find useful for Initial Teacher Education are:
British Educational Research Journal
British Journal of Special Education
Cambridge Journal of Education
The Curriculum Journal
Early Years Educator
Education 3-13
Pastoral Care in Education
The Times Educational Supplement
The library subscribes to two different types of electronic journal service, both of which are accessible from the Electronic Resources - Databases and E-journals page of the library website:
• Online services containing full-text journal articles
Education Research Complete Full-text articles from thousands of education journals. Topics covered include all levels of education from early childhood to higher education, and all educational specialities, such as multilingual education, health education and testing.
Swetswise Full-text articles from a range of journals, including titles currently available in printed form in the library.
Childlink Database focusing on legislation, policies and practices regarding children, young people and families. It provides access to the full text of news articles, research reports, legislation and other government documentation relating to education, welfare, justice, benefit issues, youth affairs, health and employment.
• Databases containing abstracts and indexes
ERIC World’s largest database of references and abstracts to journal articles in the field of education.
Sociology of Education Abstracts (part of Educational Research Abstracts) Database containing references and abstracts to journal articles, book chapters and other published research relevant to the sociology of education.
You can also use Journals A-Z List to find out if we have access to a journal in print or electronically. If we have access to the journal in print you will be linked through to the library catalogue and if we have electronic access to the journal, it will link you through to the relevant database or online journal service. This list is particularly useful if you have obtained the bibliographic details of an article and you need to find out if we have access to the journal title.
You will need to be logged into Athens in order to be able to access most of these resources: details can be found in the ‘Athens information’ section of the Electronic Resources page on the library website.
Statistics underpin many academic debates about quality, standards, equal opportunities and the overall effectiveness of Government policy. You can use them in assignments or research to add weight to your arguments.
The following websites provide access to official statistics from a variety of sources:
Department for Education: Data, Research and Statistics The Data, Research and Statistics pages provide access to statistics relating to all aspects of education in England.
Eurydice Eurydice provides research and statistics on European education systems and policy.
UK National Statistics Oversees the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Provides links to government sites to find the statistics of your choice. Sections include Neighbourhood, Economy, Census and Population.
UNESCO Institute for Statistics Global and internationally comparable statistics on education, science, technology, culture and communication.
With millions of resources available on the internet, it can be difficult to find relevant and appropriate material even if you have good search skills and use advanced search engines. There are a number of ways you can help yourself to find quality information sources on the internet:
• Virtual Training Suite Provides free online tutorials on finding academic information on the internet and includes a tutorial specifically for Education students. Throughout the tutorial there are links to useful websites in this subject area.
• Websites recommended in your reading lists and lecture materials are a good starting place for your research. You may also find the following quality websites useful:
BBC Schools Curriculum based resources for schools.
Birmingham Catholic Primary Partnership A network of Catholic primary schools.
Birmingham Grid for Learning Information about Birmingham schools and free online resources for all subject areas.
Click4nqt.com Website dedicated to Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) and trainee teachers. Registration is free for trainees.
National Literacy Trust Research, projects and resources to support reading at all stages of education.
Schools Links Directory of education websites, compiled by the Education Guardian.
TEEM Teachers Evaluating Educational Multimedia - information about the use of software and multimedia in the classroom, with information on different products and teachers' evaluations.
Topmarks Education - Huge searchable database and index of free educational resources on the internet.
Jane Faux - Last updated March 2012.
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