Developing beliefs about classroom motivation: Journeys of preservice teachers

This paper examines the developing beliefs about classroom motivation of eight preservice teachers during teacher education. The framework conceptualises the contexts in which preservice teachers participate and the filtering effect of prior beliefs. Qualitative analyses of multiple data sources reveal two distinct trajectories in the development of beliefs about classroom motivation. The findings highlight the importance of filtering prior beliefs, alignment and conflict of ideas, significance of self-motivating factors and power of emotions in developing beliefs about classroom motivation. Implications emphasize the importance of enabling preservice teachers examining existing beliefs and integrating these with learning during teacher education.     

The role of motivations and perceptions on the retention of inservice teachers

This article addresses the characteristics, motivations and perceptions of teachers regarding retention. The participants were practicing teachers in Australia. The survey included the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) scale, previously used with preservice teachers. The results show that: i) teacher motivations are related to self-perceptions in teaching children/adolescents in the community, ii) threatened by negative social perceptions, and iii) influenced by characteristics such as gender. It is concluded that retention may be undermined by employment practices and social perceptions that erode a teacher’s self-concept. Outcomes inform policy for improving employment practices for the retention of a diverse teaching workforce.     

White Women Preparing to Teach in Urban Schools: Looking for Similarity and Finding Difference

Research points to particular problems in the experiences of White teachers teaching students of color (Cochran-Smith et al., 2004). Despite good intentions, teaching students of diverse backgrounds and experiences can be challenging for teachers who are unfamiliar with their students’ backgrounds and communities. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of notions about “good urban teaching” for three women in a preservice teacher preparation program. Reporting on two years of data, we show how the three women negotiated their beliefs and identities in light of program demands and classroom realities. The lack of synchronicity within the women’s experiences highlights that the traditional (white, female, middle class) students in preservice teacher education programs are not homogeneous. The significance of this difference is highlighted through the concept of heterogeneity. We define heterogeneity as the differences that exist among traditional students in preservice teacher preparation programs. Our research suggests that heterogeneity is complicit in the progress or lack of progress of preservice teachers developing professional identities. This paper was originally presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Education Research Association April 7–11, 2006 San Francisco, CA An erratum to this article can be found at     

Intersections of life histories and science identities: the stories of three preservice elementary teachers

Grounded within Connelly and Clandinin’s conceptualization of teachers’ professional identity in terms of ‘stories to live by’ and through a life-history lens, this multiple case study aimed to respond to the following questions: (a) How do three preservice elementary teachers view themselves as future science teachers? (b) How have the participants’ life histories shaped their science identity trajectories? In order to characterize the participants’ formation of science identities over time, various data regarding their life histories in relation to science were collected: science biographies, self-portraits, interviews, reflective journals, lesson plans, and classroom observations. The analysis of the data illustrated how the three participants’ identities have been in formation from the early years of their lives and how various events, experiences, and interactions had shaped their identities through time and across contexts. These findings are discussed alongside implications for theory, specifically, identity and life-history intersections, for teacher preparation, and for research related to explorations of beginning elementary teachers’ identity trajectories.     

Talking (fe)male: examining the gendered discourses of preservice teachers

Through the use of feminist poststructural discourse analysis (Baxter 2003 Baxter, J. 2003. Positioning Gender in Discourse: A Feminist Methodology. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), the author examines the gendered discourses created and reified by a group of preservice secondary social studies teachers (n?=?25). Because gender is socially constructed, it is important for future teachers to examine their own gendered identities in order for them to be able to see how they contribute to the greater society. Findings reveal discourses of ‘having it all', ‘being a superwoman', ‘female struggle', and ‘gender not playing a key role in culture’ being advanced by both male and female identified individuals. Intersections of race and social class with gender added to the complexity of the different discourses. Implications for teacher education are discussed.     

Teaching in inclusive classrooms: efficacy and beliefs of Canadian preservice teachers

This study provides a Canada-wide snapshot of the self-efficacy and beliefs of 1490 preservice teachers in relation to inclusive teaching using the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practice and the Beliefs about Learning and Teaching Questionnaire. At the time of data collection, these preservice teachers were in the final stages of their teacher education programmes. Based on the results of surveys in 11 Faculties of Education, men have higher self-efficacy than women for managing behaviour in the classroom, elementary preservice teachers have higher self-efficacy in collaboration than those teaching in secondary schools, those enrolled in the 1-year post-degree programme show lower self-efficacy than those enrolled in programmes of other durations, and those who have experience with people with special education needs show higher self-efficacy than those who do not. Differences illustrated that women were more inclusive than men, 1-year post-degree preservice teachers were less inclusive than others, and those who have experience with people with special education needs are more inclusive than those who do not. Recommendations for teacher education and limitations surrounding the practical significance of the findings are discussed.     

Preservice teachers and parents: using a reading course to change perceptions and practice

The authors sought to understand preservice teachers’ views about parents of students who struggle with reading and about their own preparedness to deal with such parents. Research, including surveys, student evaluation and tutoring intervention, indicates that before their work with parents and students, preservice teachers held strong beliefs about parents’ role and responsibilities with respect to their children who find reading daunting. After a semester‐long reading course which provided opportunities to work with struggling readers and their parents, the preservice teachers in this study expressed beliefs that were contrary to the ones they offered at the beginning of the course.     

Use of self-determination theory to support basic psychological needs of preservice science teachers in an environmental science course

In this paper, we examine how the basic psychological needs of preservice science teachers (PSTs) were supported in a series of environmental science course activities informed by self-determination theory (SDT). We collected qualitative data about the PSTs’ sense of competence, autonomy, and relatedness through interviews, group discussions, assignments, and reflection papers. Data were analyzed in relation to the instructional design features of the course; namely, collective construction of ideas, student guided discussions, real life connection, and consistent group dynamics. Findings illustrate primary support for cognitive features, including, how course activities supported a sense of confidence in action, sense of self-initiation, awareness of personal role in the system, and awareness of environmental actions. Overall, results suggest that SDT can be effectively utilized as a framework for environmental education in courses designed to foster environmental self-determination and long-lasting pro-environmental behaviors.     

Motivation to teach: the case of Arab teachers in Israel

This paper describes an attempt to identify factors influencing teachers’ motivation in the Arab education system. In-depth interviews with 10 school principals, 15 teachers and 3 counsellors, yielded three themes influencing Arab teachers’ motivation: (1) Arab culture, (2) the school climate and (3) government policies. Arab teachers try to meet both government requirements and the minority Arab society’s expectations that they will shape students’ academic achievements, national identity and culture. Deficient resources and Arab principals’ detached management styles augment the difficulty, negatively influencing teachers’ motivation. Suggestions are given to improve government policies and Arab principals’ work and thus to enhance teachers’ motivation.     

More than a place to teach: exploring the perceptions of the roles and responsibilities of mentor teachers

The purpose of this study was to shed light on mentor teachers’ perceptions of their roles and responsibilities and to contrast their understandings with a normative view of mentoring (Goldsberry, 1998 Goldsberry, L.F. 1998. “Teacher involvement in supervision”. In Handbook of research on school supervision, Edited by: Firth, G.R. and Pajak, E.F. 428–462. New York: Macmillan.  [Google Scholar]; Hawkey, 1997 Hawkey, K. 1997. Roles, responsibilities, and relationships in mentoring: A literature review and agenda for research. Journal of Teacher Education, 48: 325–335. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). We hypothesized that the mentor teachers’ perceptions would likely differ from established conceptions of this construct, a difference that has significant implications for mentor preparation and university collaboration. Participants, 264 teachers who were serving as mentors to pre‐service teachers, were asked open‐ended questions designed to allow the mentors to describe the ways in which they envisioned their role. Follow‐up telephone interviews were conducted with 34 randomly selected mentor teachers to further determine the relative value they placed on different aspects of mentoring. The results of this research confirm that mentoring is a complex construct and that the perceptions held by mentors may be influenced by the kinds and quality of mentoring experiences they have had. Implications for the appropriate selection, preparation, and support of mentor teachers are discussed.     

Teaching efficacy: exploring relationships between mathematics and science self-efficacy beliefs,PCK and domain knowledge among preservice teachers from the United States

This mixed-methods study investigated the relationships among preservice teachers’ efficacy beliefs, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and their domain knowledge (DK) as related to mathematics and science teaching. Quantitative results revealed that participants’ PCK was significantly correlated with their mathematics and science efficacy beliefs. Additionally, participants’ mathematics and science DK did not predict their mathematics and science personal efficacy beliefs, however, their PCK score predicted participants’ outcome expectancies. Interview analysis revealed five inter-related key themes, labeled as: Previous academic experiences, Mathematics and science PCK beliefs, Personal efficacy, Outcome expectancies and Emotions. These common themes describe participants’ views of their quality teacher training and thinking about planned instruction. Educational implications are discussed in relationship with study findings.     

Training confident primary modern foreign language teachers in England: An investigation into preservice teachers’ perceptions of their subject knowledge

The National Languages Strategy, published in the UK in 2002 offers all primary school children an entitlement to learn a Modern Foreign Language (MFL) by 2010. The supply of adequately trained teachers is one of the key determinants of the success of this initiative. This paper presents findings from a study involving 18 teacher education institutions offering a primary MFL specialism, focusing particularly on the preservice teachers’ confidence in their own subject knowledge. A compulsory component of the specialism is a month of practicum abroad and this article explores the potential benefits and difficulties associated with this experience, as reported by the preservice teachers through questionnaires and focus groups.     

Student teachers in the classroom: their perceptions of teaching practice

This paper examines student teachers’ perceptions of the course of school experience in a teacher education programme in Turkey. Data were obtained through interviewing student teachers in Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey. In order to analyse the data, Strauss and Corbin’s grounded theory methodology was adapted. The analysis revealed that although the current teacher education programme put emphasis on effective practical training, in some circumstances student teachers feel that their chances of gaining real teaching experiences are minimal. The study suggests that there is a need for further strengthening the existing school–university partnership in teacher education.     

Supporting the work arrangements of cooperating teachers and university supervisors to better train preservice teachers: a new theoretical contribution

This longitudinal case study examines whether a school-based training scheme that brings together different categories of teacher educators (university supervisors and cooperating teachers) engenders true collective training activity and, if so, whether this collective work contributes to pre-service teacher education. The scheme grew out of a recent French reform policy. The study is based on an original theoretical conception of teacher education that borrows postulates from a theory of learning and collective action (Wittgenstein 1996). Illustrated by excerpts from post-lesson meetings and self-confrontation interviews, the results suggest that the training scheme does not always lead to collective training activity. The difficulties are notably due to disagreement between the educators about attributing meaning to the pre-service teacher’s classroom activity, which hampers professional development. On this basis, proposals are made to contribute to an effective and authentically shared supervision process and to reposition training activity at the heart of the processes of pre-service teacher professional development.     

Motivation beliefs of secondary school teachers in Canada and Singapore: A mixed methods study

A mixed methods approach was used to explore secondary teachers’ motivation beliefs in Canada and Singapore. Results from Study 1 revealed that socio-economic status (SES) was the strongest predictor of school climate in Canada, and that collective efficacy mediated the effect of SES on school climate in Singapore, but not in Canada. In Study 2, interviews were conducted with 10 teachers in Canada and 14 teachers in Singapore. Teachers in both settings discussed students’ social and behavior problems, but the range of the social problems was greater in Canada than in Singapore, and had a stronger impact on teachers’ motivation beliefs.     

Mentoring of new teachers as a contested practice: Supervision,support and collaborative self-development

This article examines contested practices of mentoring of newly qualified teachers within and between Australia (New South Wales), Finland and Sweden. Drawing on empirical evidence from a variety of studies, we demonstrate three archetypes of mentoring: supervision, support and collaborative self-development. Using the theory of practice architectures, we show that (1) these three forms of mentoring represent three different projects: (a) assisting new teachers to pass through probation, (b) traditional mentoring as support, and (c) peer-group mentoring; and (2) these different projects involve and imply quite different practice architectures in the form of different material-economic, social-political and cultural-discursive arrangements.     

The retention question in context-specific teacher education: Do beginning teachers and their program leaders see teachers' future career eye to eye

This paper discusses the challenge of retaining teachers in hard-to-staff schools by examining how it is addressed in three context specific teacher education programs, which prepare teachers to teach in urban public, urban Catholic, and Jewish Day Schools in U.S.A. The findings of this study suggest that counter to teaching force trends teachers from the three programs that we studied expressed high motivation to serve as teachers or leaders in their particular schools and communities. In particular, we found that teachers' career commitments developed around the religious or civic missions promoted by their respective programs. Finally, teachers' career perceptions seem to correlate, though not entirely match, with those of their program leaders.     

Information Communication Technology (ICT) integration in a science education unit for preservice science teachers; students' perceptions of their ICT skills, knowledge and pedagogy

There is an expectation that new science teachers will be able to effectively use a range of information communication technology (ICT) related resources inthe science classroom in order to enhance student learning. All school systems in Australia are in the process of providing teachers with ICT professional development and infrastructure. This paper outlines a range of initiatives designed to integrate ICT in a compulsory science education unit for students enrolled in a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education. An action research model based on constructivist principles was used to evaluate the effectiveness of modelling, open-ended co-operative group activities and authentic assessment in enabling students to enhance their ICT skills, knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in a science education context. Multiple sources of data were generated including a pre and post unit questionnaire that was analysed using Rasch modelling. The questionnaire determined students' perceptions of their preparedness to teach using ICT. The findings of this research suggest that some skills warranted greater attention in the unit, but students' pedagogical knowledge and knowledge and critique of ICT resources were enhanced over the duration of the unit.     

Reflective learning and identity construction in practice,discourse and activity: Experiences of pre-service language teachers in Hong Kong

This paper reports on an investigation into two pre-service teachers' reflective learning through a series of integrated and interactive tasks (i.e., collaborative lesson planning, group consultation, microteaching and videoed reflections) in a teacher education course in Hong Kong. Relying on data gathered from interviews and reflection videos and informed by a tripartite model on teacher identity in practice, discourse and activity, the study revealed how the pre-service teachers engaged in reflective practice and identity construction in the course. The paper concludes with practical implications on how to design and implement effective reflective tasks in preparing and developing competent language teachers.