Student teachers’ perceptions of reading and the teaching of reading: the implications for teacher education

This article reports on research which identified perceptions of reading and the teaching of reading held by trainee teachers and the impact on my provision as a teacher educator. It found that students’ past and present experiences of learning to read and being a reader influenced their perceptions of what reading is and of what it means to teach reading. As a teacher educator, I am not able to give students long experience of seeing children becoming readers, but I am able to give them richer experiences of reading in personally and culturally relevant contexts. This has implications for the nature of subject knowledge required by a student teacher of reading and the curriculum and practice of teacher education.     

Beginning teachers’ conceptions of competency: implications to educational policy and teacher education in Malaysia

When any innovations or measurement procedures are introduced into the education system to improve or judge the quality of its teaching force, beginning teachers often have to adapt to these new concepts of what constitute a high quality teaching. This article contends that these new concepts neither necessarily match beginning teachers’ own conceptions about their own competency nor has it given beginning teachers a chance to be heard. This study provides an opportunity for beginning teachers’ ‘voices’ to be heard through phenomenography which is an interpretive research approach to discover what beginning teachers in Malaysia conceive and understand as competence in relation to what they do every day as teachers. The main finding of this study is the key role played by beginning teachers’ conceptions of competency which has provided strong implications for educational policies and teacher education. The findings suggest that teachers need to be represented in any quality improvement measures. Careful attention should also be paid to the school systems and to teacher training programmes to support and encourage teachers in their professional growth as competent teachers.     

Case-based teaching in homogeneous teacher education contexts: a study of preservice teachers’ situative cognition

Following the work on case-based pedagogy and on situative cognition, the purpose of this study was to examine how situative knowledge, as embedded in preservice teachers’ prior experiences and as embedded in a dilemma-based case, influenced preservice teachers’ analyses of the case-as-written. Twenty-three preservice teachers ranging in age from 23 to 47 participated in the study. Using a microethnographic approach, the study focused on preservice teachers’ discussion of a single case. An analysis was conducted on preservice teachers’ pre- and postdiscussion writings about the case, and on their during-discussion dialogue. Results of the study revealed that the preservice teachers’ homogeneous thinking limited the extent to which these preservice teachers could reflect critically on the case and limited their potential to make reasoned decisions based upon alternative or novel solutions. Implications for teacher education are discussed.     

Chinese tertiary teachers’ goal orientations for teaching and teaching approaches: the mediation of teacher engagement

This study investigated the effects of Chinese tertiary teachers’ goal orientations for teaching on their approaches to teaching mediated by teacher engagement. In a survey of 597 Chinese tertiary teachers, the respondents placed particular emphasis on relational and mastery goals and expressed a preference for student-focused approaches to teaching. An emphasis on mastery goals was found to predict a preference for student-focused teaching, whereas ability-approach and work-avoidance goal orientations predicted a preference for teacher-focused teaching. Ability-avoidance and relational goals were found to be positively related not only to teacher-focused approaches but to student-focused approaches to teaching as well. In addition, teacher engagement was found to significantly mediate the effects of ability-approach, mastery and work-avoidance goals on teacher-focused intention, student-focused intention and student-focused strategy. These results have significant implications for Chinese higher-education institutions in light of their transition from teacher-focused to student-focused approaches to teaching.     

Talking about education: exploring the significance of teachers’ talk for teacher agency

Abstract

The interest in teachers’ discourses and vocabularies has for a long time been studied under the rubric of knowledge, most notably teachers’ professional knowledge. This interest can be traced back to Shulman’s distinction between different kinds of teacher knowledge and Schwab’s interest in the role of practical reasoning and judgement in teaching. Within the research, a distinction can be found between a more narrow approach that focuses on teachers’ propositional or theoretical knowledge and a more encompassing approach in which teachers’ knowledge is not only the knowledge for teachers generated elsewhere, but also the knowledge of teachers. This is the ‘stock of knowledge’ gained from a range of sources and experiences, including teachers’ ongoing engagement with the practice of teaching itself. In this paper, we focus on the role of teachers’ talk in their achievement of agency. We explore how, in what way and to what extent such talk helps or hinders teachers in exerting control over and giving direction to their everyday practices, bearing in mind that such practices are not just the outcome of teachers’ judgements and actions, but are also shaped by the structures and cultures within which teachers work.     

Narrating neoliberalism: alternative education teachers’ conceptions of their changing roles

The signifier ‘alternative’ in education has largely shifted from progressive or humanizing pedagogies to deficit framings requiring alternate graduation criteria. This development is part of broader neoliberal educational reform efforts that disrupt longstanding conceptions of teachers’ roles. This study serves to investigate long-term teachers’ understandings of their shifting roles in one secondary-level alternative education program in New York City. Specifically, this narrative analysis study explores participating teachers’ meanings around agency and their ability to form the relationships that they argue are central to meaningful pedagogies. Findings demonstrate a sense of loss regarding teacher agency and relationships, and a belief that neoliberal reform efforts have limited possibilities for a shared sense of purpose and collaboration.     

Newly qualified teachers’ professional digital competence: implications for teacher education

The professional digital competence (PDC) of teachers is of growing importance in classrooms, now that digital resources and digital media are becoming important parts of teachers’ everyday practice. This study explores how newly qualified teachers are prepared to use information and communication technology (ICT) in their initial teacher education (ITE). We present findings of a nationwide survey in Norway on 356 newly qualified teachers. It explores how these teachers’ ICT self-efficacy is related to how they perceive the quality of, and contributions from, their ITE related to ICT and the development of their PDC. In general, newly qualified teachers report fairly poor quality and contribution of ICT training during their teacher education. We claim that continuous effort is needed to review the quality of ITE and contribute specifically to the development of PDC and developing student teachers’ ICT self-efficacy in ITE.     

Korean EFL teachers’ perceptions of the impact of EFL teacher education upon their classroom teaching practices

This study employed qualitative data collection and analysis methods to investigate the influence of English as a foreign language teacher education programme on Korean teachers’ classroom teaching practices. Six in-service secondary-school teachers participated in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was applied to the data collected from these interviews. Findings from the analysis included that: a) most of the teachers were dissatisfied with the largely theory-oriented pre-service teacher education programmes that they attended; b) a major source of influence on their teaching was their experience of in-service teacher training programmes with practical curricula; c) observation of other fellow teachers’ teaching had the strongest impact upon the teachers’ teaching practices; and d) the teachers’ low English proficiency and the washback effect of the Korea Scholastic Aptitude Test hindered the maintenance of the changes brought about by in-service teacher education programmes. This study ends with a discussion of the implications of these findings.     

Student‐teachers’ conceptions of science,teaching and learning: a case study in preservice science education

The resort to experiment is considered to be essential for teaching physics. But it often consists of an inductivist method where students are supposed to be able to find physical laws by observing phenomena. In fact it is not as easy for the students as it is for the physicist. We propose and test another way. When studying a new phenomenon, an initial discussion is performed between students in the class. They can propose various (eventually contradictory) explanatory models. Experiments are then used to make a choice between these models. Sequences in class situation are described, with learning behaviour and results reported for pupils in French schools (grades 6 and 8, 11‐14‐year olds).     

Prospective teachers’ teaching experience: teacher learning through the use of video

Background: Future teachers need to observe, interpret and analyse teaching during the initial teacher education period. The use of videoed teaching and learning in teacher education promotes reflection, and analysing videos of teaching is helpful in learning effective classroom practices that prospective teachers mostly do not have the chance to observe during fieldwork experiences. The analysis of videos of teaching can be seen as a way to enhance the development of prospective teachers’ professional vision, which, in turn, improves instruction. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine prospective teachers’ reflections on video examples depicting their own teaching experiences. It aimed to create a professional development environment to facilitate the prospective teachers’ reflection on their own videos and those of their peers to improve their professional vision. Sample: This study was conducted with over 200 (in 31 groups) third-year prospective mathematics teachers in a university in Western Turkey. The student teachers, receiving training to teach first- to fourth-grade elementary school pupils, were taking a teaching methods course. Design and methods: In the first week of the semester, the student teachers, working in groups, were assigned mathematics topics to teach the elementary school pupils. During the semester, each group prepared by trying out their activities in front of other student teachers in other groups. At the end of the semester, one student teacher from each group presented a short lesson related to their mathematical topic to the elementary school pupils. This lesson was videotaped, then later it was watched and discussed by the student teachers. Of the student teachers who undertook the teaching in the videos, 22 volunteers agreed to be interviewed. All groups of student teachers provided written reflections on their experience. Selected videos of the class discussions about the videos of teaching were also used for triangulation. The data were analysed to identify the issues the prospective teachers reflected upon. A content analysis technique was employed. Results: The data indicated that the prospective teachers were able to reflect on several issues related to effective teaching, connect their theoretical knowledge to their practice and consider issues related to pupil learning and difficulties. Conclusion: The findings suggested that the use of video, together with discussions between the student teachers, had the potential to create promising learning opportunities for prospective teachers.     

High-stakes examination preparation that controls teaching: Chinese prospective teachers’ conceptions of excellent teaching and assessment

How prospective teachers conceive of teaching excellence and assessment purposes probably influences how teaching and assessment practices are implemented in the future. This study evaluated, in four ‘normal universities’ in the People’s Republic of China, 765 prospective teachers’ responses to two self-report instruments regarding the nature of excellent teaching and the purpose of assessment. Both questionnaires had previously been developed in Mandarin Chinese and validated with large samples of practicing teachers in China. The original models could not be recovered and with exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis alternative models were found. Excellent teaching was conceived as four inter-correlated factors (i.e. Professional, Model, Examination and Life-long), as also were the purposes of assessment (i.e. Diagnose and Formative, Irrelevant, Control and Life Character). Structural equation modelling showed that the strongest relationship between teaching excellence and assessment began with the examination factor which positively predicted assessment as Irrelevant and for Life Character development and negatively the Diagnose and Formative purpose. Results are consistent with the high-stakes examination system of China and the status of prospective teachers who have only recently stopped being students.     

The effect of high-stakes examination systems on teacher beliefs: Egyptian teachers’ conceptions of assessment

Egypt is currently attempting to introduce a greater formative use of assessment while maintaining a public examination system. This study investigates teacher beliefs about the purposes of assessment in Egypt, using the Teachers’ Conceptions of Assessment (TCoA) inventory. The TCoA inventory elicits responses about four main factors: Improvement, School Accountability, Student Accountability and Irrelevance. A large sample of (n?=?507) Egyptian pre-service and in-service teachers completed an Arabic version of the TCoA inventory. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the Egyptian teachers’ responses against the pre-existing New Zealand model, which was found to be inadmissible. Consequently, an ecologically rational three-factor model was found. The model yielded a strong positive relationship between Improvement and Student Accountability, consistent with previous studies. It is argued that greater changes to the examination system are required if teacher beliefs are expected to be more positive about the priority of formative, improvement-oriented uses of assessment.     

Teachers’work: Beginning teachers’ conceptions of competence

Worldwide, teachers’ work continues to be the subject of discussion and debate, especially in terms of teacher competence and its appropriate appraisal. Available literature offers a number of perspectives of beginning teacher competence, yet the voices of beginning teachers themselves are not represented. This paper outlines the findings of a phenomenographic study that sought to uncover the conceptions of competence held by beginning teachers. The results of this study suggest that beginning teachers believe that teaching competence requires demonstration of thorough preparation, a sound knowledge base, effective classroom management, professional communication with a range of stakeholders, and an accurate sense of self-awareness in the role of teacher. These conceptions will be compared to a selection of the available literature about teacher competence and associated teaching standards.     

University students’ and teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning in the biosciences

In this study we compare university teachers’ and first-year students’ conceptions of teaching and learning at the Faculty of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The conceptions were analysed using data from open-ended questionnaires. The results showed that at the beginning of studies the gap between teachers’ and students’ conceptions of teaching and learning is substantial. This finding has important implications for the educational process. In order to enhance successful studying from the beginning of students’ university careers, it is important for teachers to become aware of the differences between students’ and teachers’ conceptions of learning.     

Science Instructors’ Perceptions of the Risks of Biotechnology: Implications for Science Education

Developing scientifically literate students who understand the socially contextualized nature of science and technology is a national focus of science education reform. Science educators’ perceptions of risks and benefits of new technologies (such as biotechnology) may shape their instructional approaches. This study examined the perceived risk of biotechnology of four groups of science educators: pre-service science teachers, in-service science teachers, biology graduate teaching assistants, and biology professors (n = 91). Data sources included a survey instrument and card sort task designed to determine the respondents’ structure of risk perception and factors contributing to this structure. The perceptions of the four educator groups were compared and contrasted along these dimensions. Results showed that the teacher groups were similar along many aspects of risk perception, but university professors were more likely to view the more subtle “gray areas” between biotechnology risks. The results are discussed in the context of understanding teacher risk perception on science pedagogical practice as well as the role of content knowledge and teaching experience on risk perception formation.     

Understanding teachers’ attitudes and self-efficacy in inclusive education: implications for pre-service and in-service teacher education

Although there are clear differences in national policies regarding inclusive education, the international debate has not fully considered their impact on implementation within different countries, for example on teacher education. This paper reports on results from a comparative study of in-service teachers’ attitudes and self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices in South Africa and Finland and its implications for teacher education in these countries. A sample of 319 South African and 822 Finnish primary and secondary education teachers completed a questionnaire containing a scale measuring sentiments, attitudes and concerns on inclusive education as well as a scale measuring teachers’ self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices. A comparative analysis indicated that whereas the overall sentiments towards disabilities were positive in both countries, teachers had many concerns about the consequences of including children with disabilities in their classrooms. While the most positive aspect of self-efficacy among the South African teachers was their self-efficacy in managing behaviour, the Finnish teachers saw this as their weakest point. Self-efficacy, in particular efficacy in collaboration, was clearly related to overall attitudes towards inclusion. The implications of these findings for pre-service and in-service teacher education are discussed.     

The influence of teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning on their technology acceptance

Prior research has attempted to incorporate different personal variables within extant theories of technology acceptance models (TAMs). This study further extends TAM by incorporating teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning (CoTL) in two forms: constructivist and traditional conceptions. The moderating effects of teachers’ demographic variables including age, gender, teaching experience, teaching level, and technology experience were tested. Our findings demonstrated that incorporating CoTL could provide a richer and more nuanced understanding of technology acceptance, although no moderating effects on any demographic variables were found.     

Student teachers’ proactive strategies for avoiding study-related burnout during teacher education

The study aims to gain a better understanding of the function of proactive strategies in buffering study burnout among student teachers at the early stage of their studies. There is some evidence that the use of active social coping strategies during studies is related to reduced burnout levels among early career teachers. Less is known about the association between the proactive strategies and burnout among student teachers. Altogether, 244 Finnish student teachers completed the survey. The data were analysed by using SEM. The results suggested that the proactive strategies adopted by student teachers seem to prevent study-related burnout, especially in terms of exhaustion in studies and inadequacy in studying, but not directly the perceived cynicism towards studies. The results imply that learning how to use proactive strategies is functional in coping with study-related stressors, by reducing the risk of student teachers’ burnout.