Remote area aboriginal assistant teacher and teacher education

The Aboriginal population of Australia has problems in finding enough teachers to educate its children in ways which can harmonise the traditional culture with that of the majority of the population. The Remote Area Teacher Education scheme is an attempt to train Aboriginal teachers with their own communities. The paper describes the organisation and philosophy of the scheme.     

From assistant teacher to teacher: challenges and pathways in situated pre-service teacher education

Vocational pathways to Higher Education have a key role in opening teacher education to under-represented groups but bring with them particular challenges. Teacher educators need to address the challenges faced by these learners, of not only connecting their learning but also challenging their knowledge, and doing so in an invested work environment. This paper shares my experiences as a teacher educator working with two groups of Indigenous and non-Indigenous para-professional pre-service teachers in remote and urban Central Australia. I identify four key role-shifting challenges individuals face in developing their professional practice and locate them in two interdependent areas: social sphere challenges arising out of the situated learning setting of professional experience, and those occurring in the personal sphere of professional identity. I suggest that the new ways of mentoring and the development of student’s reflexive capacity needed to address these challenges can best be mobilised by re-positioning the role of professional identity at the centre of both professional experience and academic learning.     

Conceptions of school-based teacher educators concerning ongoing teacher education

In this work we describe and analyze the conceptions of 28 teacher educators on the principles, contents, methods, and evaluation of ongoing teacher education, taking the model of teacher-researcher as the theoretical referent. The data obtained with an Inventory of Beliefs on Teacher Education were submitted to classical statistical and to multifactorial analyses. The statistical analysis showed that most of the subjects agree that ongoing teacher education has to be developed around problems of professional practice and in contexts of curricular innovation, and disagree with a technical model of this education developed around academic disciplines. The multifactorial analysis identified four factors which together account for more than 50% of the variance, and which generally reaffirm these tendencies.     

Inferring teacher epistemological framing from local patterns in teacher noticing

In this work we use research from science education on teacher framing and work from mathematics education on teacher noticing to develop new approaches to modeling teacher cognition. The framing literature proposes a dynamic cognitive model of teaching in which teacher epistemological framing, or moment‐to‐moment understanding of what is going on with respect to knowledge and learning in the classroom, drives much of teacher practice. The teacher noticing literature documents patterns and trends in teachers' attention during instruction. We suggest first that noticing patterns, particularly local noticing patterns, can be leveraged to make inferences about teacher framing that maintain sensitivity to its dynamics but are also more reliable than existing analytic approaches. Second, we suggest that understanding noticing as driven by framing requires researchers to anticipate, allow for, and capitalize on the fact that teachers are capable of multiple, internally consistent variations in noticing at any given time. To illustrate these claims we present an analysis of one high school biology teacher who implemented a new digital recording technology in her classroom. Using the data from that implementation we identify two distinct local patterns in the teacher's noticing and from those patterns infer two different epistemological frames, one that she adopts during lab work and another during class discussions. We also discuss implications of these multiple framings for the study and training of teacher noticing more broadly. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 50:284–314, 2013     

Student teacher portfolios: A portrait of the beginning teacher

Abstract

This article describes a student teacher portfolio for use as an interviewing tool. A review of the research on hiring practices indicated that prospective employers reviewed the following competencies of teacher candidates: planning skills, classroom management philosophy, reflective abilities, knowledge of appropriate assessment methods, and the initiative to do more than is expected. Therefore, the recommended sections of the student teacher portfolio are Self‐Assessment; Philosophy of Classroom Management; Planning, Implementation, and Assessment Skills; and Special Projects and Activities. Because prospective employers indicated that they would devote limited time to reading a portfolio, student teachers are instructed to make all sections only six to eight pages long. Professionally arranged appendixes can then be used to provide the employer with specific evidence for claims made in the main body of the portfolio.     

Programs of teacher education as mediators of White teacher identity

A growing body of scholarship in teacher education has explored the historical, systemic, interactional, and individual factors that create possibilities and challenges in White teachers’ reconceptualization of their racial identity and of the purpose and nature of their work in a racialized society. However, there has been little attention to programs of teacher education as critical mediators of such learning and change. Through an analysis of in-depth interviews with four prospective White teachers in the United States, we develop a framework of White teachers’ racial identities as situated within racial ideologies and mediated by the context of teacher education programs. The framework helps elucidate how teachers’ racial identities are instantiated through interactions and available identities in a program space, which are in turn shaped both by ideology and program structure and culture. The framework and findings urge an insertion of our own agency, as teacher educators, into the analyses of White prospective teachers’ learning and change, by highlighting our role as individuals who co-construct the programmatic structure and culture that partially instantiates these teachers’ racial identities.     

地方高师高层次教师教育人才培养的机遇与对策

教师教育的变革给地方师范大学发展带来了前所未有的挑战;《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要》颁布及全国教育工作会议的召开,对教师教育提出了新的要求;我国研究生教育结构性调整,为地方师范大学发展提供了新的视角。笔者认为,地方师范大学将挑战与要求转化为发展动力,抓住难得发展机遇,提升教师教育人才培养层次,扩大教育硕士规模,坚持培养原则,创新培养保障措施,确保培养质量,是其充分发挥自身优势与突出办学特色,在激烈市场竞争中谋求长远发展的较佳选择。     

'Modernizing' the teacher

This paper is set in the context of the proposal by the UK government to introduce a ‘performance management’ policy as a basis on which to organize the management and remuneration of teachers in England. The performance management model envisaged is firmly embedded within managerialist ideology and sets the context for restructured levels of the teaching force and redesigned patterns of progression. ‘Professional standards’ form an essential element of the technology of performance management in specifying skills defined as valuable and supposedly amenable to measurement. No account of performance management would be adequate that did not clarify the value assumptions which underpin it, nor grapple with its implications for patterns of social justice and differentiation. The paper explores both of these dimensions. Furthermore, as has been discovered in other sectors and countries that have endeavoured to introduce such policies, some of the proposals have generated a storm of controversy and opposition. We shall illustrate the contours of this in relation to our recent research.     

主体性教师：教师教育的反思与变革

确立主体性的教师教育观念，建立一体化的教师教育体制，创建主体性的教师教育过程，实行主体性的教育管理方式，是主体性教师素质的培养要求。本通过主体性教师的概念界说、教师教育的现实反思和改革构想，旨在探寻我国教师教育改革与发展的途径与方法。     

Comprehensive teacher induction

Also received
Please note that coverage here does not preclude later fuller review.     

The relationship between teacher self-concept,teacher efficacy and burnout

Teacher self-concept and efficacy have been investigated with burnout separately, while the two self-beliefs might work together to impact burnout. Guided by a model of the cyclical nature of teacher efficacy, we aimed to extend previous work on self-perceived predictors of teacher burnout by simultaneously investigating teacher self-concept and efficacy to detect the possibility of teacher efficacy being a mediator between teacher self-concept and burnout as well as whether such relationship remains constant across all groups of teachers with different gender and teaching experience. A sample of 1892 teachers across seven Chinese geographical regions completed a self-reported questionnaire addressing self-concept, efficacy, burnout and demographic variables. Structural equation modelling indicated that teacher self-concept influenced the burnout dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment via teacher efficacy. Further multi-group analysis suggested that this mechanism worked equally across different gender and teaching experience groups. With a non-western teacher sample, teacher efficacy was found to work as a mediator between teacher self-concept and burnout. The finding especially contributes to the knowledge in the teacher efficacy literature. The integrated relationship should be further explored in other cultures.     

The Practicum: student‐teacher perceptions of teacher supervision styles

This paper describes a study of 28 student‐teachers during a three‐week practicum in which participating students were asked to keep an unstructured journal describing their experiences and reactions to the practicum. The paper examines the perceptions that these students had of the supervision provided by their cooperating teachers. It identifies four distinct styles of teacher supervision, ranging from neglectful practices which alienate students from the practicum experience, to collegial practices which prove to be empowering. The paper concludes that supervision which is collegial is more likely to facilitate the professional growth of student‐teachers and enhance reflective action.     

Job characteristics and teacher well-being: the mediation of teacher self-monitoring and teacher self-efficacy

Teacher well-being is a critical factor affecting job performance and thus, significant for enhancing quality teaching. Based on the job demands-resources model, this study examines the mediating effects of teachers’ self-monitoring and self-efficacy on the relationships between the emotional job demands of teaching and trust in colleagues and teacher well-being. A questionnaire was administered to 1115 primary school teachers in Hong Kong. The results highlight the maladaptive role of self-monitoring as a personal demand and the adaptive role of self-efficacy as a personal resource: self-monitoring is positively related to anxiety and depression; self-efficacy is positively related to enthusiasm and contentment and negatively related to anxiety and depression. The results not only support the beneficial role of trust in colleagues, which is positively associated with teacher self-efficacy and well-being, but also reveal the rewarding side of emotional job demands in enhancing teacher self-efficacy. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.     

Predicting teacher commitment

An empirical investigation was made of a model for predicting commitment to teaching, as measured by the extent to which teachers expressed an unwillingness to change careers. Predictor variables included personal variables as well as job-related factors. Data are reported from 175 teachers who had completed their preservice training at an Israeli teachers college over a ten-year period. Results indicated that only job satisfaction could directly predict commitment. Other factors, such as professional self-image, abilities, gender, job advancement, and pupil grade level were indirectly related, generally through their relationship with satisfaction. Teaching experience was unrelated to other variables in the model.     

Transitioning from practicing teacher to teacher leader: a case study

Given US students’ lack of international competitiveness in mathematics and science, many states have adopted the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM). To help ensure that the Standards for Mathematical Practice within the CCSSM and effective teaching practices are implemented appropriately, many teachers are emerging as teacher leaders with the intent of supporting teachers with this implementation. Unfortunately, not all of these teachers are necessarily prepared in the field of teacher leadership. Recognizing the importance of having well-prepared teacher leaders, this article describes the case of Ms. Hodges, as she transitioned from mathematics teacher to teacher leader. Data revealed that several factors affected Ms. Hodges’ transition, some positively and others negatively. These results as well as implications for teacher leader development are provided.     

The nature of teacher authority and teacher expertise

The so‐called ‘soft skills’ utilised by teachers – including relationship building, awareness of the pupil's context and background and the demonstration of authority – to develop an appropriate learning culture in their classrooms have long been recognised as being a major contribution to effective promotion of positive behaviour. This article considers some of the dimensions of these, focusing on how these help in contributing towards ‘teacher authority’. The article draws on the parallel experiences of teachers and researchers in England, Russia and the United States to illustrate some of the international dimensions of this theme.     

My teacher

My name is Yanjiaai. I am 14 years old. I study in YuYing School. My Chinese teacher and English teacher is Miss Du, she is tall and thin, and she is very strict. My math teacher is Miss Zhang, she is short and strong, she is very striek too. But they are very nice, I love my teachers![第一段]