Unsung Heroes: Exploring the roles of school-based professional experience coordinators in Australian preservice teacher education

The literature on practicum in preservice teacher education provides varied and detailed accounts of the roles of the student teacher, the supervising teacher, and the university-based teacher educator. However, the school-based professional experience coordinator, usually the principal or deputy principal, has been dismissed as an administrative outsider to the essential triad of supervision. Feedback from the field suggested that the coordinator's role may in fact be crucial in ensuring that practicum is an occasion for quality learning. This paper reports on a study to explore ways in which a small selection of professional experience coordinators contribute to the establishment, support and appraisal of high quality practicum experience in a variety of settings. The research fills a gap in the existing literature on the practicum by providing some illumination of the varied ways the school-based coordinator role is filled. In addition, the paper raises questions about selection and support of coordinators, about ownership of the practicum, and argues for a reconceptualisation of the practicum as the site where all shareholders engage in the partnership, with continual opportunities for construction, reconstruction and renewal of the teaching profession.     

From the bottom-up: New York City teacher evaluation and the narration of mediated institutional assault

Following the trend of consequential accountability in US public education, New York City introduced a teacher evaluation program during the 2013–2014 school year that linked teachers’ individual performance ratings with their students’ exam scores. As this program systemically alters the nature of teacher–student relationships by transforming students into the means to an end (teachers’ professional viability), this study investigated the implementation of this accountability program from the point of view of the teachers – those who were the subject of this new policy. This study of 15 teachers’ narratives from 3 distinct schools illuminates a social-organizational process that I refer to as mediated institutional assault – a perceived attack on the teachers’ sense of personhood and moral agency perpetrated by mediating figures whose actions were facilitated by bureaucratic policies and institutionally coordinated tools of control. Thus, this study reveals that the consequence of this new mode of accountability is not merely the threat of losing one’s job, but also an insidious form of psychological assault, which in its masked delivery violates teachers’ sense of relational morality and challenges deeply engrained beliefs about their role as educators.     

The impact of teacher immediacy and perceived caring on teacher competence and trustworthiness

This research investigated the impact of teacher caring and teacher immediacy on student perceptions of teachers' credibility. While the results of the two studies conducted indicated the presence of strong main effects for teacher caring and immediacy and strong negative effects for teacher non‐caring and nonimmediacy on the various dimensions of teacher credibility (as hypothesized), significant interaction effects were observed between caring and nonimmediacy on both dimensions of credibility studied (competence and trustworthiness). In most cases, when teacher caring was low, whether the teacher was in the immediate or nonimmediate condition made no significant difference—both produced negative perceptions of teacher credibility. In contrast, when teacher caring was high, teacher nonimmediacy significantly lowered perceived credibility. Probing of the interaction results suggested that high verbal caring tends to soften the negative impact of teacher nonimmediacy. The results of these studies demonstrate that teachers should maintain high verbal caring to preserve their credibility in the classroom. Implications for teacher training and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Dangerous Carers: Pastoral power and the caring teacher of contemporary Australian schooling

Whilst care imperatives have arisen across the breadth of Western societies, within the education sector they appear both prolific and urgent. This paper explores the deployment of care discourses within education generally and draws upon the case of Australian Health and Physical Education (HPE) more specifically, to undertake a Foucauldian interrogation of care. In so doing I demonstrate the usefulness of Foucault's pastoral power lens and its capacity to provide insight into the moral and ethical work conducted by caring teachers on behalf of the state (Acker, 1995). Following a brief overview of the advocacy, challenges and debates surrounding the issue of caring teaching within education, I draw on the work of Hunter (1994) and three case studies from a genealogical interrogation of HPE that employed Foucualt's ethical fourfold as a heuristic device to reveal the ethical practices and objectives of the good HPE teacher. Drawing on this genealogical work, I argue that HPE teachers and their colleagues have been purposefully incited to constitute themselves as agents of pastoral power. From this Foucauldian perspective, I conclude with an exploration of the unintended and possibly ‘dangerous’ practices of caring teaching that may emerge within the complex and messy nexus of contemporary self‐constitution.     

Exploring the dimensionality of teacher professionalization

This article examines the dimensionality of teacher professionalization. Like other recognized professions, teaching deserves a systemic and integral development platform where recruited teachers undergo well-defined transitional stages that would help crystallize their sense of professional identity (Credentialing), professional familiarity (Induction), professional expertise (Specialization), professional security and stability (Compensation), and professional synergy (Professional Development). Model options vis-à-vis the identified stages are comprehensively discussed in this article.     

Constructions of caring professionalism: a case study of teacher educators

This article investigates the professionalism of a group of women teacher educators working on initial teacher education (ITE) courses for intending primary school teachers in England. The article draws on data from an empirical study in the education departments of two universities. At the time of the research, these universities had just undergone major changes to the ways in which their ITE courses were organized and taught. The data show how the women teacher educators challenged these changes to their established ways of working and the implied threats to their constructions of caring professionalism. The article analyses how and why the changes affected the women’s senses of professionalism, drawing on Davies’ concept of gendered inclusion in professional life. It also discusses how and why these women’s form of professionalism developed within these institutional settings by identifying a cumulative convergence of discourses within the field of primary ITE.     

Exploring a triad model of student teaching: Pre-service teacher and cooperating teacher perceptions

In the student teaching triad model adopted in this study, pairs of pre-service teachers worked collaboratively with cooperating teachers during a 12-week field experience. The main objectives of the study were to document the benefits and challenges for pre-service teachers and cooperating teachers who participate in a triad model and to describe the co-teaching models that would emerge during this experience. Pre-service teachers and their cooperating teachers reported several strengths of the triad model in the following areas—learning from each other, professional support, outcomes for K-12 students, comprehensive feedback about teaching and classroom practice, and pre-service teacher confidence. Limitations and concerns identified by both groups included dependency, confusion with classroom management issues, loss of individuality, and competition between the pre-service teachers.     

陪都重庆小说叙事的审美特征试析

通过对陪都重庆小说进行文本的考察与分析,探讨了陪都重庆小说叙事的两大审美特征,即小说叙事中审美视野的极度开阔与审美创造的空前自由。它们在为抗战时期中国现代小说展示出现实发展方向的同时,也显现出陪都重庆小说在中国现代文学中的历史主导地位。     

Exploring the drivers of teacher professionalism in Ghana

This research aimed to explore the working conditions teachers in the Ghana Education Service perceived as motivators in their professional practice. The research used mainly a qualitative approach and three focus groups of five members: each were organised with teacher participants drawn from the Ashanti Region purposively selected. The research revealed that the sources of motivation in the participants’ professional practice related to selfless and internal factors rather than external factors. The research concluded that since not all teachers were selflessly and internally motivated, there was the need for the government to do more to improve teachers’ working conditions so as to motivate those that were externally motivated.     

Becoming a student teacher: core features of the experience

This paper reports early findings of a longitudinal research project on the experiences of beginning teachers in England. In the first phase of the study (2003–2004), data were generated via: (1) in‐depth, face to face interviews with 85 student teachers throughout England; and (2) self‐completion questionnaires, returned by 4,790 student teachers across a range of initial teacher preparation (ITP) routes. Through these methods the study set out to explore student teachers' accounts of their motivations for entering ITP, their preconceptions and expectations of teaching and ITP, and their early experiences as student teachers. A number of general themes were found to cut across all of these areas, and are presented here as core features of the experience of becoming a student teacher. These relate to the concept of teacher identity, the role of relationships, the notion of relevance, and the central presence of emotion.

Cette étude décrit les conclusions préliminaires d'une recherche continue sur les expériences de ceux qui sont en train de devenir professeurs d'école en Angleterre. En première phase de l'étude (2003–2004), les données ont été recueillies par: 1) des entretiens approfondis en tête‐à‐tête avec 85 professeurs stagiaires dans toute l'Angleterre; et 2) des questionnaires, remplis eux‐mêmes par 4,790 professeurs stagiaires sur un échantillon de préparations initiales de professeur (PIP). Avec ces méthodes l'étude avait pour but d'explorer les explications des professeurs stagiaires concernant leur motivation pour entrer dans la PIP, leurs idées reçues et leurs attentes de l'enseignement et de la PIP, ainsi que leurs expériences initiales de professeur stagiaire. On a trouvé un nombre de thèmes généraux à travers tous ces domaines, et ceux‐ci sont présentés ici comme caractéristiques fondamentales de l'expérience vécue de professeur stagiaire débutant. Ils sont relatifs aux concepts suivants : l'identité du professeur, le rôle des relations, la notion de pertinence et la présence capitale de l'émotion.

Este documento es un informe sobre los primeros resultados de un proyecto de investigación longitudinal sobre las experiencias de profesores principiantes en la Inglaterra. En la primera fase del estudio (2003–2004), los datos fueron obtenidos a partir de dos fuentes: minuciosas entrevistas cara a cara con 85 profesores en prácticas por toda Inglaterra y cuestionarios personales que fueron devueltos por 4,790 profesores en prácticas procedentes de distintas ramas de la ITP (preparación para profesores principiantes). A través de estos métodos, el estudio fue lanzado con el propósito de sondear las razones que motivaron a los profesores en prácticas a entrar en la ITP, sus preconcepciones y expectativas en cuanto a la ITP y a dar clase y sus primeras experiencias como profesores en prácticas. Estas áreas presentaron una serie de temas generales comunes que son presentados aquí como características centrales de la experiencia de convertirse en profesor en prácticas. Estas están relacionadas con el concepto de identidad del profesor, la importancia de las relaciones, la noción de relevancia, y el papel central de las emociones.

Dieses Referat berichtet über die ersten Ergebnisse eines langfristigen Forschungsprojektes, basierend auf Erfahrungen von Lehrern in England, die in den Beruf einsteigen. In der ersten Phase der Studie (2003–2004) wurden Daten gesammelt mittels: 1) ausführlicher, persönlicher Gespräche mit 85 auszubildenden Lehrern aus ganz England; und 2) selbstauszufüllender Fragebögen, die von 4,790 auszubildenden Lehrern aus verschiedenen Ausbildungsrichtungen zurückgesendet wurden. Die Studie hatte das Ziel, die Berichte der auszubildenden Lehrer zu untersuchen hinsichtlich ihrer Motivation, eine Ausbildung anzufangen, ihrer Erwartungen vom Unterrichten und von der Ausbildung, sowie ihrer ersten Erfahrungen als auszubildende Lehrer. Eine Anzahl von allgemeinen Themen wurden in allen diesen Bereichen festgestellt und sind hier als Kernmerkmale des Ausbildungsverfahrens dargestellt. Diese beziehen sich auf das Konzept der Lehreridentität, auf die Rolle von Beziehungen, auf die Idee der Relevanz, sowie auf die zentrale Präsenz von Emotionen.     

Building caring relationships between a teacher and students in a teacher preparation program word-by-word, moment-by-moment

Our purpose was to illustrate the process by which caring relationships between students and their teacher educator developed in the context of preservice reading preparation that made use of online communication as one class activity. Describing the development of caring relationships between three students and their teacher, we showed that caring could not be considered a one-way characteristic of what teachers do and are, but rather that it depended on students’ reciprocal responses. Findings indicated that the trajectories of caring relationships developed differently, each influenced by differences in entering expectations, critical events, and a negotiation of what the relationship meant.     

Improving teacher preparation and selection: lessons from the Pennsylvania experience

This paper examines Pennsylvania's teacher preparation and selection processes over the last decade. Teacher test scores are examined across colleges of education, and extreme differences in teacher test scores are found. Also, extreme variations are evident among districts' employed teachers. A unique survey of district employment practices reveals that, on average, 40% of a district's teachers previously attended there as students. An exploratory econometric model indicates that the higher the unemployment rate in a district, the more likely it will hire its former students to teach, and that the greater the fraction of former students now in the district's teacher force, the lower is student achievement. The paper concludes with a discussion of conventional and unconventional strategies to improve the quality of teachers actually hired by school boards.     

Re-visioning one's Narratives: Exploring the relationship between researcher self-study and teacher research

This paper is concerned with the relationship of self-study to a non-self-study methodology used in a teacher study. The study was intended to involve 18 kindergarten to Grade 12 teachers in “bringing memory forward” through looking back on their narratives, producing an autobiography and discussing familiar texts in relation to unfamiliar ones. Conceived separately from the researcher's self-studies, this methodology can be traced back to the researcher's own memory work. The paper explores the complex relationship between researcher self-study and teacher research, arguing that one builds on the other but that pedagogical, theoretical, and methodological reasons exist for also keeping them distinct. The primary pedagogical reason is to allow teachers the freedom to acknowledge the stories that have been formative for them and to critically engage those narratives.     

Producing caring qualified teachers: An exploration of the influence of pre-service teacher concerns on learner-centeredness

In a time where students in the United States academic performance continues to lag behind in the international rankings, a disconcerting phenomenon in concerns literature indicates that pre-service and in-service teachers report low levels of concerns regarding the effect implementation of educational innovations have on students. This study explored the relationship of pre-service teachers' learner-centeredness and their concerns related to how learner-centered education affects students. Results indicated that as learner-centeredness increased, so did concerns about student outcomes. Implications for teacher education programmes in the US and abroad will be discussed.     

Policy interventions in teacher education: sharing the English experience

Over the last 40 years, teacher education in England has been the focus of a stream of ‘reforms’ with the ultimate aim of placing provision into schools, the justification for such a radical policy being that higher education is alleged to be failing to provide good quality teachers thereby compromising the social and economic development of the country. The process whereby these reforms have been introduced is described and then used as a way of comparing and contrasting the way in which similar reforms can be identified in the international teacher education communities represented in this special issue of the Journal of Education for Teaching (JET). The paper closes by identifying lessons that can be learned from international comparators.     

Exploring the challenge of developing student teacher data literacy

Abstract

A number of trends are converging to drive the need for more informed teacher data use. These include advocacy for formative assessment and the need for teachers to account for student learning. In this context, assessment literacy and data literacy have emerged as a focus in research and professional development. Problematically, research signals that developing assessment/data literacy is challenging with evidence that teachers may not have mastered relevant aspects of mathematics and statistics. This paper reports lecturer, student teacher and school leader views of the role and requirements of data literacy using data from a larger study into how to foster student teacher mathematical thinking for the breadth of teacher professional work. Data were generated via interviews, surveys and document analysis. Findings suggest a concern and opportunity to develop assessment/data literacy as this calls on mathematical and statistical understanding.     

Exploring associations between supervisory support,teacher burnout and classroom emotional climate: the moderating role of pupil teacher ratio

Abstract

In previous studies on classroom emotional climate (CEC), factors related to teacher’s working conditions have rarely been included. Thus, in the current study, we examined associations between supervisory support, teacher burnout and CEC, and whether pupil teacher ratio (PTR) moderated this association, applying a randomised-control trial design. Participants were students from 300 classes at the end of grade 1, and 300 teachers. Structural equation modelling (SEM) revealed significant relations between supervisory support and teacher burnout and between teacher burnout and CEC. Supervisory support was indirectly related to CEC through teacher burnout. Finally, PTR moderated the association between teacher burnout and CEC.     

对加拿大和中国教师教育的探究:一个跨文化的对话

This article compares teacher education in China with Canada, with the aim of fostering a cross-cultural dialogue between the two systems. Using case studies the article attempts to address the following questions: What can the two countries learn from each other? Can Canadian teacher education be a possible alternative model for China? Can Canada’s teacher education curriculum be used to enhance greater pedagogical preparation and more pre-service teaching practice for China? Is Canada’s move towards strengthening professionalism in teaching of value to China?