Tales out of school: Tracing perspective change through the stories of former teachers

Most public school teachers in the United States now leave the classroom before reaching retirement. This study examined the accounts of certified, experienced teachers who left teaching after making significant investments in the career in order to better understand their exit decisions. Anecdotes told by these invested leavers as they described their career were examined through a narrative lens. The analysis indicated a shift in perspective: as the teachers moved through their career, the primary sources of frustration for these former teachers switched from students to adults.     

Novices and veterans journeying into real-world teaching: How a veteran learns from novices

This paper illustrates the experiences of novice teachers through self-reflection by a teacher trainer. It shows how novice teachers recognize deficiencies in their professional capacity, the coping strategies they adopt and implications for teacher training. As teacher trainers we should know why novice teachers say ‘I wish they had taught me about…’ or ‘how lucky I am to have been taught this.’ The paper accounts for the initial experiences of novice teachers in their first school and clarifies how they address their own self-improvement. It shows how novice teachers engage in meaning making as they connect theory and practice in the classroom. It also illustrates how within one component of a teacher training programme a veteran teacher-trainer learnt from novices whose experiences enabled practical theories to be recognised. The evidence highlights potential areas of criticality in teacher education programmes in the real-world of teaching.     

Beginning teachers who stay: Beliefs about students

Beliefs serve as an adaptation that helps teachers organize their teaching world. Little is known, however, about how beliefs change and serve to help retain and sustain teachers, particularly for beginning teachers who are most likely to leave teaching. This study explores teachers' beliefs about students in the US (N = 67) and if these beliefs change during the first five years of teaching. Results indicate that teachers hold beliefs about students that capture pride and participation. Over time, these beliefs become more positive. Implications for teacher education and policy are discussed.     

Conflicting conceptions of care and teaching and pre-service teacher attrition

I present a two-year case study of one pre-service teacher (PST), Johnny, as he moved through his education-based coursework at a large, public university in the US Southeast. In his final year of college, Johnny chose to forego the remainder of student teaching and not to receive a teaching certificate. To better understand Johnny’s choice to leave teaching, as well as the tension between Johnny’s developing conceptions of care and teaching and those of his Mentor Teacher, I draw on sociocultural approaches to teacher identity development and literature on care in teaching. Findings from this study could inform the ways that school-based experiences preceding and during teacher education are structured to encourage PSTs to develop identities as caring teachers and to become members of communities of practice.     

Doth the lady protest too much? Pre-service teachers and the experience of dissonance as a catalyst for development

This paper presents findings from an ethnographic study of beginning pre-service teachers enrolled in a large U.S. teacher preparation program (N = 34). Discussion focuses on participants' identity development as examined through the lens of the stories they learn and tell during and about their initial experiences of becoming teachers. Specifically, the analyses suggest that dissonance may play an important catalytic role in pre-service teacher identity development among the study participants. The stories participants tell illuminate their negotiations of conflicting stories about teaching, teachers work and themselves and inform a tentative theoretical model of identity development. The implications for teacher educators include immediate programmatic concerns as well as issues potentially related to teacher attrition.     

Preparing preservice teachers to make instructional decisions: An examination of data from the teacher work sample

The purpose of this American study was to examine student teachers’ ability to make instructional decisions as they engaged in teaching. We examined the narrative accounts provided by 150 student teachers within their teacher work samples (TWSs). Results indicated that most student teachers were able to implement some aspects of instructional decision making, such as noting a specific difficulty with student learning and making an on-the-spot adjustment in their instruction. However, other elements of instructional decision making were less likely to be implemented. For example, student teachers relied on a limited range of formative assessment strategies and instructional modifications, and very few provided a sound rationale for their choice of modification. These results suggest that novice teachers may benefit from more opportunities to reflect and critique upon authentic learning experiences as they complete their teacher preparation programs. Finally, the TWS appears to represent a viable method for examining the instructional decisions of student teachers.     

Teacher attrition in the USA: the relational elements in a Utah case study

Previous work on teacher attrition in the US has indicated that those who stay in the profession and those who leave are not separate homogenous groups. In this study, the lived experience of former teachers is examined to determine the issues that distinguish leavers from stayers. The sample is from the state of Utah, a state with one of the highest attrition rates in the nation. By loosely applying self-thematization theory to collect and analyze data from former teachers, a variety of elements were identified that combined in timing and intensity to influence the decision to leave the profession. These elements are also experienced by teachers who stay. However, in this study, collegial relationships was identified as the mitigating factor regardless of any combination of other factors influencing the decision to leave or stay. Although small-scale convenience sampling was employed, this study allows for an intimate accounting of the relational elements of teaching that exist among educators, which are often overlooked. Implications for teaching and schools are discussed with suggestions for direction of future research on teacher attrition.     

A longitudinal study of effects of a developmental teacher preparation program on elementary prospective teachers’ mathematics beliefs

The universal emphasis in mathematics education on teaching and learning for understanding can require substantial paradigmatic shifts for many elementary school teachers. Consequently, a pressing goal of teacher preparation programs should be the facilitation of these changes during program experiences. This longitudinal, mixed methods study presents a thorough investigation of the effects of a distinctive teacher preparation program on important constructs related to prospective teacher preparedness to teach mathematics for understanding, including mathematics pedagogical and teaching efficacy beliefs, mathematics anxiety, and specialized content knowledge for teaching mathematics. The results indicate that the programmatic features experienced by the prospective teachers in this study, including a developmental two-course mathematics methods sequence and coordinated developmental field placements, provided a context supporting teacher change. These shifts are interpreted through the nature and timing of the experiences in the program and a model of teacher change processes. The findings provide insights for mathematics educators as to the outcomes of these programmatic features.     

General,collective, and domain-specific teacher self-efficacy among Chinese prospective and in-service teachers in Hong Kong

This study assessed two global (general and collective) and seven domain-specific sets of teacher self-efficacy beliefs among 273 Chinese prospective and in-service teachers in Hong Kong. While teachers generally reported having the highest confidence in teaching highly able learners and the least confidence in classroom management, there were significant teacher group differences. Among four groups of teachers, the experienced teachers reported the highest level of global and domain-specific teacher self-efficacy, suggesting that there could be a trend of rising teacher self-efficacy as a teacher went through preparation and teaching practice to becoming a novice and then a more experienced teacher.     

Capturing and assessing evidence of student teacher inquiry: A case study

In this paper, we present five principles underlying teacher inquiry and report a case study during which student teachers in a US teacher education programme used evidence-based decision support, an inquiry method designed to help teachers analyse and adapt their own teaching through the use of a video analysis tool. This case study examined interplay among tools designed to guide teaching practice, student teachers’ own self-guided inquiry, and feedback from cooperating teachers as they made instructional decisions. Preservice teachers initially accepted the guidance provided by teaching analysis tools, but abandoned the tools in favour of informal self-assessments and feedback from cooperating teachers when they assumed teaching responsibilities in their own classrooms. We discuss the role of external support and video evidence in guiding preservice teacher inquiry.     

From rigid dichotomy to measured contingency. Hong Kong preservice teachers' discursive construction of identity

This article reports on a qualitative study into the discursive construction of teacher identities amongst six preservice English language teachers in Hong Kong. While teacher identity construction has been conceptualized as an evolving process of becoming a teacher, some preservice teachers regard their professional identities as rigid, resulting in criticism of teacher education programs that promote a unitary image of ‘good’ teachers and teaching. The results of this study suggest that the participants did hold rigid conceptions about mutually exclusive types of teachers and teaching approaches. These conceptions were challenged as participants reflected on their own enactment of teacher identities.     

Teacher efficacy of pre-service teachers in Taiwan: The influence of classroom teaching and group discussions

The greatest benefit of teacher preparation programs is field-related training where pre-service teachers contextualize the learned knowledge and theories with tasks and students during training. This preliminary study is based on the collaboration between a teacher training program and an elementary school to investigate the effect that exposure to various sources of teacher efficacy has on pre-service teachers in Taiwan. The results of this study show some influences of classroom experience and group discussions on the teaching efficacy of this group of pre-service teachers. Pre-service teachers demonstrated a higher level of PTE after the classroom experience and group discussions.     

Sustaining teachers’ stories to live by: implications for teacher education

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we focus on questions around who we are as teacher educators as well as our responsibilities in helping pre-service teachers compose forward-looking stories as they prepare to begin teaching. We draw on the results of two studies in this paper: one a semi-structured interview study with 55 second- and third-year teachers in two Canadian provinces and one narrative inquiry into the experiences of early career teacher leavers. These studies showed how early career teachers’ stories to live by fuel their desires to become teachers. Teaching was a way to try to live out and sustain their stories to live by, that is, participants continued to live out their stories to live by shaped in early personal knowledge landscapes and embodied in their personal practical knowledge. We also learned that when teachers could not sustain their stories in the professional knowledge landscapes, their stories to live by shifted to stories to leave by, and they left teaching.     

The relative strength of relations between different facets of teacher motivation and core dimensions of teaching quality in mathematics - A multilevel analysis

Teacher self-efficacy and teacher interest are two key facets of teacher motivation that are important for high-quality teaching. Little is known about the relative strength of the effects of teacher self-efficacy and interest on teaching quality when compared with one another. We extend previous research on teacher motivation by examining the relations linking mathematics teacher self-efficacy and interest with several relevant dimensions of teaching quality as perceived by teachers and students. Participants were 84 mathematics teachers (61.2% female) and their students (1718 students; 48.5% girls). Based on doubly latent multilevel models, we found that teacher-reported self-efficacy in instruction was positively related to teacher-reported cognitive activation, classroom management, and emotional support in mathematics classrooms. Teacher-reported educational interest showed positive associations with both student- and teacher-perceived emotional support. Future research is advised to focus more strongly on the unique relations between different teachers’ motivational characteristics and relevant dimensions of teaching quality.     

Knocking on the door to the teaching profession? Modeling the entry of prospective teachers into the workforce

We use a unique longitudinal sample of student teachers (“interns”) from six Washington state teacher training institutions to investigate patterns of entry into the teaching workforce. We estimate split population models that simultaneously estimate the impact of individual characteristics and student teaching experiences on the timing and probability of initial hiring as a public school teacher. Not surprisingly, we find that interns endorsed to teach in “difficult-to-staff” areas are more likely to find employment as public school teachers than interns endorsed in other areas. Younger interns, white interns, and interns who completed their student teaching in suburban schools are also more likely to find a teaching job, all else equal. Prospective teachers who do their internships at schools that have more teacher turnover are more likely to find employment, often at those schools. On the other hand, few of the characteristics of an intern's cooperating teacher are predictive of workforce entry. Finally, interns with higher credential exam scores are more likely to be hired by the school where they did their student teaching.     

Teacher judgments at zero-acquaintance: A social accuracy analysis

How accurate are teachers’ first impressions and what moderates the degree of first impression accuracy? In previous teacher judgment accuracy research, teachers judged students who were well-acquainted to them, focusing on single traits. Here, we follow the zero-acquaintance paradigm and apply the Social Accuracy Model (SAM; Biesanz, 2010) to examine teachers’ first impressions regarding students’ personality profiles. Three groups of perceivers (student teachers, experienced teachers and psychology students; N = 285) rated students’ (N = 10) academic self-concept, intrinsic motivation and intelligence based on brief videos. SAM analyses revealed that teachers were accurate regarding the average students’ profile of characteristics (normative accuracy), but were not successful at detecting students' unique personality profiles (distinctive accuracy). Moreover, likeable students and those evaluated as more physically attractive were perceived with higher normative accuracy. Personality similarity and teaching experience were unrelated to accuracy. Implications for teacher judgment accuracy research and educational practice are discussed.     

Regarding uncertainty in teachers and teaching

The literature on teacher uncertainty suggests that it is a significant and perhaps inherent feature of teaching. Yet there is disagreement about the effects of these uncertainties on teachers as well as about the ways that teachers should regard them. Recognition of uncertainties can be viewed alternatively as a liability or an asset to effective teaching. Findings from the literature on uncertainties in teaching are summarized and analyzed, including explanations in the research about what accounts for and contributes to uncertainties. Recommendations for research and professional development are provided.     

Beginning teacher standards for physical education: Promoting a democratic ideal?

The framing of teaching standards within restrictive managerial or collaborative democratic ideologies impacts significantly on initial teacher education. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore teacher educators’ (n = 13) perspectives on beginning teacher standards for physical education teacher education in Ireland. Teacher educators favoured a standards-based approach to support consensus within the profession and clear expectations for beginning teachers. They suggested that provision of quality assurance through increased accountability and regulation could enhance the status of the profession based on a democratic ideology of teacher professionalism. The potential of standards to foreground a particular ideology of teacher professionalism is discussed.     

Science as experience,exploration, and experiments: elementary teachers’ notions of ‘doing science’

ABSTRACT

Much of the literature on science teaching suggests that elementary teachers lack relevant prior experiences with science. This study begins to reframe the deficit approach to research in science teaching by privileging the experiences elementary teachers have had with science – both in and out of schools – throughout their lives. Our work uses identity as a lens to examine the complexities of elementary teachers’ narrative accounts of their experiences with science over the course of their lives. Our findings identify components of teachers’ science-related experiences in order to lay the groundwork for making connections between teachers’ personal experiences and professional practice. This work demonstrates that teachers’ storied lives are important for educational researchers and teacher educators, as they reveal elements of teaching knowledge that may be productive and resourceful for refining teachers’ science practice.     

Discourses of teacher autonomy and the role of teachers in Estonian,Finnish and Bavarian teachers' newspapers in 1991–2010

This paper examines the construction of the professional role of teachers as reflected in the teacher autonomy and control discourses in teachers' newspapers during 1991–2010 in three national contexts: Estonia, Finland and Bavaria (Germany). Despite similar global pressures to increase the efficiency of education through output standardization and marketization, the local teaching traditions and policies have shaped different cultures of teacher professionalism. Throughout the national experiments with decentralization and recentralization of education, Estonian and Bavarian teachers have maintained restricted professionalism while Finnish teachers achieved extended professionalism in terms of the desired amount of teacher autonomy.