Current policy initiatives are requiring Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers to select teachers with both the academic and non-academic attributes that ensure their suitability for teaching and ...their classroom readiness. Research evidence has linked non-academic attributes to teacher quality, student learning outcomes, teacher retention and career satisfaction and success. This study identifies attributes as core, common and contextual across Australia's ITE providers. We apply the work of Rimm-Kaufman and Hamre (The role of psychological and developmental science in efforts to improve teacher quality. Teach Coll Rec 112(12):2988-3023, 2010) to interrogate the non-academic attributes associated with success in teaching. Our findings revealed a wide range of selection tools and approaches used by Australian ITE providers, reflecting commonality and contextual differences in the non-academic attributes for teaching. We argue that an awareness of what is 'core' is important so that ITE providers can move beyond simple compliance to the important task of guidance, development, practice and exposure, while building and nurturing authentic opportunities for preservice teachers' social and relational growth. Author abstract, ed
This study investigated the underexplored topic of teacher preparation program admissions processes by interviewing faculty and analyzing program documents. We investigated how 31 K-12 mathematics ...and science teacher preparation programs (MSTPPs) and faculty attend to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social and racial justice (DEIJ). Specific foci included applicant recruitment and selection, components of applications (e.g., forms, essays, and interviews), and how applicants’ DEIJ-related information and orientations factor into admissions. We found that all MSTPPs participating in the study collected information related to DEIJ (e.g., applicants’ ethnoracial backgrounds, citizenship), and all interviewed faculty expressed an interest in increasing the diversity of applicants and admitted students. Faculty expressed preferences for applicants who evidenced positive DEIJ orientations, such as recognizing social and ethnoracial injustices, but at the same time, differences were evident in how MSTPPs and faculty attended to DEIJ. Considerations, implications, and dilemmas for teacher preparation programs and faculty are discussed.
In recent decades, Israeli teacher education colleges underwent an academisation reform, and teacher educators were required to show research productivity. Teacher education colleges formed research ...units in order to nurture a culture of research and help teacher educators become research active. The current study analyses research unit members' narratives to learn about their activities, the challenges they faced, and how dealing with these challenges contributed to their colleges' research culture. The data consist of stories they told about meaningful experiences they had while working in these units. We found that research unit members had to negotiate their status in relation to veteran teachers on the one hand, and college authorities on the other hand. Over the years, the developing research capacity of teacher educators prompted the expansion of the units and the services they provide. College authorities were a major driving force in this process, whereas research universities set the benchmark for the desired academic level. Nonetheless, the expansion of research in the teacher education colleges is inspired by a neo-liberal, individualistic approach and sometimes comes at the expense of teaching. College authorities' leadership is needed to foster collective research agendas that are inspired by teacher education practice.
Teacher education research is in still in the process of developing a robust set of tools that can measure the key features of coursework and fieldwork. This article focuses on the design of measures ...of “opportunities to learn” (OTLs) in content method courses that can be used across large populations of candidates at diverse preparation programs. We draw on the survey and interview data from a broader, longitudinal study of teacher preparation across four programs in the United States (n = 455 candidates). Variance decomposition suggests far greater within-program variation than between-program variation in reported OTL. More nuanced analyses at a single university indicate significant associations between individual characteristics and reports of OTL, suggesting that self-reports of OTL may tell us more about the candidates who complete a survey than the programs that prepare them. Discussion focuses on implications for teacher education research and next steps for studying OTL in methods coursework.
Data-driven decision making has become increasingly important in education. Policymakers require educators to use data to inform practice. Although the policy emphasis is growing, what has not ...increased is attention to building human capacity around data use. Educators need to gain data literacy skills to inform practice. Although some professional development opportunities exist for current educators, fewer formal courses and opportunities for data literacy development in schools of education have been developed and implemented. This article explores issues around the growing need for data-driven decision making in programs in schools of education. The issues are complex and the actors needed to bring about change are multiple. A systems perspective to explore course and programmatic implementation is presented.
This paper unpacks the assumptions underpinning England's new Core Content Framework (CCF) in respect of the educational research required for teacher expertise, with particular attention to the ...sources referenced in the final part of the CCF and claims that these constitute the 'best available educational research'. Drawing on sociological studies of educational knowledge, and assessments of the quality of educational research in England, in addition to the philosophy of expertise as related to teaching, it is argued that the CCF is currently orientated towards a scientism that (i) marginalises longstanding traditions of educational thought, and (ii) technicises and instrumentalises teaching practice. The predominance of a scientistic model of educational knowledge is demonstrated through a profile of the sources identified in the CCF, with a focus on the journals in which referenced material is published and an overview of subject matter via an analysis of keywords and titles. With an overwhelming preference for this 'New Science' as opposed to other traditions of educational knowledge, the CCF encourages an image of teaching as a decontextualised series of interventions with narrow objectives, and thus implicitly marginalises wider educational goods and purposes and deprofessionalises teachers work.
Esta pesquisa visa compreender como os conteúdos sobre as práticas corporais de aventura são contemplados e desenvolvidos nos cursos de licenciatura em Educação Física ofertados pelos institutos ...federais do Nordeste, Brasil. Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo a partir do levantamento das instituições realizado no e-MEC e posteriormente da busca de planos de curso e disciplinas nas plataformas digitais de cada instituto. Empregou-se a análise de conteúdo de Bardin (2011), sendo as principais informações representadas em quadros, figuras e nuvem de palavras. Foram encontrados cinco campi nos estados da Bahia, do Ceará e da Paraíba, e somente uma disciplina voltada à aventura, com enfoque nas modalidades esportivas desse conteúdo, reafirmando a carência de uma (re)evolução nos currículos de formação docente.
Teaching as Assemblage Strom, Kathryn J.
Journal of teacher education,
09/2015, Volume:
66, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Recent accountability policies seek to “grade” teacher preparation programs by the teaching evaluations of their graduates. This article addresses the problematic nature of the linear thinking ...underlying such reforms by examining the construction of teaching practices of Mauro, a first-year secondary science teacher who taught environmental and earth sciences. Drawn from a larger data set, the study uses concepts from rhizomatics, a non-linear theory of thought and social activity, and elements of postmodern grounded theory. Despite holding key factors constant across the two subject area settings, differences in the ways the teacher, students, and contextual conditions worked together helped produce strikingly different teaching practices in each set of classes. This study provides evidence that enacting pre-professional learning is a complex undertaking shaped by the ways the elements present in the school setting work together, and, thus, teaching is a collectively negotiated activity. The author offers implications for teacher preparation practice and policy, advocating for an ontological turn in teacher education research that focuses on processes of teaching rather than outcomes alone.
Teaching is a profession that requires ongoing professional development and learning. This ongoing learning can take place in professional learning communities, in structured professional development ...settings, and in literacy coaching contexts. This department highlights the ongoing professional development of literacy teachers.
Digital technologies and the Internet are increasing in prominence in schooling systems. As schools and teaching evolve as a result of the integration of technologies teacher preparation will also ...change. This paper examines research exploring the preparation of teachers for the digital age through a systematic literature review of articles published between 2008 and 2018. The findings provide insight into what has and has not been studied across a range of literature and the alignment with the broader context of digital integration in schools. A focus on digital competencies was identified which was framed in three ways across the literature; generic digital competence, digital teaching competence and an emerging concept of professional digital competence. How student teachers learn to engage in the professional work of a teacher in a digitally infused education system should underpin future research. A model of professional digital competence is proposed.
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