Exploring the Popperian Framework in a Pre‐service Teacher Education Program

The study reported in this article is derived from a critical analysis of the work of 28 pre‐service teachers enrolled in the course “Teaching elementary language arts” in a Bachelor of Education concurrent program in a southern State university. The pre‐service teachers were taught how to use an innovative knowledge‐building framework based on the ideas of the philosopher of science, Karl Popper. Two samples of pre‐service teachers’ writing were analyzed to provide evidence of whether they support the occurrence of growth and development of professional knowledge. This study provides some indication of Popper’s framework potential as an effective critical analysis framework for achieving this goal.     

“These Things Do Not Ring True to Me”: Preservice Teacher Dispositions to Social Justice Literature in a Remote State Teacher Education Program

This study describes preservice teachers’ (PTs) dispositions toward diversity education in a remote small town university. The purpose of the study is to find out whether PTs in an undergraduate elementary literacy methods class in this locale are willing to accept and adopt multicultural children’s and youth literature as pedagogical tools and materials in their future classrooms to address race and social justice topics. I used epistemology (i.e., the knowledge system, Scheurich and Young in Edu Res 26(4):4–16, 1997), interest convergence (Bell in Harv Law Rev 93(3):518–533, 1980), and field (i.e., setting, Bourdieu 1986) to analyze the qualitative data from this context. The findings highlight significant issues for teacher educators concerning development of critical consciousness among preservice teachers in small remote regions. Implications for social justice concerns and pedagogical recommendations are included for teacher educators to consider including social justice literature in their literacy methods classes.     

Changes in Child–Teacher Relationships in a Therapeutic Preschool Program

The purpose of this paper was to examine the processes and outcomes of teacher–child attachment relationship formation in a therapeutic preschool. Although the average child did not form a secure teacher–child attachment relationship, as a group and over time children became more secure in their teacher–child attachment relationships. Children who were least secure, most avoidant, and most resistant in their initial teacher–child relationship were the children who moved the most rapidly towards security. Children who moved the most rapidly towards security were the least resistant, and most likely to seek comfort within their teacher–child relationships by the final data collection point.     

Preservice Secondary Science Teachers’ Teaching and Reflections During a Teacher Education Program

The 39 preservice teachers (PSTs) who participated in this study were enrolled in a masters program for secondary science teacher certification. Initially they held broad ideas about teaching and learning gleaned from their own experiences. Guided by the program course work, some PSTs embraced the pedagogical approaches introduced in the program, applied them in their teaching, and reflected on the outcomes. Their reflections showed that they were focused on keeping all of their students interested in science and on student participation in the process of meaning-making. Some PSTs embraced the program goals but struggled to achieve them in teaching. Others focused on transmission of content and did not attempt to develop an environment of student agency. There were nine career-changer PSTs and most of them remained teacher-centered throughout the program. The implications of student- and teacher-centered approaches adopted by the PSTs and the rationales provided by them are discussed in the paper.     

Teachers’ Longitudinal NOS Understanding After Having Completed a Science Teacher Education Program

The study reported here investigated experienced teachers’ views on several nature of science (NOS) issues 2 to 5 years after they completed a demanding secondary science teacher education program in which the NOS was an extensive and recurring component. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed to determine study participants’ NOS understanding. Study participant’s NOS views were determined to be generally accurate and robust, suggesting that experiences in their science teacher education program had a long-lasting positive impact on NOS understanding. The preservice program that study participants completed has several unique features that may account for that long-lasting impact and has implications for preservice and inservice science teacher education professional development.     

Teachers’ Longitudinal NOS Understanding After Having Completed a Science Teacher Education Program

The study reported here investigated experienced teachers’ views on several nature of science (NOS) issues 2 to 5 years after they completed a demanding secondary science teacher education program in which the NOS was an extensive and recurring component. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed to determine study participants’ NOS understanding. Study participant’s NOS views were determined to be generally accurate and robust, suggesting that experiences in their science teacher education program had a long-lasting positive impact on NOS understanding. The preservice program that study participants completed has several unique features that may account for that long-lasting impact and has implications for preservice and inservice science teacher education professional development.

     

Lesson Study: towards a collaborative approach to learning in Initial Teacher Education?

Lesson Study (LS) case studies were conducted in two secondary school teaching practice placements in England. Using Dudley’s framework, Geography and Modern Languages trainees and school-based colleagues collaboratively planned a ‘research lesson’. This was taught by the mentor while the trainee and other teachers observed the learning of three ‘focus’ students. The lesson was reviewed and revised for teaching to a parallel group by the trainee and the cycle of observation and evaluation was repeated. In post-lesson study interviews, analysed from a Communities of Practice perspective, mentors claimed that LS facilitated rapid integration of the prospective teacher into departmental working practices while trainees claimed they benefited from the team approach inherent in LS. The process enabled participants to explore collaboratively the ‘pedagogic black-box’ enriching the experience and learning of both trainees and mentors. Successfully integrated, LS improves support for teacher development in teaching practice placements.     

The Association Between a Community College’s Teacher Education Program and the 4-year Graduation Rates of Black and Hispanic Teacher Education Students

ABSTRACT

In response to a shortage of qualified Black and Hispanic teachers, community colleges (CC) have developed certificate programs and Associate of Arts degrees in teacher education to address shortages of minority teachers in the nation’s classrooms. We examined one CC’s effectiveness in transferring Black and Hispanic students to university teacher education programs and the association with Black and Hispanic students graduating with a bachelor’s degree. We compared enrollment and transfer student data for the 2003 community college teacher education program cohort to graduation data for native-to-university students of two 4-year universities. Data were analyzed using chi square and phi coefficients. The CC Black and Hispanic students graduated at the same rates as the native-to-university students and higher than their peers of the same races, regardless of major, who began at 2-year colleges at the national level. We encourage CC teacher education programs to invest resources to increase enrollment of Black and Hispanic students to address the growing need for minority teachers to serve in urban communities.     

Creating Community in Teacher Education Classes with Hogwarts-style “Houses”

Abstract

The author successfully implemented the “House” system in a university social studies methods class and reports on the positive results that ensued. Students reported a sense of unity, camaraderie, identity, and closeness that was missing in many of their other classes. The House assignments and competitions are described, as well as ideas for other ways to use the House system.     

The Significance of Physical Education Content: “Sending the Message” in Physical Education Teacher Education

Mind-body dualism has likely influenced how many view human beings and their behavior—mind (i.e., thinking) is elevated over body (i.e., performing)—even in Physical Education Teacher Education. The problem is that such a perspective makes physical education content (i.e., dance, games, play, and sport) subsidiary to more “intellectual” or “academic” content. This article invites Physical Education Teacher Education faculty to consider how to effectively “send the message” to future physical educators that physical education content is valuable and respectable and in many ways epitomizes intelligent human behavior. Specifically, Physical Education Teacher Education faculty are invited to (a) challenge traditional definitions of intelligence and introduce alternative definitions, (b) participate regularly in their own playgrounds, (c) provide a sufficient dose of activity courses in their curricula, (d) teach activity courses, (e) establish a performance-oriented culture, and (f) administer performance and/or game play evaluations.     

What Ought to Be Done to Promote Education for Sustainability in Teacher Education?

Teachers are major players in the development of future citizens who have the knowledge, understanding, skills, values and dispositions to respond to existential threats such as climate change, land degradation, sea level rise and population growth. Yet, this type of education, often captured under the name of Education for Sustainability (EfS), is often rejected by teacher educators and, thereby, mostly not included in the education of future teachers. This paper draws on learning from a long-term collaborative project to argue for the promotion of EfS in teacher education and to offer a set of propositions or strategies for doing so. The paper will interest academics and researchers within and beyond teacher education who are interested in change towards sustainability through education.     

When the “Other” Is the Teacher: Implications of Teacher Diversity in Higher Education

The Urban Review - Using qualitative methods, I explore these questions: What is it like for women of color to teach in predominantly white universities? What happens in the classroom of a...     

Do the Study of Education and Teacher Education Belong at a Liberal Arts College?

The question whether the study of education and teacher education belong at a liberal arts college deserves careful consideration. In this essay Bruce Kimball analyzes and finds unpersuasive the three principled rationales that are most often advanced on behalf of excluding educational studies, teacher education, or both from a liberal arts college. Specifically, Kimball argues that no principled definition of the conventional liberal arts disciplines excludes the study of education without barring other fields now regarded as legitimate, and consistency demands that all such fields be excluded if any are. In addition, teacher education, even if considered as merely “craft know‐how” or as professional training, cannot be excluded from liberal arts colleges without arbitrarily classifying it as suspect and subjecting it to strict scrutiny. But the question of whether educational studies or teacher education fit any asserted definition of liberal education does not finally resolve the question of whether they belong in a liberal arts college. Kimball concludes by suggesting that there are moral and prudential reasons for liberal arts colleges to offer teacher education and, concomitantly, the study of education, even apart from the unpersuasive objections that they do not fit a definition of liberal education.     

Who Cares About Caring in Early Childhood Teacher Education Programs?

The ability to care for oneself, near and distant others, animals, plants, human-made objects, and even ideas is an antidote for violence in its many forms as experienced in childhood as well as adulthood. This article makes a case for facilitating the development of the ability to care as children develop. The authors emphasize the importance of teachers facilitating this development. However, early education teachers may not be able to nurture the ability to care in others without the ability to care being facilitated in their own development. This article emphasizes the importance of creating caring teacher education programs as a model to foster its development in preservice early education teachers.     

Transforming Teacher Education in South Africa: a space‐time perspective

South Africa's most urgent and difficult project is to reconstruct all spheres of public life so as to establish enabling conditions for a flourishing and peaceful democracy. A viable education system with committed, competent and confident teachers is a primary condition for accomplishing these ends. This article offers a critical account of current attempts to transform teacher education and development. Against a sketch of inherited ways of using time and space in teacher education in South Africa, the article assesses change in three ‘spaces‘‐‐public space, evaluative space and pedagogical space‐‐and related changes in time. A fourth space of change‐‐institutional space‐‐is mentioned in so far as it affects the other three. I argue that the main direction of change is from insulated space and interrupted time to porous space and continuous time. While this direction has promising possibilities, it is not without pitfalls.