Transformational practice: critical teacher research in pre-service teacher education

This article traces the experiences of three pre-service teachers as they engaged in teacher research as part of their teacher education program and considers how teacher research might disrupt dominant paradigms that aim to de-contextualize teaching and offer one-size-fits-all solutions to address inequities. In particular, the article examines: the role of the teacher’s personal and academic history in the design of their teacher research projects; how their research worked to disrupt and complicate classroom cultures and practices; and the ways in which the pre-service teachers interpreted their research in light of new contexts during their first year of teaching. This work has critical implications in an era when teacher education programs are under attack, including: the value of drawing on pre-service teachers' lived experiences as an entry point into inquiry; creating highly localized inquiries; and positioning novice teachers as knowledgeable practitioners who are able to share research with colleagues.     

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.     

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.     

Engaging first year students using a Web-supported inquiry-based learning setting

This paper describes a study that explored the utility and efficacy of the application of a Web-based tool to promote learner engagement among first year students in a large class in an undergraduate communications degree. The Web-based tool was developed to support an inquiry-based learning approach that was characterised by strong learning scaffolds, meaningful contexts, feedback and support and administrative efficiencies. The study explored the forms of engagement that the Web-supported inquiry-based learning approach was able to engender among first year undergraduate students and the factors that were found to influence students’ levels of engagement and achievement in the approach.     

Teaching in rural Turkey: pre-service teacher perspectives

Despite preliminary findings that preparing teachers for rural positions is of great importance in Turkey’s conditions, little has been reported regarding the measures that need to be addressed in order to effectively prepare teachers for remote areas. In response to this gap, the present study aimed to provide some preliminary views about the expectations of pre-service teachers in relation to rural teaching from a qualitative research paradigm. Data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire from 115 senior pre-service teachers in a large Turkish university. Thematic analysis of the data revealed that participants had polarised views about the issue. While some of them viewed the experience positively, others highlighted the potential challenges. Pre-service teachers’ vague and dichotomous images concerning rural teaching suggested that they had some preconceptions formed through media representations or word of mouth. Implications for teacher education and professional development, along with directions for future research were included.     

Negotiating spaces: the in-betweeness of becoming a teacher

Pre-service teachers move through multiple learning communities during teacher education programs, arguably emerging as authentic insiders in teaching culture. In this case study, a critical perspective is offered by Ann, a First Nations learner who described her experience of teacher education, and how she came to question different aspects of her university program and practicum assignment which challenged her understandings of self. The experiences of pre-service teachers like Ann are often hidden from view, and what they perceive as shortcomings in programming are often unseen within institutional contexts. Ann articulated numerous gaps that still reside within teacher culture despite structures that are in place to address such gaps. The situated knowledge of pre-service teachers can offer alternative perspectives to guide the future of teacher education by drawing attention to shifts underway among students that will change the nature of professional practice.     

Science Education in Early Childhood Teacher Education: Putting Forward a Case to Enhance Student Teachers' Confidence and Competence

New Zealand is moving towards increased qualification requirements for early childhood educators. There is an underlying assumption that there is a correlation between quality early childhood education, teacher qualifications and quality practices in teaching and learning. Two fields of literature, early childhood pedagogy and science specific pedagogy, are reviewed briefly to provide a framework with which to consider why student teachers' attitudes, misunderstandings and misconceptions in science can limit their ability and willingness to create quality teaching and learning opportunities. The study reported in this paper highlights, in general, that early childhood student teachers' subject knowledge in science was poor. It also emerged that the student teachers were unaware of how little they knew and how this might affect their ability to provide appropriate science experiences for young children.     

地方高师院校转型过程中的教师教育发展策略

地方高师院校正处于向综合化发展的转型过程之中,这也是教师教育发展的必然趋势。为此,地方高师院校要创新办学理念、明确目标定位;优化培养模式,保证培养质量,坚持师范与非师范专业协调发展;注重教育学科教师队伍建设,以科研促进教学水平提高等。     

Pre-service education and attitudes towards inclusion: the role of the teacher educator within a permeated teaching model

This study examines the role of teacher educators working within a permeated teaching model in Northern Ireland, and student teachers' attitudes towards special educational needs (SEN) and inclusion. A cohort of 125 student teachers representing eight subject areas responded to a survey exploring attitudes towards issues relating to inclusive education. Interviews conducted with the subject teacher educators examined their beliefs about inclusion, personal efficacy and the extent to which the outworking of a permeated model was an effective method of programme delivery. The findings indicate that while student attitudes towards the philosophy of inclusion were generally positive, those of the teacher educators were not necessarily reflected in the views of their subject group. The research evidenced a lack of uniformity in approach in promoting inclusion and inclusive practices across subjects, suggesting that the use of a permeated model did not always provide equity of student experience when selection of course content was the choice of the individual subject tutor. Teacher educators identified lack of personal knowledge, time restrictions within the pre-service programme and lack of resources as the main barriers to effective practice in supporting student teachers' learning in SEN and inclusion.     

Pre-service teacher training in health and well-being in England: the state of the nation

This paper presents findings from a survey of pre-service teacher training institutions in England with regard to the provision of health and well-being education. It examines factors affecting the inclusion of health and well-being, and explores educational implications in light of the changing landscape of pre-service teacher education in England. Provision of health and well-being education is noticeably variable across institutions, and many course leaders are unclear about the coverage in their partner schools. Course leaders regard health and well-being as an important part of the curriculum, but the focus is usually on generic health-related themes such as child protection and behaviour management, which address Government priorities, rather than on specific topics such as education about diet, drugs, alcohol, smoking, sex and relationships and physical activity. The paper argues that these aspects should be addressed for pre-service teachers to have an increased sense of self-efficacy and become capable health promoters.     

From student to teacher: changes in preservice teacher educational beliefs throughout the learning-to-teach journey

Preservice teachers enter programs with beliefs about teaching and learning, constructed from prior schooling experiences. This longitudinal study examines preservice teachers’ K–12 memories, their initial educational beliefs, and the changes in those beliefs over their teacher education program. Analysis of questionnaires, interviews, work samples, and observations from six preservice teachers collected over a two-year period revealed that they initially believed that students were similar to themselves, that teaching was simple and autonomous, that students perform uniformly within grade levels, and that teaching ensures learning. At program’s end, however, they believed that students differ from one another and from themselves, that teaching is complex, that classroom freedom has limits, that differentiation is essential, and that teaching does not ensure learning. The data suggested a common progression from initial idealism, to cognitive dissonance, to a search for an authentic teaching persona, and finally, to confidence in their new role as teacher.     

职前教师教育中的“用电影教”——意义、主题与过程的分析

职前教师教育项目所进行的教学改革,多是针对传统的“传递取向教学法”的不足而设计的,“用电影教”即为改革举措之一。“用电影教”能使教学适应职前教师的认知特点,促进教育理论与实践的联结,为职前教师的思考和讨论提供“催化剂”,并发展其技术品性。在职前教师教育中,“用电影教”可用于教授诸多学习主题,在教学过程上具有一定的灵活性,但也遵循一些共性的要求。对职前教师教育中的“用电影教”进行研究,能够为职前教师教育的教学法改革提供参考。     

Student identity construction in online teacher education: a narrative life history approach

This paper explores student identity construction through the narrative life history of one non-traditional student, engaged in teacher education in a non-traditional way – a fully online university degree course. The students within this course are all mature-aged. Most are female, and have already developed personal identities as partners, friends and mothers, as well as professional identities such as teacher aides. Adding the new identity of “student” to these already established roles has an impact on these participants’ actions, beliefs, experiences and hence on their identities. Further, the notion that they are now “pre-service teachers” forces students to consider their professional identity in new and sometimes uncomfortable ways. This paper explores the challenges for one student created by the need to negotiate this complexity. Through this exploration using narrative life history methods, the paper considers the implications of the experience of becoming a student and a teacher.     

试论高师教育类课程教学的三大理念

在高度强调教师专业发展和教师专业化的今天,高师教育类课程面临着凸显教师专业可持续发展教育功能的教学研究与改革要求。为了适应要求,高师教育类课程教学必需着眼于学生终身专业发展的潜能和后劲,树立以为学生奠定教师专业化基础为核心价值的教学理念;必需着眼于教师专业发展的素质,树立努力使学生全面获得对日后教育实践活动具有稳定而长效作用的元素的教学目标理念;必需着眼于学生的学习投入,树立促使学生全面发挥学习的能动性,让每个学生都成为充满勃勃生机的学习生命体的教学运作理念。     

A Conversation of Care: Unpacking and Engaging Pre-service Teacher Ideologies

Caring relationships are a core component in effective classrooms, and safe learning environments. As such, it is important for pre-service teachers to reflect on their own perceptions and experience regarding care and care within the classroom if they are to build upon that knowledge and grow as caring educators. In addition, teacher educators can learn more about the developing theories of care that exist within college classrooms, and utilize this knowledge in working with pre-service teachers to understand the power of care and relationships between students and teachers. The purpose of this article is to examine pre-service teacher perceptions of “care” and caring relationships within the classroom. How do pre-service teachers define “care”, and how do their experiences align with their personal beliefs? More importantly, how do these perspectives shape their teacher identity?     

Everyday life and everyday learning: the ways in which pre-service teacher education curriculum can encourage personal dimensions of teacher identity

This article presents and discusses the findings of a research project, the main objective of which is to identify curriculum components that promote personal development as a nuclear part of teacher professional identity formation through pre-service teacher education. Curriculum is viewed as an ecological scenario with different subsystems and both as formal and informal. Identity formation is conceived as an ever-provisional result of a double transaction: the biographical one and the relational one. The curricula of four different historical periods of pre-service teacher education in Portugal and the professional identity of teachers trained within them were characterised through collection and analysis of documents and biographical narratives. Crossing results from the four periods, the quality of school climate emerges as an important variable to the quality of the teachers’ identity. The lifelong learning ethos seems to emerge when the training curriculum connects everyday learning with everyday life, namely by urging the students’ involvement in school life, peer learning activities and peer and teacher educators’ informal learning activities.     

Core competencies and high leverage practices of the beginning teacher: a synthesis of the literature

Teacher competency frameworks comprise a number of competencies that enable a teacher to develop effective teaching practices. However, their conception, value, use and recognition vary widely. Equally, assessment and measurement of such competencies differ across contexts. More recently, a body of research has emerged which focuses the lens of teacher preparation on the inclusion of high leverage practices. The focus of this study is to report a synthesis of the literature pertaining to the ‘core competencies’ and ‘high leverage practices’ selected for inclusion in teacher preparation. A systematic review of the literature was conducted in order to synthesis available evidence. Results are presented in two sections; competency-based approaches; and high leverage practice approaches in teacher preparation. Findings are discussed from the perspective of epistemological and methodological questions emerging from the research and the implications for teacher preparation.     

Critical service-learning: promoting values orientation and enterprise skills in pre-service teacher programmes

Experiential learning pathways within education programmes such as Service-learning are a means to enrich the learning of pre-service teachers. As a pathway, Service-learning provides value-oriented learning focused on inclusion, diversity, and difference. This paper adopts critical social theory to examine how, along with these values, critical Service-learning promotes a deeper comprehension of values such as empathy, civic responsibility, social justice, and equity. Our paper also studies how, along with values, enterprise skills develop when pre-service teachers adopt a self-responsible, decision-making approach to implementing inclusion, social justice, and equity. Fifty-one data sets from interviews, questionnaires, and reflection logs with two groups of students over two semesters were examined to comprehend the unique experiences of students as they navigated through values and enterprise skills. The study concludes by reiterating the value of incorporating nontraditional ways of learning that align with the traditional pedagogical offerings for pre-service teachers.     

Written artefacts in post-conference feedback sessions: the running commentary as a support for teacher learning

Written artefacts often form a significant part of teacher education activities and play a crucial role in the dialogue between tutor and student teacher in a post-observation feedback session. However, although the dialogue of feedback sessions has been extensively researched, the role of the artefact has been less explored. This research examines how the written artefact of a running commentary guides or constrains the pedagogical conversation between tutor and student teachers, as well as how it represents the power and authority of the tutor and the teacher education establishment. The article concludes with implications for pre-service teacher education practice.