Towards diversity in teacher education: teacher preparation of immigrant teachers

Teacher education programs have been slow in responding to the increasing diversity in education systems and tertiary institutions. In this paper, we focus on the development of teacher education programs for immigrant teachers, drawing on interview and other data from a study of 110 teachers in programs at the Faculty of Education, University of Sydney, Australia. We argue that for teacher education programs to respond to the growing diversity they need four components: (i) ways to increase access for students from minority backgrounds; (ii) appropriate delivery modes and structures; (iii) inclusive curriculum along with a range of support programs for students; and (iv) incorporation of equity provisions into institutional structures.

Les programmes de formation des maîtres ont été lents à s'adapter à la diversité croissante des systèmes éducatifs et des institutions d'enseignement supérieur. Cette présentation est focalisée sur le développement des programmes de formation des maîtres ciblant les professeurs immigrés; elle est basée sur des interviews et autres données provenant d'une enquête effectuée auprès de 110 professeurs inscrits dans les programmes de la Faculté d'Education, à l'université de Sydney, en Australie. Notre argument est que si l'on veut que les programmes de formation des maîtres reflètent cette diversité croissante, quatre éléments sont nécessaires : (i) que l'accès à ces programmes soit facilité pour les étudiants appartenant à des minorités; (ii) que des structures et stratégies appropriées soient utilisées; (iii) que les cursus eux‐mêmes soient modifiés pour convenir à ces minorités et incluent une panoplie de programmes de soutien; et (iv) que des mesures égalitaires soient introduites dans les institutions au niveau des structures.

Los programas de educación para profesores han sido lentos para responder a la creciente diversidad en sistemas educacionales e instituciones terciarias. En este trabajo, nosotros enfocamos la atención en el desarrollo de programas educacionales para profesores inmigrantes, obtenidos de entrevistas y otros datos de un estudio de 110 profesores en programas en la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad de Sydney, Australia. Nosotros planteamos que para que los programas de educación para profesores respondan al aumento de la diversidad ellos requieren cuatro componentes: (i) se necesitan maneras de incrementar el acceso para estudiantes de origen de grupos minoritarios; (ii) se necesitan modos apropiados de distribución y estructuras; (iii) inclusive un currículo junto con un rango de programas de apoyo para estudiantes y, (iv) la incorporación de provisiones equitativas en las estructuras institucionales.

Ausbildungsprogramme für Lehrer haben nur langsam auf die wachsende ethnische Diversität in Ausbildungssystemen und pädagogischen Hochschulen reagiert. In diesem Referat konzentrieren wir uns auf die Entwicklung von Ausbildungsprogrammen für ausländische Lehrer und verwerten dabei Material aus Interviews sowie Angaben aus einer Studie von 110 Lehrern in Ausbildungsprogrammen an der pädagogischen Fakultät der Universität in Sydney, Australien. Wir argumentieren, dass vier Faktoren notwendig sind, damit diese Ausbildungsprogramme auf die wachsende ethnische Diversität eingehen: (i) benötigen wir Wege zu Erleichterung des Zugangs für Studenten, die einer ethnische Minorität angehören; (ii) angemessene Lehrmethoden und‐strukturen; (iii) ferner einen umfassenden Studien‐ und Lehrplan mit verschiedenen Hilfsprogrammen für Studenten, und (iv) die Eingliederung von Gleichheitsmaßnahmen in institutionelle Strukturen.     

Initial teacher education and trauma and violence informed care in the classroom: Preliminary results from an online teacher education course

A trauma-and-violence-informed-care (TVIC) system within an educational setting provides a framework of practice that enables schools to become safe and inclusive places for some of the most vulnerable students. Initial teacher education may provide the opportunity to prepare teachers to create classrooms and learning experiences that are safe, equitable, and meet students' needs. A mandatory mental health literacy course for second year teacher candidates in a Bachelor of Education program (n = 287) at a large Canadian university introduced TVIC concepts. A case study approach was used to illustrate both the challenges that students exposed to trauma and/or violence can experience, as well as strategies and knowledge that teachers can use to support these students. This program evaluation used a repeated measures design to survey both attitudes toward trauma informed care for teachers and self-efficacy for teaching using inclusive practices before and after the course. A significant effect of time on both measures revealed an increase in both participants' attitudes toward TVIC and their self-efficacy in using inclusive teaching practices. These findings provide support for the inclusion of these important topics for all teacher candidates. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.     

Exploring diversity through ethos in initial teacher education

This paper considers whether there is value in introducing student teachers to schools of different ethos as part of their initial teacher education. A 2-year study of undergraduate post-primary student teachers at a university college in Northern Ireland reveals that encounters with schools of different ethos can help student teachers to understand differences between schools and their visions of education, as well as correcting misunderstandings and challenging stereotypes. It is argued that as a result of experiencing diverse examples of ethos, student teachers may also be helped to understand the complexity of schools as organisations and to position themselves and their professional practice within wider debates about the aims of education and schools as communities of practice.     

The promise of experiential education in teacher education: transforming teacher beliefs and practices

Building from the theories of Dewey and Kolb and Fry, we sought to examine the impact of experiential education in teacher education on teacher beliefs and practices. The teacher education model described in this article sets out to challenge the seduction of the apprenticeship of observation and create an opportunity for in-service teachers to re-imagine their teaching in concrete and transformative ways. Immersed in a weeklong experiential residency in either the mountains or at a local environmental education farm, the teachers in the study were challenged physically, intellectually, socially, and emotionally in and through the experience. The experiential work ultimately led to changes in teacher participants’ beliefs and practices related to teacher and student roles and potentialities. Although challenges exist for this type of practice in K-12 classrooms and in teacher education, experiential education has a significant potential to change the way teachers think about and act in their practice.     

The workplace experiences of beginning teachers in three countries: a message for initial teacher education from the field

Previous research indicates that beginning teachers are not fully prepared for what awaits them in the workforce. This study highlights the value of partnerships among higher education providers, schools and employers and links the experiences of beginning teachers to initial teacher education (ITE). Real-life experiences from the field provide information regarding beginning teachers’ complex teaching positions that is beneficial to prospective teachers and teacher educators. This transnational qualitative study, completed in Norway, South Africa and Australia, adopted a Vygotskian social constructivist theoretical stance. Gadamer’s hermeneutic philosophy was applied to offer an in-depth understanding of the effects of classroom experiences on beginning teachers’ professional identities and feelings of ‘belonging’ and ‘at homeness’ in their positions. The results of this study highlight the school leaders’ perceptions of how well graduate teachers are prepared to meet the demands of the workforce. The study concludes by demonstrating the value of linking beginning teachers’ experiences to interventions and the development of ITE programmes. This study’s evidence-based findings support its recommendations for policy-makers and its reflections on the link between ITE and employment.     

Initial teacher education online: factors influencing the nature of interaction in computer conferencing

SUMMARY This article examines the use of text conferencing by student teachers at the University of Ulster. An asynchronous facility was utilised through the Northern Ireland Network for Education (NINE) website in order to reduce student isolation while on teaching practice, and to provide a real context in which students could enhance their ICT skills. The key factors influencing the nature of conferencing were identified and explored, principally, the extent of student and tutor involvement, and the availability of a link to conferencing systems in schools. Conferencing was most valued by students for reducing the sense of isolation on teaching practice. The results show that conferencing serves purposes that not only include but exceed the initial aims, and that it has become a tangible asset to the Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE).     

A demographic and epistemological divide: problematizing diversity and equity education in traditional,rural teacher education

This study documents the experience of an Asian woman faculty in the rural Mountain West as it relates to difficulties teaching predominantly White preservice teachers about the importance of diversity and social justice to prepare them adequately with skills and materials for their P-12 classrooms in a rapidly changing world. The current challenge has its origins in US history (the macro-level) and continues into the present (the micro-level) beyond the preservice teachers to include college of education colleagues and administrators, and community members. Using nexus analysis to reveal this larger picture, the hope is to develop actions to keep the problem from persisting into the future. This study is geography-specific in that not all rural areas are predominantly White, nor do they all share the same worldview. The results suggest that rural university communities remain predominantly White in their demographic makeup and crucial actors often hold fast to Whiteness and White ignorance. This is problematic – the need to transform and change is urgent in rural teacher education programs.     

Documenting diversity: an early portrait of a collaborative teacher education initiative

This article documents a two‐year journey developing and implementing a teacher education programme that required preservice teachers and teachers, administrators, and students in six cooperating schools to address issues of diversity, multi‐/transculturalisms, inclusion, anti‐racism/anti‐oppression and social justice. We describe approaches and analyse changing attitudes, commitment and activism among those who participated in this ‘Diversity’ cohort initiative—a collaboration between the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Education and the Vancouver School Board. We profile the courage and commitment of those who began to see themselves as important allies and agents of change in Canada’s most multicultural environment. We acknowledge the less successful aspects, and generate implications for teacher education partnerships that seek to embrace ‘critical’ multicultural, inclusive, and social justice education.     

Cultural diversity is basically a foreign term to me: the challenges of diversity for preservice teacher education

While student populations grow more diverse, the preservice teacher population is becoming more homogeneous, primarily White and middle-class. One challenge for teacher preparation programs arising from the mismatch of teacher and student cultures is to facilitate intercultural sensitivity and learning among prospective teachers. This longitudinal study examines the effectiveness of the approach to diversity issues used in an urban university during the final year of a teacher preparation program. The article examines the effects of the treatment on teacher beliefs in two case studies at the end of the program and also looks at residual effects three years later.     

Breaking the silence of exclusion: examining the complexities of teacher education for cultural diversity

This article is based on an in-depth case study that examined how a teacher education programme in New Zealand prepared pre-service teachers for cultural diversity (based on the author’s unpublished PhD thesis, Teacher Education for Cultural Diversity; conferred by Curtin University, June 2012). Framed within a critical constructivist inquiry paradigm, the primary research question explored how pre-service teachers were prepared to meet the learning needs of students in culturally diverse classrooms. The question was explored on four levels: curriculum, pedagogy, perceptions of effectiveness and diversity capacity. Empirical findings were reported thematically and highlighted the complexity of the issue. Key curriculum findings revealed variability in the depth of pre-service teacher preparation for cultural diversity and a conceptual development of sociocultural competence. Pedagogical findings reported three types of activity, namely dialogic activity, monologic activity and reflective activity and four types of social relationships, namely expert–novice, professional partnership, critical minority and silent minority. Findings on participant perceptions of effectiveness and diversity capacity are outlined, and limitations of the study are acknowledged. Three initial propositions on how to prepare the pre-service teachers for cultural diversity are proposed.     

Initial Teacher Education: the pedagogy is the message

This paper addresses the need to increase the coherence between educational theory and pedagogical practices at the level of initial, or preservice, teacher education. It provides a case study of pedagogical practices within the context of a third‐year unit/subject on the psychology of teaching and learning in a four‐year Bachelor‐of‐Education course. These practices were developed and implemented within the framework of a constructivist view of teaching and learning, a framework which was itself a central component of the theory base of the unit. The case study includes student responses to these practices.     

The possibility of cosmopolitan learning: reflecting on future directions for diversity teacher education in Australia

This paper is situated in the re-visioning ethos that has been part of the genealogy of multicultural education. In the context of teacher education, the authors ask: where to now? In this paper, they reflect on their design and delivery of a new undergraduate unit offered by the School of Education, University of Western Sydney. The unit attempted to work through ideas of ‘cosmopolitanism’ as a way of rethinking diversity education for the twenty-first century. The paper offers a critical review of multiculturalism in teacher education and examines theories associated with cosmopolitanism in the education context. The authors examine the ways in which a ‘cosmopolitan imagination’ might have relevance in contemporary contexts of diversity in Australia, and particularly in the western and south-western Sydney region in which they teach.     

Critical perspectives on testing teaching: reframing teacher education for English medium instruction

The investigation reported here provides a basis for considering the role of corrective and transformative critiques in producing knowledge through testing teaching for reframing teacher education in response to, and as an expression of, the globalisation of English. This knowledge-producing approach to critique begins with a literature review of prior testing models of content and language integrated learning through English medium instruction (EMI) programmes. Delphi procedures were employed with a panel of 30 experts from three focus groups, namely teachers, testing experts, and teacher evaluation administrators. A comparison of relative importance of the indicators generated through this study via the analytic hierarchy process yielded practical implications for reframing the internationalisation of education using EMI. The analysis of interviews with teachers was used to critically rework or otherwise correct the testing model. Through adopting the practice of critique as a knowledge-producing venture, this study offers a model of EMI testing that can contribute to improvements in the organisation of professional learning and change, as well as certification procedures.     

The mathematics teacher in shadow education: a new area of focus in teacher education

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education - This paper presents a discussion on a new focus area in mathematics teacher education, namely the mathematics teacher in shadow education (SE mathematics...     

Accountability in Partnership or Partnership in Accountability: Initial teacher education in Northern Ireland

This paper analyses accountability and partnership in Initial Teacher Education for the primary school sector in Northern Ireland. In considering teacher education, the paper focuses on three higher education institutions: Stranmillis University College, St Mary's University College and the University of Ulster. Of the three institutions, the Roman Catholic Church maintains St Mary's University College while the other institutions have no religious affiliations. The paper focuses on the reform of teacher education within the British Isles and sets Northern Ireland into a context of a system of teacher education which has developed new patterns of accountability. Three sources of evidence are used to analyse accountability; firstly the perception of schools that are partners in Initial Teacher Education; secondly, the views of the Education and Training Inspectorate who are responsible for accrediting teacher education in Northern Ireland; and thirdly, the views of the three university schools of education. The paper will demonstrate how teacher education in Northern Ireland is simultaneously similar to, and different from, teacher education in the rest of the developed world. It will illuminate the dimensions of accountability in the primary school sector and show how in Northern Ireland this is heavily segregated by religious denomination.