Understanding the approaches to the teaching of religious education of pre-service primary teachers: The influence of religio-scientific frameworks

This paper explores what foundational concepts pre-service primary teachers are employing when they teach religious education. The study measured the attitudes to science and its relationship to religion of 92 pre-service primary teachers. Analysis of extended interviews with eight of the pre-service primary teachers illustrated how specific religio-scientific frameworks could be linked to distinct differences in approach to the teaching of religious education. The implications for teacher education were then discussed, as well as the necessity to integrate the teaching of religion and science into the design of future pedagogical approaches.     

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.     

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.     

Peer coaching and pre-service teachers: Examining an underutilised concept

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of peer coaching on the classroom practices of pre-service teachers. Four teacher interns learned peer coaching functions and techniques before participating in coaching cycles with their peers. Pairs of participants reciprocally observed classes, collected data, and held conferences. Multiple forms of data were collected and analyses reveal that training was adequate. Findings show that peer coaching altered current teaching practices, but a trend of making suggestions for improvement without affirming strengths was also evident. Recommendations for integrating peer coaching in the pre-service curriculum are provided.     

Reflection on the teaching-learning process in the initial training of teachers. Characterization of the issues on which pre-service mathematics teachers reflect

Our aim was to highlight the issues of the reflections of pre-service mathematics teachers in their learning portfolio about the teaching-learning process taking place in a university teacher-training classroom. Category systems were designed which, together with the analysis system used, could provide a method helpful to teacher educators, teachers and to future research. The pre-service teachers showed difficulty in considering themselves as ‘authentic’ mathematics teachers. The study revealed that the preparation of a portfolio can help pre-service teachers learn more about themselves and provide educators insight into how to help pre-service mathematics teachers engage in the teaching-learning process.     

Mathematics teachers’ “learning to notice” in the context of a video club

This study examines changes in teachers’ thinking as they participated in a video club designed to help them learn to notice and interpret students’ mathematical thinking. First, we investigate changes in teachers’ talk about classroom video segments before and after participation in the video club. Second, we identify three paths along which teachers learned to notice students’ mathematical thinking in this context: Direct, Cyclical, and Incremental. Finally, we explore ways the video club context influenced teacher learning. Understanding different forms of teacher learning provides insight for research on teacher cognition and may inform the design of video-based professional development.     

Hidden labor in the mentoring of pre-service teachers: Notes from a mentor teacher advisory council

This article argues that mentoring reflects a form of hidden labor within pre-service teacher education. Using Marx’s concern for the ways in which aspects of an economic system are rendered invisible, the article draws on discussions from an American mentor teacher advisory council to illuminate otherwise marginalized aspects of mentors’ work. Meeting data reveal challenging dynamics of initiative, complications in determining teaching opportunities, and unique positions taken up by mentors during transitions in authority. The authors argue for the creation of “intersection contexts” where the voices of various constituencies in the mentoring of pre-service teachers can be heard.     

The impact of a field immersion program on pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward teaching in culturally diverse classrooms

Understanding of community, and a positive attitude toward cultural diversity are critical components in the preparation of teachers. This study sought to influence both, through on-site coursework and a long-term field placement at a culturally diverse urban elementary school. Participants were predominately single, white females from suburban communities. Questionnaire responses suggest that this immersion program improved the attitudes of these pre-service teachers. Findings support the idea that a targeted field placement, support from peers and teachers, and meaningful coursework facilitates the preparation of culturally responsive teachers—even for those with little or no prior experience in culturally diverse communities.     

Reconceptualising professional experiences in pre-service teacher education…reconstructing the past to embrace the future

This paper provides a conceptual framework for developing high-quality professional experiences for pre-service teachers. The paper begins with a discussion of how professional experiences are conceptualised, structured and supervised in each of three orientations, which we have termed traditional, reflective and learning communities. We then describe a number of professional experience initiatives at two Australian universities, which are being reconceptualised around the notion of learning communities. We argue that framing professional experience around the notion of learning communities has the potential to support pre-service teachers to work with their peers and mentor teachers in more collegial and reciprocal ways.     

Exploring Australian pre-service teachers sense of efficacy,its sources,and some possible influences

Beginning teachers that posses a good sense of efficacy are less likely to suffer stress, burnout, or attrition. This study reports final-year Australian pre-service primary teachers sense of efficacy scores and the sources of information that contributed to it. Results showed that our beginning teachers had a good sense of efficacy, and classroom management was not differentiated from instructional or engagement efficacy. Further, personal qualities and physiological and affective states predicted self-efficacy scores, and having a number of opportunities to practice behaviour management skills was associated with a higher sense of efficacy. Implications for teacher education are discussed.     

The impact of a combined cognitive-affective intervention on pre-service teachers’ attitudes, knowledge, and anticipated professional behaviors regarding homosexuality and gay and lesbian issues

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a cognitive-affective intervention the attitudes, knowledge, and anticipated professional behaviors regarding homosexuality and gay and lesbian issues of pre-service teachers in the United States. Sixty-seven participants were randomly assigned either to a control group (n = 34) or an experimental group (n = 33). Pre-test and post-test means were compared using paired-samples t-tests to determine the impact of the intervention. Data analysis revealed significant positive changes in the pre-service teachers’ attitudes and knowledge about homosexuality, as well as their anticipated professional behaviors with respect to homosexual students and their families.     

A study of novice teachers: Challenges and supports in the first years

In recent years, it has been reported that an alarming number of teachers are leaving the profession in the first three years after graduation from a pre-service program. This phenomenon is common in North America and it is essential that educators identify the challenges surrounding new teachers and provide supports to assist them. The vast majority of literature surrounding new teacher induction and mentorship support is void of the Canadian context and the novice teacher voice. In this study, Ontario graduates from a two year pre-service program were surveyed and 5 teachers were selected for case studies. Participants found administrative leadership, refining the mentorship selection process, hiring practices, and district-sponsored supports as positive factors necessary for them to grow into the profession.     

It's not all about school: Ways of disrupting pre-service teachers' perceptions of pedagogy and communication

Many pre-service teachers enter teacher education with problematic or unexamined assumptions about learners and teaching. This article reports on an authentic learning opportunity offered to 22 pre-service teachers in their first year at university, which attempts to disrupt these perceptions about learning and pedagogy. Using a new application of Butin's conceptual framework we show that during the project these participants developed more complex notions of learners and ways of making meaning. We argue that these ‘real-world’ experiences, when offered before pre-service teachers begin practicum in schools, provide more ‘resources’ to problematise the practices and institutional discourses encountered in schools.     

Consonance and dissonance in a study abroad program as a catalyst for professional development of pre-service teachers

This research examines the experiences of elementary and early childhood pre-service teachers from the U.S. engaged in a month long study abroad internship program in England. Using data from participants written journals, we use a hermeneutic approach to interrogate their evolving sense of professional development and their understanding of cultural differences in the internship in England. Informed by a theoretical framework of consonance and dissonance (Cochran-Smith, M. (1991). Reinventing student teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 42(2), 104–118), the emerging themes were related to the school context, the teacher's role, the learners, the buildings, and the community. Implications are for planning and facilitation of pre-service teachers study abroad experiences are discussed.     

Pre-service teachers’ use of the objective knowledge framework for reflection during practicum

This empirical study, conducted in a Canadian university, argues that the objective knowledge growth framework (OKGF), a self-directed reflective approach, can contribute to the professional development of pre-service teachers in dealing with the complexities of teaching. The paper seeks to answer the following research question: How do pre-service teachers use the OKGF as a self-directed professional development tool to solve teaching practice issues that arise during their practicum? It offers a critical analysis of 24 pre-service teachers’ use of the OKGF, as well as the trends in their application and interpretation of the OKGF in solving issues of teaching practice during practicum.     

Professional vision and the politics of teacher learning

This article explores the political dimensions of teacher learning, both in theoretical work on teacher professional vision, and in an empirical study of video-based teacher professional development. Theoretically, we revisit the origins of “professional vision” in linguistic anthropology and trace the concept’s evolution in teacher education research, demonstrating how its political dimension has been overlooked. We explore the implications of re-asserting the politics of professional vision through examination of a video-based teacher development programme conducted in an English primary school. We describe this research, investigate the contestation of teacher and researcher professional visions, and discuss implications for professional development practice.     

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.     

Valuing practice over theory: How beginning teachers re-orient their practice in the transition from the university to the workplace

This paper is about the experiences of beginning teachers in turning theory learned in universities into practice in the workplace. The research is situated in the context of a pre-service teacher education programme that explicitly and deliberately seeks to bridge the theory-practice gap in teacher education. The paper argues that, despite long-standing awareness of the theory-practice gap as a central issue faced by beginning teachers, attempts by teacher educators to address this issue remain thwarted. The argument draws on interview and focus group data collected via a study of 1st year graduate teachers of an Australian pre-service teacher education programme. The theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism is used to focus on the meanings that graduates have of their experiences of turning theory into practice. The data suggest that prospective teachers during pre-service training value both the theory that they learn on campus and the practice that they observe in schools. However, once they become practitioners, they privilege the latter. Upon entry to the workplace, graduates come to associate good practice with that of the veteran teacher, whose practice and cache of resources they seek to emulate.     

The multidimensionality of multicultural service learning: The variable effects of social identity, context and pedagogy on pre-service teachers’ learning

Multicultural service learning (MSL) seeks to develop pre-service teachers’ capacities and commitment to teach diverse student populations. We use multiple regression analyses of survey data collected from 212 pre-service teachers engaged in 22 MSL sites to assess the effects of pre-service teachers’ social identities, MSL contexts, and university pedagogy on pre-service teachers’ awareness of cultural bias, understanding of social inequality, and commitment to teaching diverse students. We find that pedagogical engagement positively contributes to all three outcomes. Pre-service teacher’s social identities and MSL contextual factors, however, have variable effects. We explore the pedagogical and research implications of this multidimensionality.     

Opening the black box of field experiences: How cooperating teachers' beliefs and practices shape student teachers' beliefs and practices

This study employed ethnographic methods to describe and explain changes to beginning science teachers' (n = 6) practices and beliefs during a year long internship. Teaching practices were strongly influenced by the cooperating teachers. Initially, all six interns attempted to re-enact lessons they witnessed their cooperating teachers teach, including following lesson structures and borrowing representations, anecdotes, and jokes. Later, they independently implemented instruction that emphasized similar strategies as their mentors, regardless of whether or not they were experiencing success. Interns who were successful also shifted their beliefs to match their mentors.