Tensions in beginning teachers’ professional identity development,accompanying feelings and coping strategies

This study examined tensions encountered by 182 beginning teachers during their professional identity development, the feelings that accompanied these tensions and the ways they tried to cope with these. Professional identity tensions stem from an unbalanced personal and professional side of (becoming) a teacher. Tensions that are often mentioned by beginning teachers concerned conflicts between what they desire and what is possible in reality. Female teachers reported more tensions than their male colleagues, while final-year student teachers did not differ from first-year in-practice teachers in the number of tensions they experienced. Tensions were often accompanied by feelings of helplessness, anger or an awareness of shortcomings. Most beginning teachers tried to cope with their tensions by speaking to their significant others or by searching for a solution themselves. Insights into professional identity tensions experienced by beginning teachers are important in order to form a better understanding of the support they need.     

Teachers' Conceptions of Education: A Practical Knowledge Perspective on 'Good' Teaching

Research on teachers' practical knowledge is considered to be an alternative to several other research approaches to teaching which study teaching from a limited point of view and from an outsider's perspective, often with the aim of exerting control over teachers. It is argued that research on teachers' practical knowledge takes into account in a better way what really matters in teaching because it emphasizes the knowledge and beliefs of teachers themselves about teaching. In this study, the issue of 'good' teaching is highlighted from a perspective on teaching based on teachers' practical knowledge. The conceptions of education of eight experienced teachers were investigated with a multi-methodical approach. Teachers' conceptions of education consist of their views on the objectives of education, the contents of the curriculum, and the role of the teacher and the students in the teaching and learning process. Several contextual factors and teachers' interpretations of these factors seem to exert influence on teachers' conceptions of education, such as the schools in which they work, the characteristics of the students and subjects they teach, and general developments in society. It is concluded that it is difficult to give a precise definition of good teaching from a practical knowledge perspective because of the personal and context-embeddedness of teachers' practical knowledge. However, the results indicate that research on teachers' practical knowledge adds new information to the discussion of good teaching when compared with the results of more traditional research approaches to teaching.     

Assessors’ perceptions of their judgement processes: Successful strategies and threats underlying valid assessment of student teachers

As current procedures for teacher assessment are often based on non-standardized, qualitative information derived from multiple sources, the overall validity of the assessment depends heavily on the judgement processes of the assessors. Because it is of great importance for assessors to be aware of their own judgement processes and of the possible threats to validity in these processes, investigating assessors’ perceptions is of vital significance. In the present study, the perceptions of 22 assessors who judged a student teacher pair-wise using a specific assessment procedure were explored using semi-structured interviews. A qualitative analysis of the individual assessors’ perceptions with regard to the essential judgement processes of consideration of evidence and combination of evidence to attain an overall judgement resulted in an overview of successful strategies and threats underlying a valid assessment process. General implications for ensuring the validity of the assessment process and the preparation of assessors are discussed.     

Student teachers’ development of a positive attitude towards research and research knowledge and skills

The aim of this study is to investigate the experiences of student teachers participating in an introductory course, designed to stimulate the development of a positive attitude towards research and to stimulate the development of research knowledge and skills by second-year student teachers of an institute of primary teacher education. A questionnaire (N = 81) was used to measure the students’ attitude and perceptions of the development of their attitude towards research, their perceived development of research knowledge and skills and what parts of the introductory course they perceived to be responsible for these developments. According to the students’ perceptions, the introductory course contributed to the development of both a positive attitude towards research and research knowledge and skills. The students indicated that examples from practice, authentic learning tasks and working in pairs or groups contributed most to the development of their attitude, knowledge and skills.     

Teacher competence,everyday teaching practice and professionalization

Abstract

In this article three questions regarding teaching and teacher education are addressed. The first question deals with the identification of elements of competent teaching. Relevant elements of competent teaching are described in terms of a teacher's knowledge base, the development and use of practical theories and the idea that teachers should also be ‘researchers’. The opinion is held that being a competent teacher is based not on one perspective or paradigm, but on a ‘grand strategy’ or integration of perspectives or paradigms.

The second question deals with some characteristics of the everyday teaching practice. First of all, teaching seems to be a profession under pressure. In addition, teaching in reality is considered to be a complex and holistic activity. It consists of three phases (planning, execution and reflection) which usually coincide in reality. Teaching, therefore, is to a large extent a matter of routine.

The third question deals with the professionalization of teachers. To answer this question it is necessary to regard teaching as a profession. For this purpose it is essential to pay (renewed) attention to the curriculum and didactics of teacher education as well as to the relationship between pre-service and in-service teacher education. In this respect much work still needs to be done, which should be a collective effort on the part of researchers, teacher educators, curriculum developers and school managers.     

Teachers’ implementation of the coaching role: do teachers’ ownership, sensemaking, and agency make a difference?

The aim of this study was to explore whether teachers’ positioning towards an innovation is related to their implementation of it. Positioning was reflected in terms of teachers’ ownership, sensemaking, and agency. The innovation that was of central focus in this study pertained to the changing role of teachers towards a more coaching role in the classroom. Teachers’ implementation of the coaching role was examined through student perceptions. The data were collected by means of a questionnaire, completed by 253 of the students of 10 teachers. The findings showed that these teachers appeared to be implementing their coaching role to a reasonably strong degree. Moreover, a relationship was identified between the extent to which this role was implemented and teachers’ feelings of ownership, their processes of sensemaking, and their experiences of agency. The results therefore suggest that ownership, sensemaking, and agency do make a difference in the implementation of an educational innovation.     

How meaning-oriented learning is enhanced in Dutch academic primary teacher education

The present study identifies ways of how meaning-oriented learning is enhanced in academic primary teacher education, a new route to the teaching profession in the Netherlands. Meaning-oriented learners are generally described in the literature as being capable to regulate their own learning, to understand a topic thoroughly, to form their own opinion about it and to draw their own conclusions. Semi-structured interviews were held with both student teachers (n = 32) and educators (n = 18) who participated in this new route. Interviewees perceived common ways of enhancing meaning-oriented learning, such as encouraging students to structure, relate and critically process knowledge. Other ways are related to the development of students’ professional identity as an academic primary teacher in general, for example, through students’ reflection on the development of such an identity and their sharing of knowledge, not only with peers and educators, but also externally in publications, on a conference or on the Web. The present study indicates that the newly developed route to the teaching profession successfully contains elements that provoke meaning-oriented learning. The results of this study are useful for the (further) development of teacher education contexts in which the enhancement of meaning-oriented learning by student teachers is an important aim.     

Teachers' Prior Experiences and Actual Perceptions of Professional Identity

Abstract

After a review of literature, 14 items were generated which represent teachers' professional identity. The participating teachers (n = 28) were requested to express and clarify their actual perception for each item. In addition they were asked to draw so‐called story‐lines from the present to the past and to clarify the highest and lowest points in these lines. The respondents were secondary school teachers with an average teaching experience of 21 years. All of them perceived their actual professional identity as positive. The teachers' stories of their experiences demonstrate so‐called progressive rather than regressive lines in their careers. Some teachers also demonstrate so‐called stability story‐lines, i.e. lines without high(est) and low(est) points. It is argued that—in the long term—these and other research findings can be relevant to those who are responsible in schools for the further development of teachers' careers.