Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions of Urban Schools

This study investigates pre-service teachers’ perceptions of urban schools. We asked 41 pre-service teachers, mostly white and female, to report their perceptions of four aspects of urban schools (appearance and atmosphere, resources, students, and teachers) and identify the sources of their perceptions. We analyze the data qualitatively to understand how they perceive urban schools and quantitatively to determine group trends in their perceptions. Findings reveal that their perceptions of urban schools are complex, with negative and positive impressions of selected aspects of urban schools. Implications of these findings for teacher education, in particular, urban field placements and curriculum, are explored.

Black on Black Education: Personally Engaged Pedagogy for/by African American Pre-Service Teachers

Public schools have increasing numbers of its teachers fitting into one demographic, white and female, while the numbers of African American teachers decrease (Ladson-Billings, Crossing over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms. San Francisco: Josey-Bass [2001]). Furthermore, African American collegiates who decide to enter teaching may face a chilly climate as a result of their cultural and educational experiences as they encounter devaluation in the classroom (Delpit, Other Peoples Children: Cultural Conflict in the Class room. New York: The New Press [1995]). As a result, African American pre-service teachers may question the validity of the formal curriculum presented in college as it conflicts with their perceptions of school, thereby, leaving teacher-educators largely responsible for the quality of life and subsequent devotion to profession of these students. Critical autoethnography, using fieldnotes/research journaling, and student memoirs all through a theoretical backdrop of critical race feminism provide a glimpse into the teaching and learning experiences and dilemmas of one African American female teacher educator utilizing what I call personally engaged pedagogy as a means of enhancing the quality of the learning experiences of her African American pre-service teachers.     

Changing Physical Education Teacher Education Curriculum to Promote Inclusion

Many physical education teachers are not well trained to address the needs of students with disabilities in an inclusive physical education class despite inclusion being a general educational policy (Rust & Sinelnikov, 2010 Rust, R. and Sinelnikov, O. 2010. Practicum in a self-contained environment: Pre-service teacher perceptions of teaching students with disabilities. The Physical Educator, 67: 33–45.  [Google Scholar]). This lack of training could be improved through well-designed physical education teacher education (PETE) curriculum. This article proposes a curriculum framework based on the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) to effectively train pre-service physical educators toward the inclusive physical education. Three curriculum stages (lecture-focused, lectures with teaching practicum, and internship-focused) and the stage-matched strategies adapted from the TTM are discussed as promising ideas to systematically restructure the PETE curriculum and effectively train pre-service teachers to promote inclusion.     

Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of self as inclusive educators

Teacher education institutions play a key role in preparing pre-service teachers to graduate as competent and confident inclusive educators. Seeking to understand pre-service teachers’ current perceptions of diversity and inclusion, and how they perceived themselves as future inclusive educators, this qualitative study employed inductive analysis to explore pre-service teachers’ self-perceptions as inclusive teachers, utilising the theory of possible selves. Forty-six (n?=?46) of 292 pre-service teachers enrolled in an inclusive education subject in a graduate entry teacher education programme in eastern Australia participated in this study. Findings revealed that pre-service teachers had developed good theoretical understanding of inclusive education through their coursework. However, their development of possible selves as inclusive educators was less well-defined in that they had difficulty extending their understandings of who they might be as inclusive teachers beyond their coursework samples. This difficulty in identifying their cultural selves beyond a stereotypical norm of who a ‘classroom teacher’ is indicates a need for more and extensive time for pre-service teachers to develop their professional identities as inclusive educators.     

An Exploration of Pre-Service Teachers' Experiences in Outdoor ‘Places’ and Intentions for Teaching in the Outdoors

This study explores pre-service teachers' past interactions with ‘place’ in outdoor settings and how these experiences contribute to their current perceptions of the importance of taking their own students into the outdoors. Specifically, the researchers were interested in investigating if current pre-service teachers are part of the ‘nature-deficit disorder' generation described by Louv in his book, Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder (2005 Louv, R. (2005). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature deficit disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books. [Google Scholar]), as a generation of children growing up without direct experiences in nature. Study participants included 148 undergraduate pre-service elementary teachers enrolled in science teaching methods instructional courses at an urban college in the Northeastern United States and two suburban universities in the Southeastern United States. Participants wrote essay responses after reading Louv's Last Child in the Woods in which they were asked to relate the reading to their own past experiences and their ideas about elementary science education. Results indicate that a large majority of participants (97%) describe significant youth experiences in the outdoors, view nature as important in varying ways (89.9%), and express a desire to expose their own students to the outdoors (65.5%). Key findings are illustrated with direct quotations from the pre-service teachers' essay responses, as they write vividly of their interactions in outdoor places, referred to as ‘place meanings'. Implications are presented for teacher educators working with pre-service teachers to build upon their outdoor experiences and prepare them for implementing nature-based instruction.     

Pre-service teachers’ job-related perceptions of teaching in rural areas: a study of the free teacher education programme in mainland China

ABSTRACT

This article examines the development of pre-service teachers’ job-related perceptions of teaching in rural areas in the Free Teacher Education (FTE) programme in mainland China. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 22 teacher educators and 11 pre-service teachers, this study found that pre-service teachers’ perceptions were constructed through relative perspectives, professionality orientation, and realistic expectations during the process of FTE teacher education. Pre-service teachers employed utilitarian concerns to increase access to prestigious universities to the detriment of their academic interests. The professionality orientation of the FTE programme held a profile of isolated curriculum modules, urban-centred approach, and theory-practice divide, resulting in pre-service teachers’ fragmented body of knowledge and weak rural consciousness. Although participants saw significant improvement in living and working conditions of rural schools, their negative perceptions were magnified due to this weak rural consciousness. This study argues that the FTE programme needs to integrate separated courses and embed the components of rural settings in addition to current financial incentives.     

Teachers' perceptions of the recent curriculum reforms and their implementation: what can we learn from the case of Korean elementary teachers?

This study examines: 1) how Korean elementary school teachers perceive recent curriculum reforms; 2) where their perceptions emanate from; and 3) what support teachers need in order to implement curriculum reforms actively and effectively. This study has shown that teachers generally harbour negative and unconstructive feelings about curriculum reform. These feelings negatively impact their involvement in and commitment to implementing reform. Several issues to be considered for teacher training and support evolved from our analysis of teachers' perceptions of the curriculum reform and the implementation: first, teachers are insufficiently provided with professional development programmes that support curriculum implementation; second, teachers lack opportunities to work through implementation problems and difficulties with peer teachers; and last, contextual and cultural constraints inhibit implementation of curriculum reform. Based upon these findings, this study makes several suggestions for teacher educators and curriculum policymakers.     

Cloud Pedagogy: Utilizing Web-Based Technologies for the Promotion of Social Constructivist Learning in Science Teacher Preparation Courses

The new guidelines for science education emphasize the need to introduce computers and digital technologies as a means of enabling visualization and data collection and analysis. This requires science teachers to bring advanced technologies into the classroom and use them wisely. Hence, the goal of this study was twofold: to examine the application of web-based technologies in science teacher preparation courses and to examine pre-service teachers’ perceptions of “cloud pedagogy”—an instructional framework that applies technologies for the promotion of social constructivist learning. The study included university teachers (N = 48) and pre-service science teachers (N = 73). Data were collected from an online survey, written reflections, and interviews. The findings indicated that university teachers use technologies mainly for information management and the distribution of learning materials and less for applying social constructivist pedagogy. University teachers expect their students (i.e., pre-service science teachers) to use digital tools in their future classroom to a greater extent than they themselves do. The findings also indicated that the “cloud pedagogy” was perceived as an appropriate instructional framework for contemporary science education. The application of the cloud pedagogy fosters four attributes: the ability to adapt to frequent changes and uncertain situations, the ability to collaborate and communicate in decentralized environments, the ability to generate data and manage it, and the ability to explore new venous.     

Making sense of pre-service teachers’ dispositions towards social justice: can teacher education make a difference?

Given Australia's diverse student population, the need for pre-service teacher education to prepare what is a predominantly Anglo-Australian and middle-class profession to be effective teachers of diverse students is critical. In Lortie's (1975 Lortie, D. 1975. Schoolteacher: A sociological study, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  [Google Scholar]) classic study, however, he argues that the predispositions of teacher education students are a much more powerful socialising influence than pre-service education. This article explores dispositions towards social justice in pre-service teachers from two teacher education programs within one Australian metropolitan university. Drawing on notions of distributive, retributive and recognitive justice (Gale & Densmore, 2000 Gale, T. and Densmore, K. 2000. Just schooling: Explorations in the cultural politics of teaching, Buckingham: Open University Press.  [Google Scholar]) as a way of making sense of socially just dispositions, interviews with four pre-service teachers – two beginning their Graduate Diploma in Education program (a one year program) and two beginning their final year of the Bachelor of Education program (a four year program) – are analysed. Differences in the dispositions of teachers from the two cohorts are examined and implications for teacher education discussed.     

The Relationship of Self-Concepts to Changes in Cultural Diversity Awareness: Implications for Urban Teacher Educators

This study investigated the relationship between the self-concepts and cultural diversity awareness of 100 European–American pre-service teachers. The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale:2 and the Cultural Diversity Awareness Inventory were administered as a test–retest to ascertain if changes in cultural diversity awareness occurred during a stand-alone multicultural course, and if so were they related to the study participants' pre-test self-concepts. The findings indicate that a statistically significant relationship does exist between total self-concept and total cultural diversity awareness. However, not all five components of self-concept consistently predicted the direction or magnitude of change in the five elements of cultural diversity awareness. These results imply that urban teacher educators should consider both constructs when developing intervention strategies to thwart student resistance to multicultural tenets in stand-alone cultural diversity courses.     

Analysing the socio-psychological construction of identity among pre-service teachers

A teacher’s representation of self is crucial in how they construct their identity. In this article, it is argued that pre-service teachers’ identities are intricately linked to their perceptions of the teaching profession. This paper explores the social construction of identity among pre-service teachers and the implications for professional identity. It focuses on pre-service teachers in Kenya. The findings presented here are primarily based on semi-structured interviews distributed among students enrolled in a Kenyan university. They highlight pre-service teachers’ difficulty in overcoming the negative perceptions of the profession and building positive identities of self as teacher. They also underscore the need for training programmes that take perceptions and representations of the teaching profession into account when formulating training curricula.     

Pre-service teachers’ decision-making: Efforts to mediate learning with bilingual children with disabilities

Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory, this study explores how seven teacher candidates described the learning difficulties that bilingual children with disabilities experienced while learning in a bilingual afterschool program. This study also analyzes the volitional actions the candidates took as they aimed to achieve the fine balance between affording opportunities for compensation within “desirable difficulty” and ensuring there were no remaining barriers. We found that the candidates’ decision-making process, guided compensation, was highly complex and collective, and identified three forms of guided compensation: Cultivated, Renegotiated, and Pursued. We offer implications of these findings for researchers, teacher educators, and pre-service teachers.     

Can Technology Offer a Means of Mentoring Pre-service Teachers about Diversity?

This article discusses a project which has the goal of raising the awareness of pre-service teachers about the needs and potentials of low-income minority students through using technology to develop a comentoring community composed of teacher educators, teachers, pre-service students and elementary students. Using the interactive capabilities of video conferencing over the Internet, pre-service teachers engage in a 'virtual' field experience with a bilingual grade three classroom in a distant inner-city school. Pre-service teachers involved in the programme have the opportunity to be involved with students they would not experience in the local area, to be mentored by a teacher with knowledge of diversity, and to use technology in meaningful, productive ways. Benefits for participants—faculty, pre-service teachers, teachers in the school, and students in host classrooms—implications for pre-service teachers' understanding of diversity and limitations of the technology are discussed. 1     

Cross-cultural “distance”, “friction” and “flow”: exploring the experiences of pre-service teachers on international practicum

The focus of this paper is to illustrate Australian regional pre-service teachers' perceptions of an international practicum: their cross-cultural understanding, notions of privilege and teacher/professional identity development. Findings indicate that there were three overlapping dimensions of cross-cultural understanding for pre-service teachers: distance, friction and flow. At times students acknowledged the value of their placement, yet indicated a lack of empathy and engagement with the culture visited. At other times there was clear frustration at the cultural differences, alongside a growth in awareness. The fullest dimension was where pre-service teachers and their students learnt from each other, signalling a sharing towards cross-cultural understanding. Implications of these findings aim to inform how international practicums are designed in the future, as well as signalling directions for further research relating to these border crossings.     

The importance of respect in teaching and learning: perspectives of final year pre-service teachers in a regional university in Ireland

This article aims to address the lack of attention given to respect as an important relational construct for pre-service teachers. It seeks to inform teacher educators on how to better understand its practice and the implications for teaching and learning. This study examined second level pre-service teachers’ perceptions and experiences of respect. A qualitative design was employed and 12 undergraduate pre-service teachers in their final year of study were interviewed twice (pre and post practicum) about their perceptions of respect and their experiences of respectful teaching and learning. The emerging data indicate that the relational component of respect was identified by the pre-service teacher participants as being important to feeling respected as a teacher. Recommendations are made, in light of these findings, to help teacher educators support pre-service teachers gain a greater understanding of the relational nature of respect.     

An exploratory study examining the influence of the number of reading methods courses on pre-service and in-service teacher perceptions of ability to teach reading

Teacher education programmes (TEPs) are left with limited research on how the coursework they provide influences the perceptions teachers have about their ability to teach young children how to read – especially over the long term. The purpose of this study was to compare how teacher candidates rate their ability to teach reading at the conclusion of their TEP, and then again after a year of teaching. The matched participants (N = 126) were elementary education teachers representing five TEPs in one US state. Results revealed that the number of reading methods courses provided does influence the perceptions of pre-service and in-service teachers. Teachers who had two reading methods courses compared with teachers who had only one reading methods course reported statistically significant higher scores at the pre-service stage and were able to maintain higher scores at the in-service stage. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Fostering understanding of institutional oppression among U.S. pre-service teachers

This paper describes the use of an institutional inquiry assignment for pre-service teachers at a large state university in the US to foster critical understanding of institutional oppression. Written inquiry assignments, web-based journal entries, and class discussions with one hundred and six pre-service teacher candidates enrolled in a cultural diversity course are analyzed using interpretive qualitative methods to examine the useful aspects as well as the limitations of this assignment for helping to engage in teaching for social justice.     

How failure shapes teacher identities: Pre-service elementary school and mathematics teachers’ narrated possible selves

This study explored pre-service teachers’ possible teacher selves with respect to how they have been shaped by their experiences of math failure. The study contributes to identity research by applying the theory of possible selves and by comparing and contrasting narrated possible teacher selves of pre-service elementary school teachers and pre-service mathematics teachers. Three categories of possible selves were identified: teacher traits and actions, student strategies, and teacher self-development. How possible teacher selves may inform teacher identity development and teacher preparation in the context of teaching mathematics is discussed, as are methodological considerations for examining narrated possible selves.     

A proficiency model for pre-service physics teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)—What constitutes high-level PCK?

This study identifies proficiency levels in pre-service physics teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and reveals how teacher education can promote transitions into higher proficiency. Teacher education plays a fundamental role in supporting pre-service teachers' PCK development. Proficiency levels are a powerful source when evaluating this PCK development because they characterize what learners are likely to be able to know on a specific level. Previous research has presented a model of proficiency levels in pre-service physics teachers' PCK; however, evidence for the model's validity is still lacking. According to the Refined Consensus Model of PCK, factors such as teachers' content knowledge (CK), their teaching experience, and their beliefs about teaching and learning science promote PCK development. Thus, understanding how and when pre-service physics teachers' CK, teaching experience, and beliefs contribute to their proficiency can bring insights into how teacher education can promote PCK development. To address this issue, N = 427 observations of pre-service physics teachers were analyzed. Utilizing the scale anchoring procedure, four different proficiency levels in pre-service physics teachers' PCK were identified. Analyzing these proficiency levels showed that lower levels can be characterized as remembering content-unspecific knowledge, whereas higher levels encompass content-specific strategies to structure and elaborate lessons. Additionally, logistic regression models revealed that pre-service physics teachers' CK is crucial for an increase in PCK proficiency. However, transitions into higher levels of PCK additionally require teaching experience and adequate beliefs about teaching and learning. Thus, our proficiency levels can be used to bring insights into how proficiency in PCK can be supported during teacher education. For example, teacher education should provide courses focusing on the science curriculum and the assessment of student learning to promote pre-service physics teachers' progression in PCK.     

Collegiate Grading System: Traditional or Non-Traditional

This article shares an explanation regarding why disciplined study should be introduced to pre-service teachers early in their coursework, specifically through methods courses. Next, it shares two studies conducted regarding perceptions of curriculum: one with pre-service teachers and one with veteran teachers. Then it provides five suggestions for improving pre-service teacher methods courses in order to assist pre-service teachers with their own concepts of curriculum and pedagogy. It ends with implications and final thoughts.