Mothers who are student teachers: navigating their dual roles in pre-service teacher education

Many students in New Zealand are now of mature age, female, and mothers of dependent children (Allister et al. 2006). These students typically experience the challenge of sharing themselves between their children, partners, extended families and their fellow students, lecturers and studying. This research explored how a group of student-teachers who were also mothers experienced these dual roles and sought to document their beliefs, motivations, attitudes to these roles from the time they had entered teacher education. The following key themes emerged from the in-depth interviews with the women: strong motivation for wanting to become primary school teachers; the impact this decision had on the lives of their children, partners and extended families; the particular issues they faced as they tried to navigate the roles of mother and student-teacher; and the suggestions they had for continuing education and tertiary institutions to improve opportunities for other mothers wanting to study. This last theme is perhaps the most pertinent, as it offers implications for continuing education institutions wanting to attract and retain these students, who, as a group, represent a growing demographic trend in the student population.     

论现代远程教育中教师地位及作用的变化

现代远程教育利用电视、计算机、网络等教育技术，师生时空分离、学生自主学习，是一种全新教学形式，因而教师在教学中的地位与作用发生了巨大的变化：从中心、主导地位退居到从属、辅助地位，由主角变成配角，由台前转到了幕后，由教学变为助学，即主要表现为教学中的指导、辅导、督导作用。认识这一变化，对把握现代远程教学的特点和规律，提高远程教学与人才培养的质量，促进现代远程教育的健康发展，具有重要的意义。     

Idiographic roles of cooperating teachers as mentors in pre-service distance teacher education

This study aims to define the roles of cooperating teachers as mentors in the context of distance-learning teacher education. The participants included 358 cooperating teachers who mentored 4th-year student teachers in a Distance English Language Teacher Training Program in Turkey. To determine the roles that were perceived as mentoring roles by the cooperating teachers in the distance practicum, an inventory of 10 primary mentoring functions was constructed. These functions included five primary mentoring roles: ‘self-trainer’, ‘networker, ‘social supporter’, ‘academic supporter’, and ‘psychological supporter’. The results will contribute to an increased understanding of how cooperating teachers perceive their mentoring roles during distance practicums.     

Sharing the arena: Changing roles and negotiating power among teacher education participants

Abstract

This article describes and discusses the changes that took place when a group of university faculty members encouraged the participation of traditionally silent teacher education participants (supervising teachers and teacher education students) in the process of teacher education. The findings of this study include defining the delicate balance between inviting participation, negotiating roles, and sharing power in an arena traditionally reserved for only one group of participants. Participants (including university faculty) are often reluctant to give up the security of their traditional roles; therefore, they have difficulty taking on new roles. Furthermore, there is a continual tug of war between participants because of the constant negotiation and renegotiation of roles, relationships, and power. Traditional ways of interacting on the part of all participants are called into question. Understanding this balance proved to be the foremost difficulty for all participants involved.     

Intercultural education and teacher education in Sweden

The Swedish school is a meeting place for different cultures. Gender and class variations have been recognized for many years. More recently, ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity has also entered Swedish classrooms. This article examines these new educational circumstances in three parts. The first section defines some multicultural terms in Swedish context and briefly describes Sweden as a multicultural society. The second section discusses different pedagogical strategies in Swedish multicultural classrooms where cultural diversity problematizes traditional education. The final section addresses the need for an intercultural perspective in teacher education.     

Comparing teacher roles in Denmark and England

This article reports the findings of a comparative study of teaching in Denmark and England. Its broader aim is to help develop an approach for comparing pedagogy. Lesson observations and interviews identified the range of goals towards which teachers in each country worked and the actions these prompted. These were clustered using the lens of Bernstein’s pedagogic discourse to construct teacher roles, which provided a view of pedagogy. Through this approach we have begun to identify variations in pedagogy across two countries. All teachers in this study adopted a variety of roles. Of significance was the ease with which competent English teachers moved between roles. The English teachers observed adopted roles consistent with a wider techno-rationalist discourse. There was a greater subject emphasis by Danish teachers, whose work was set predominantly within a democratic humanist discourse, whilst the English teachers placed a greater emphasis on applied skills.     

Pre-service teacher education students' epistemological beliefs and their conceptions of teaching

A study using both quantitative and qualitative methods was conducted in the final year of a Bachelor of Education programme to examine the student-teachers' epistemological beliefs and conceptions of teaching. The results show that most of the student-teachers (i) strongly believed that learning effort was more important than innate ability, (ii) strongly believed that knowledge changes, and (iii) were inclined to question the authority of knowledge. Although student-teachers who had sophisticated or mixed epistemological beliefs tended to believe in constructivist or mixed conceptions of teaching as predicted, inconsistent cases were identified. Implications for teacher education programmes are discussed.     

Theorising how student teachers form their identities in initial teacher education

This article investigates the forming of student teacher identities in initial teacher education. By analysing student narratives of school experiences the article argues that although reflective, reflexive and critical discourses are helpful interrogatory tools, they presuppose a prior subjectivity which fails to acknowledge the idea that it is through such discursive practices that subjectivity emerges. Such discourses also suggest an emancipatory project grounded in rationality. The article demonstrates that these reflective discourses fail to take into account non‐symbolizable and non‐rational aspects of experiencing that have powerful ontological effects on subjectivity and identity. Such aspects are structured in student narratives through fantasy, which allows students to understand their experiences as consistent and meaningful.     

Data-driven assessment of teacher candidates during their internships in deaf education

Deaf education teacher training programs have received criticism for graduating students with gaps in knowledge and skills required for specific placements. The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) requires that accredited programs engage in self-study, and NCATE guidelines require programs to collect valid, reliable evidence of teacher candidate performance and candidates' effect on student learning. In the present study, an ecobehavioral assessment computer program, MS-CISSAR (Mainstream Code for Instructional Structure and Student Academic Response), was used in evaluations of 8 teacher candidates during internship experiences. Results were mixed. Some of the instructional arrangements, teaching behaviors, and student responses resembled those found in studies using in-service teachers as subjects; however, some data revealed a need for changes in instruction. Data gathered with MS-CISSAR could be added to evaluations to help training programs meet NCATE requirements for evidence on teacher candidate performance and candidates' effect on student learning.     

Teaching and teacher education

The Wenhsing Street Primary School starts to liven up at 7 a.m., though classes don't begin until 8. The pupils on duty for the day come to clean up the classrooms, groups of colorfully dressed girls assemble in the schoolyard to play their favorite game, skipping a rope of rubber bands. A group of boys, their foreheads beaded with sweat, pursue a small football across the playing field. The morning sun illuminates eight large characters painted in white on the red brick wall of the four-story school building - Chairman Mao's admonition to the children of new China: "Study well and make progress every day."     

Cameos,supporting roles and stars: citation and reflection in the context of initial teacher education

Background: Reflection is well established as an important part of teacher education, but it is also the focus of critical enquiry. This means that reflection is of interest to those who wish to explore its use to produce ‘better’ teachers. It is also of interest to scholars who are interested in the wider implications of reflection, for example, in relation to power and social control. Academic articles are the primary medium through which ideas and practices are communicated. However, they can only contribute if they are accepted for publication on the basis of making a contribution to knowledge. To be seen in this way, a journal paper needs to cite earlier work to show understanding of this work and how this is being augmented.

Purpose: This paper aims to initiate an academic debate of citation practices which, it argues, should be based on an awareness of current practices and a willingness to share, and even change, them. To facilitate the debate and the development of a better understanding of citing and its implications, the paper offers a tripartite citation framework.

Sources of evidence: The extensive citation analysis literature is reviewed to provide a context for an examination of the variety of citation practices found in 24 papers, which all focus on initial teacher education and which cite the same critical paper (Fendler, L., Teacher reflection in a hall of mirrors: Historical influences and political reverberations. Educational Researcher, 32, no. 3: 16–25, 2003; doi: 10.3102/0013189X032003016).

Main argument: This paper argues that there is value in differentiating three categories of citation, labelled ‘cameo’, ‘supporting role’ and ‘star’. These categories do not make judgements about what counts as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ referencing. Rather, they provide a way for authors to assess how they are citing and what the possible consequences may be. These can include an apparent lack of understanding not just of a cited paper but also of the wider literature. This means that citation that is not being carefully managed can undermine an argument.

Conclusions: This paper concludes that there is there is a need to initiate an academic debate about citation which is premised on the development of self-awareness about current practice and its consequences. Such a debate could bring about a number of benefits. It would encourage individual scholars to develop self-aware and ethical citation; it would also clarify current expectations about citation and enable academic communities to reflect on whether enquiry is well served by them.     

Mathematics teacher professional learning and teacher education practices

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education -     

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.     

The promise of experiential education in teacher education: transforming teacher beliefs and practices

Building from the theories of Dewey and Kolb and Fry, we sought to examine the impact of experiential education in teacher education on teacher beliefs and practices. The teacher education model described in this article sets out to challenge the seduction of the apprenticeship of observation and create an opportunity for in-service teachers to re-imagine their teaching in concrete and transformative ways. Immersed in a weeklong experiential residency in either the mountains or at a local environmental education farm, the teachers in the study were challenged physically, intellectually, socially, and emotionally in and through the experience. The experiential work ultimately led to changes in teacher participants’ beliefs and practices related to teacher and student roles and potentialities. Although challenges exist for this type of practice in K-12 classrooms and in teacher education, experiential education has a significant potential to change the way teachers think about and act in their practice.     

Preservice teacher education

Conclusion Responsible educators find the need for continual renewal. The rapid advance of technology requires teachers learn new strategies and techniques for the productive use of these tools. The projects described above provided preservice faculty, students, and inservice educators with opportunities to learn about new technologies and to explore innovative uses of the technology. Opportunities to utilize distance education systems, such as the Iowa Communications Network, are numerous throughout the entire teacher preparation process. Iowa teacher educators have the opportunity to prepare their students to be capable classroom teachers who have the knowledge and skills to facilitate learning in an array of educational environments.     

For philosophy of education in teacher education

The time has come to re-assess the role that Philosophy has to play in the education of teachers, both at the beginning of and during their careers. The currently fashionable craft conception of teaching is inadequate as a preparation for a career in teaching. Philosophy of Education has an important role to play in preparing for a career in teaching. First, it enables teachers to acquire a grasp of the conceptual field of education and an ability to find their way around the often contested views within that field, which in turn impinge upon the normative structure of particular education systems. Second, it enables them to understand better the conceptual debates that involve the subjects that they are teaching. Third it enables teachers to understand the scope and limits of empirical research in education and the relationships between that research and conceptual issues in education. These claims are discussed with examples, and recent government statements about standards and competences in teaching are looked at through the perspective of a conceptually informed, career-oriented profession of teaching. Reasons for the past decline of philosophy of education in teacher education and how they might be avoided in the future are also reviewed.