Violence and Subjectivity in Teacher Education

Caught between the demands of the normative (what they believe they ought to be and value) and normalisation (what professional others tell them that they should be and value), teacher candidates often experience themselves as belated even though they are newcomers to the profession—simultaneously heirs to a history and new to it. In this paper we illustrate and explore the tensions that result between ‘new’ and ‘old’ in teacher education. Drawing on Lyotard's concept of the différend, we examine the narratives of a practicum triad—one student teacher and his two mentors—as they each attempt to make sense of their irreconcilable differences. We conclude by discussing how the profession might fulfill its obligation to judge the adequacy of new teachers while remaining hospitable to the difference they introduce.     

Falls the shadow and the light: liminality and natality in social work field education

This article is situated within an experience of conflict for Tina, a social work student, who is caught between her beliefs about the virtues of social work practice, and her disillusioning encounter with the school's administration. In this paper, we interpret Tina's experience of conflict by drawing on the central concepts of liminality and natality, and how she moves through disillusionment to illumination, thereby generating new self-understandings and meanings of social work practice. We conclude with the pedagogical implications for students, and educators, and that as messy and complex as the liminal is, it is also vital to the creation of new understandings and regeneration of meaning in professional education.     

Sleep Habits and Patterns of College Students: An Expanded Study

This study represents an expansion of previous research investigating the prevalence of sleep difficulties in college students. Sleep quality and sleep habits were assessed via self‐report questionnaires. Poor sleep quality was reported by 22.6% of participants, whereas 65.9% replied that they experienced occasional sleep problems. More than half of the respondents noted feeling tired in the morning. Implications for counselors and their institutions are discussed.     

Mathematical myths: Teacher candidates' beliefs and the implications for teacher educators

Abstract

For more than 2 decades, professional, state, and federal agencies have adopted educational standards aimed at improving mathematics instruction. One way of measuring the success of these adopted standards is to examine their impact on the mathematics attitudes and beliefs of students who received their education during this reform period. How teachers approach and implement these mathematics standards is heavily influenced by what they believe about mathematics content and pedagogy. For those who seek to improve mathematics education, examining beliefs regarding mathematics and the factors that influence those beliefs is imperative. In this paper we explore the persistence of teacher candidates' beliefs in myths despite changing educational standards. The beliefs of 76 current elementary teacher candidates were compared to beliefs of 131 elementary teacher candidates from 1990. The results confirm the pervasiveness and persistence of math myths among female elementary teacher candidates.