Teacher education, preservice teacher beliefs, and the moral work of teaching

This paper presents a case for attending to preservice teachers’ beliefs that are relevant to the moral work of teaching within teacher education research and practice, and examines what it would look like to do so. The case for attending to candidate beliefs is grounded in a learner-centered approach to teacher education and in the literature on the role of beliefs in teacher learning and change. The authors demonstrate how attending to preservice teacher beliefs is particularly critical for the task of preparing candidates for the moral work of teaching, and present a conceptual framework that can guide that task and teacher education research and practice designed to support it.     

A multifaceted approach to teacher induction

The purpose of this study was to determine the implementation and effectiveness of the components of two middle school induction programs through the perceptions of three participant groups – new teachers, mentor teachers, and principals. Effectiveness was defined as a systematic processes embedded in a healthy school climate that met new teachers' personal and professional needs. Data indicated that each element of the induction program – principal and new teacher interaction; mentor teachers; collaborative structures; professional development; and new teacher orientation – met different needs of the new teacher. This multifaceted approach appeared to effectively support new teachers.     

Examining the aesthetic dimensions of teaching: Relationships between teacher knowledge,identity and passion

Having an appreciation for the subject, their students and what the subject can offer their students has both cognitive and emotional dimensions for teachers. This paper uses empirical data to explore the efficacy of a Deweyan inspired framework called “Aesthetic Understanding” to scrutinise relationships between teacher knowledge, identity and passion. The paper uses case study data of three teachers of maths and/or science generated from a video study to illustrate the relationships between the three elements of Aesthetic Understanding. The need to value the aesthetic dimensions of teaching when examining the subject-specific nature of secondary teaching is discussed.     

Teachers’ moral values and their interpersonal relationships with students and cultural competence

This study explored whether and how teachers’ beliefs about moral values are reflected in the student-teacher relationships (i.e. levels of control and affiliation in teachers’ and students’ perceptions of this relationship), and in teachers’ cultural competence. A positive association was found between teachers’ paternalist beliefs and their own perceptions of control. A negative association was found between teachers’ liberal beliefs and students’ perceptions of affiliation. Positive associations were found between teachers’ liberal beliefs and the metacognitive and motivational components of cultural competence. We discuss the implications for preparation of teachers to reflect on the manifestations of their beliefs in practice.     

The power of the ‘object’ to influence teacher induction outcomes

In this paper we explore newly qualified New Zealand secondary teachers’ varied accounts of induction. We claim that multiple interpretations of objectives for induction programs are a significant source of this variation. With reference to an activity system framework, we identify four primary objects of induction that were represented in the induction accounts as follows: ‘orientation to learning about the context’, ‘fitting into the school’, ‘completing registration requirements’, and ‘becoming a professional inquirer’. Whilst teachers would be expected to experience all of these objects within their induction experiences, the balance and emphases of these objects within programs varied considerably.     

The Perceptions of Success Inventory for Beginning Teachers: Measuring its psychometric properties

This study investigated the construction and evaluation of an instrument called the Perceptions of Success Inventory for Beginning Teachers (PSI-BT) intended to measure factors documented in research that contribute to beginning teachers’ perceptions of success. The PSI-BT was found to assess the following factors using exploratory factor analysis: (1) Administrative Support, (2) Classroom Climate, (3) Mentor Support, (4) Colleague and Instructional Resource Support, (5) Commitment, and (6) Assignment and Workload. Internal reliability, content validity, and concurrent validity were also measured in the validation process. Our findings suggest that the PSI-BT provides a reliable and valid instrument that can provide schools with valuable feedback to ensure the success of their beginning teachers.     

Ethical and moral matters in teaching and teacher education

The author reviews a set of articles on ethical and moral matters in teaching and teacher education previously published by Teaching and Teacher Education. Comparisons are made and a summary of findings offered.     

University teacher competencies in a virtual teaching/learning environment: Analysis of a teacher training experience

This paper attempts to shed light on the competencies a university teacher must have in order to teach in virtual learning environments. A teacher training experience was designed by taking into account the methodological criteria established in line with previous theoretical principles. The main objective of our analysis was to identify the achievements and difficulties in a specific formative experience in order to assess the suitability of this conceptual-methodological framework for the design of training proposals aiming to develop teachers’ competencies for virtual environments in higher education.     

Situated learning theory and the pedagogy of teacher education: Towards an integrative view of teacher behavior and teacher learning

Lave and Wenger have greatly influenced existing views of learning and teaching, but relatively little has been written about the implications for the understanding of teacher behavior and teacher learning, and for the pedagogy of teacher education. Based on their work, a three-level model of learning is used to analyze the friction between teacher behavior in practice and the wish to ground teachers' practices in theory. Supported by empirical data on teacher learning and brain research, this model reconciles the situated learning perspective with traditional cognitive theory, and leads to concrete implications for the pedagogy of teacher education.     

A framework for teaching learning: the dynamics of disposition

This paper draws on examples from New Zealand early childhood settings to illustrate a dynamic approach to learning dispositions. It sets out three dimensions along which a ‘learning curriculum’ can strengthen valued responses to learning opportunities: increasing their frequency and robustness, widening their domain, and deepening their complexity and competence. It is suggested that learning environments can be variously affording, inviting or potentiating (powerful) and that in potentiating learning environments teachers explain, orchestrate, commentate on, model and reify learning responses, and frequently the families and children participate in these processes as well. Although the question of ‘what’ learning dispositions is set aside, the paper argues that it is better for teachers in early childhood settings and classrooms to be explicit about valued responses and their trajectories than to leave them implicit, and therefore often unacknowledged and unattended.     

Capturing the différance: Primary school teacher identity in Tanzania

Research into teacher identity can generate insights into how teachers contribute and respond to change. Researchers face the challenge of representing findings that are useful at the policy level but do not essentialise the collective identity of a diverse occupational group. This article represents the findings of a study of primary school teachers in Tanzania in a way that recognises continuity over time. The relationship between practice and identity is explored and implications are drawn for the introduction of educational innovation.     

Preparing teacher leaders: Perceptions of the impact of a cohort-based, job embedded, blended teacher leadership program

This qualitative study was designed to examine teachers’ and principals’ perceptions of the impact of a graduate program designed to prepare teacher leaders. Impact was investigated through interviews with 20 graduates and 6 principals. Using Mezirow’s concept of transformational learning, the study documents perceived transformation of teachers’ frames of reference: two related to teaching (adopt an inquiry stance; learn to view oneself as an autonomous professional), and two related to leadership (adopt a leadership stance; view student learning as a communal responsibility). The study includes implications for the design of graduate level teacher education programs to enhance their impact and effectiveness.     

Looking for Daisy: constructing teacher identities

Research on teacher identities is both important and increasing. In this forum contribution I re-interpret assertions about an African American science teacher’s identities in terms of Jonathon Turner’s (2002) constructs of role identity and sub-identity. I contest the notion of renegotiation of identities, suggesting that particular role identities can be brought to the foreground and then backgrounded depending on the situation and the need to confirm a sub-identity. Finally, I recommend the inclusion of teachers’ voices in identity research through greater use of co-authoring roles for teachers.

Sexuality,schooling, and teacher identity formation: A critical pedagogy for teacher education

Offering an alternative to normative teacher education that excludes meaningful sexuality and gender education from its curriculum, this article presents a critical teacher education multicultural curriculum based in the United States that included an autoethnographic narrative assignment as reflective space for teacher candidates to consider their identities as shaped by lived experiences with gender and sexuality. Using a categorical analysis of a cohort of 38 teacher candidate autoethnographies, discussed are insights revealed about their lived histories. Patterns included gender identification, heteronormativity, patriarchy, sex education, schooling experiences, teacher complicity, and teacher identity effects and sense of agency along with implications for educating future teachers.     

Coping strategies for adaptation to new teacher appointments: Intervention for retention

Findings are presented from a qualitative longitudinal collective case study of 29 teachers newly appointed to rural or remote schools in Western Australia. All participants experienced stress and articulated coping strategies in response: direct-action, palliative and avoidant strategies. Where protective structures and processes existed in environments, teachers employed direct-action problem-solving strategies. Avoidant strategies were more common in young and mature-aged novices, rather than experienced teachers.Three critical times were identified to support adaptation: first weeks of appointment for information, first semester for assistance, support, feedback for development of competence and three months before the year-end for stability and certainty.     

In pursuit of teacher quality in diversity: A study of the selection mechanisms of new secondary teacher education programmes in Taiwan

As the definition of teacher quality changes with time, the selection mechanism of students into teacher education programmes may also change accordingly. In Taiwan, before the 1994 teacher education reform, selection of pre-service students was based solely on academic achievement. Afterwards, the selection was delegated to individual teacher education programmes with varied missions for teacher education. This study examines the degree of diversity and selectivity of the selection mechanisms of these programmes. Data from 48 programmes, including institutional documents, telephone inquiries and governmental reports, were collected and analysed. The results show that the selection mechanisms of these programmes are diverse enough to reflect a variety of characteristics of teacher quality, and rigorous enough to ensure a certain level of quality. Related issues on teacher selection are further discussed.     

Dialogue as a catalyst for teacher change: A conceptual analysis

Teacher–teacher dialogue is a central activity within many professional learning programmes. Understanding how and why dialogue works as an effective tool for teacher change is a question, however, that needs more careful probing in the extant literature. In this paper, I draw upon the philosophical theory of practical reason in order to show why and how teacher–teacher dialogue plays such a crucial role in the evolution of teacher practice. This conceptual analysis also builds our understanding as to the kinds of teacher–teacher dialogues that are more likely to be effective at catalysing teacher learning.     

Understanding teacher learning in secondary education: The relations of teacher activities to changed beliefs about teaching and learning

In this study, relations between learning activities of teachers and changes in their beliefs were examined. Thirty-four teachers in Dutch secondary education were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their beliefs about teaching and learning on two occasions. They were also asked to report on learning activities that they undertook. Teachers who had changed their beliefs in a direction congruent with the aims of recent educational reforms often reported experimentation with colleagues' teaching methods. Teachers who changed their beliefs in a direction that was not congruent with the reform often reported experimentation with alternative methods due to discontent with the effectiveness of current methods.     

道德生活体验:青年道德学习的实践基础

道德学习应该是一种贴近生活的实践活动。联系青年的生活实际,通过创设一个个具有真实性的道德体验情境,引发青年自主探究,在实践中激发情感体验,是青年道德学习的一种有效途径。