Developing Generous Dispositions in Pre-Service Teachers in a Time of Censorship: Using Miranda Fricker’s Theory of Virtuous Hearing to Cultivate Just Dispositions

Teaching English as a second language requires pre-service educators to possess a diverse skill set and adapt to evolving teaching methodologies and language acquisition theories. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the factors that contribute to the development of pre-service English teachers' professional competence to ensure their readiness to enter the teaching profession. This study aims to investigate the factors contributing to the development of pre-service English teachers' professional competence in teaching English, addressing the lack of research in this area. More specifically, it aims to explore the challenges faced by pre-service teachers in developing their professional competence, identify areas where current teacher education programs may fall short, and provide practical recommendations for pre-service teacher training programs. This study employs a descriptive qualitative research method by involving five pre-service English teachers participating in a School Teaching Practice Program. To gather the data, this research uses a reflection section and then analyzedcategorized. The findings highlight the significance of active learning experiences, such as fieldwork and classroom practice, in fostering the development of professional competence among pre-service teachers. Additionally, the study emphasizes the need for pre-service teachers to be adequately prepared to meet the evolving needs of English language learners, especially in the context of changing teaching methodologies and advancements in educational technology.

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to explore the development of pre-service chemistry teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge regarding the effect of temperature on reaction rate topic as they took pedagogical content knowledge courses throughout the teacher education program. Pre-service teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge was examined under five components: Orientations toward science teaching, Knowledge of curriculum, Knowledge of instructional strategies, Knowledge of learners, and Knowledge of assessment. Two pre-service chemistry teachers participated in the study. Data were collected through a vignette and semi-structured interviews over two years. Analysis of data revealed that both participants’ pedagogical content knowledge components showed development. However, there was an uneven development of components of pedagogical content knowledge. Moreover, the degree and pattern of development were different for some components of pedagogical content knowledge for each participant. The present study has some implications for teacher educators and teacher education programs.

In an increasingly digitalized world, pre-service and in-service teachers need subject-specific didactic competencies to be able to plan their lessons appropriately and use their knowledge to promote digital competencies among students. Building on competency models such as the Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework, this article explores the extent to which specific digital competencies relevant to pre-service teachers can be developed through project work in a pedagogical makerspace and examines the extent to which contextual factors such as technological self-efficacy, motivation and technology acceptance influence the development of pre-service teachers’ TPACK and their intention to use digital media. To this end, 495 pre-service science teachers from both intervention and control groups completed a pre-post digital questionnaire before and after the intervention. The data were used for structural equation modeling. The results show that the level of TPACK before the intervention is an important predictor of TPACK after project work. Furthermore, TPACK before the intervention positively influences pre-service teachers’ intention to use digital media in the future. Also, the perceived usefulness for professional use and the intention to use information and communication technologies (ICT) are strongly influenced by TPACK. Consequently, it appears significant to enable a low-threshold entry point at the beginning of the study to provide a solid foundation upon which more advanced TPACK can be built. Motivation and technology acceptance are strongly correlated. Therefore, teacher training should focus on motivation and acceptance of technology.

In the study, it is aimed to reveal the effects of the practices carried out within the scope of the micro teaching course on the development of pre-service classroom teachers' professional knowledge, content knowledge and general culture-ability and their cognitive perceptions towards the concept of micro teaching. The research was conducted with 26 (14 male and 12 female) pre-service teachers studying at the Faculty of Education, Department of Classroom Education in the 2022-2023 academic year of a state university. Exploratory sequential design from mixed research was used in the study. As data collection tools; Micro Teaching Method Measurement and Evaluation Form (MTMMEF) was used to reveal the effectiveness of micro teaching method through peer evaluations, word association test was used to reveal the cognitive perception of the concept of micro teaching (MTWAT), and semi-structured interview form was used to reveal the views on the concept of micro teaching. While parametric analysis methods were used in the quantitative part of the study, content analysis was used in the qualitative part. According to the findings obtained from the research, it was concluded that micro teaching method had positive effects on the development of pre-service teachers' teaching professional knowledge, content knowledge and general culture-abilities and that they had various opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of micro teaching method. In addition, it was revealed that they had cognitive perceptions about the development of teaching professional knowledge, content knowledge and general culture- abilities, the nature of micro-teaching method, evaluation processes and peer teaching.

This thesis contributes to the understanding of an important ongoing issue in mathematics education and adds to the literature on ways to address this issue. The study is located against a social and historical background of issues of exclusion from participation in opportunities that are afforded by competence in mathematics. Mathematics anxiety (maths anxiety) in primary pre-service teachers has been reported in the research literature as an ongoing issue. This anxiety can lead to high levels of stress and poor performance and can impact on confidence and emotional and academic wellbeing. Often, proposed solutions have focussed on how pre-service teachers might better learn mathematics. However, research addressing affect has indicated the need for greater emphasis on understanding their emotional responses and anxieties. This thesis reports a descriptive and interpretive sequential mixed method study within the affective domain which investigated the effectiveness of bibliotherapy to better understand and address maths anxiety. The purpose was to understand the impacts of maths anxiety on the mathematical identity of primary pre-service teachers, and how these impacts might be ameliorated. The study investigated questions concerning the range and extent of maths anxiety in pre-service teachers at the start of their teacher education course, their perceptions of the influences that had stimulated this anxiety, and the effectiveness of bibliotherapy in better understanding and/or addressing maths anxiety in pre-service teachers. Data were collected through quantitative and qualitative methods, using the Revised Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (Alexander & Martray, 1989) to identify the range and extent of participants’ maths anxiety, and the narrative device of Critical Incident Technique (CIT) to investigate the experiences to which they attributed this anxiety. Participants’ views provided their perceptions of their mathematical identity. The study investigated the effectiveness of bibliotherapy in two different contexts, Cognitive bibliotherapy in existing classes and Interactive bibliotherapy in a small-group workshop developed in collaboration with the student counsellor. The study employed a multi-scope analysis which used a range of methods – descriptive and inferential statistics (t-tests, confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses), and analysis of themes identified by the CIT and bibliotherapy in the two different contexts. The study found that pre-service teachers begin their teacher education course with existing levels of maths anxiety, which are largely associated with the negative effects of testing and evaluation. The findings also confirmed the major contribution of former teachers to the development of pre-service teachers’ maths anxiety, drawing attention to the consequences of blame and humiliation reported by participants and to the importance of the concept of pedagogical tact. The study emphasised the benefits of including in this research pre-service teachers who did not identify with maths anxiety in this research. The workshop provided a transformative experience, as participants showed increased understanding and revision of their maths anxiety and identified alternative conceptions of their previous mathematical experiences. Insight was identified as a major factor in the development of participants’ future mathematical identity. This led to evaluations of their future effectiveness as teachers of mathematics, thus illustrating the development of a more positive projective identity. Contributions of the study included the modification of the bibliotherapy stages, development of a key of ideal types for responses and development of a new concept of “biblioperception.” It provided a model for professional collaboration with the student counsellor in the form of the workshop protocol. This thesis argues for a paradigm shift in the way researchers, teacher educators and policy makers view maths anxiety in pre-service teachers. There is a need to identify and celebrate the positive influences that past experiences of maths anxiety can have on evolving more effective teachers in our classrooms, potentially enabling a wider range of students to develop more positive relationships with mathematics. In recognising the potential for pre-service primary teachers’ experiences and understanding of maths anxiety to increase their effectiveness teachers of mathematics, this thesis not only posits a new way of thinking about maths anxiety in pre-service teachers, but also provides insights into how it might be addressed, which would be of interest to both researchers and teacher educators. It also discusses implications and recommendations for future research, education practice and policy.

The development of pre-service teachers' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) has attracted wide attention among scholars and teacher educators worldwide. However, few studies have explored pre-service teachers' TPACK in the context of teaching contest. To fill the research gap, this study interviewed three pre-service English teachers who participated in competitive teaching contest to uncover the influence of the teaching contest on their TPACK development. Findings suggested their TPACK was greatly developed through observations of role models, instructional design practice, peer collaboration, expert feedback, and self-reflection. Finding of the study enriched people's understanding of TPACK theory and provide valuable suggestions for pre-service teachers, university teacher training programs, and teacher educators to improve pre-service teachers' TPACK.

This research aims to explore the development and use of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) in pre-service secondary mathematics teachers. For this multiple case study, evidence of TPACK in three pre-service secondary mathematics teachers was collected during a 15-week semester, during which the pre-service teachers were enrolled in a three-course experience designed to develop an integrated understanding of the use of technology, pedagogy, and content in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Data were collected using a TPACK survey, teaching philosophy statements, lesson plans, student teaching episodes, and interviews, and researchers assigned levels of enacted TPACK and self-reported TPACK. Analysis highlights that the development of pre-service teachers’ mathematics TPACK is complex, and pre-service teachers’ dispositions about teaching, views of technology, and prior experience in using technology affect their technology use in the classroom. Our results suggest that a model of TPACK development in pre-service teachers is distinct from that used to understand TPACK development among in-service teachers.

Globally, progress in education has been made in recent years to promote learning opportunities for all. However, significant gaps remain in lowincome countries. In Malawi, a developing country where the educational system is under development, primary education is a major concern. Several initiatives have been made to bridge this gap through improving the quality of teacher education, but research has shown that there is still a need to further understand the learning process of preservice teachers during the teacher education program. The present study aimed to gain knowledge about the primary preservice teachers’ process of learning, particularly, the development of their understanding of the knowledge necessary to teach mathematics. The current study addressed the question: How do pre-service teachers develop their understanding of the knowledge necessary to teach mathematics throughout teacher education? In the study, the knowledge necessary for teaching mathematics refers to the knowledge that teachers need to carry out the tasks of teaching mathematics. To further examine this matter, the overall question was divided into three sub-research questions: (1) What understanding do pre-service teachers have of the knowledge needed to carry out the tasks of mathematics teaching at the beginning of their teacher education? (2) To what extent does the pre-service teacher’s understanding of the knowledge needed to carry out teaching tasks evolve through the discussion of practical experiences in college? (3) How do pre-service teachers develop their understanding of the knowledge necessary to carry out the tasks of teaching throughout teacher education? These questions were compiled into a qualitative case study with six preservice teachers in a two-year primary teacher education program at a college in Malawi. Each of these pre-service teachers represented a different profile with teaching experience, subject preferences in high school, and a favorite subject to teach during college. The research occurred over three different moments in a two-year teacher education program in which the pre-service teachers were enrolled: an initial moment at the beginning of the program consisted of a questionnaire survey and individual interviews; a second moment during teaching practice that involved mathematics lessons observations and post-lesson interviews; and a third moment at the end of the program that included a focus group discussion. The data gathered were transcribed and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. The themes of analysis were designed based on the six domains of mathematical knowledge for teaching theory. Findings show that pre-service teachers develop different paths of development of their understanding of the knowledge needed for teaching mathematics during teacher education and that such development has influences in how they acknowledge effective teaching in Malawi. The current thesis includes four articles that present the main data and results of the study. The first two articles present findings from an analysis of the pre-service teachers’ understanding of the subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, and the third article presents an analysis of the pre-service teachers’ understanding when discussing teaching practice. The fourth article explores the understanding pre-service teachers developed throughout the teacher education program. The contribution of this thesis is to not only offer new empirical and theoretical insights to teacher education but also to suggest a path for further research in teaching knowledge.

Research about preservice teachers’ beliefs indicates that the educational beliefs they have developed over time will have an impact on not only how they respond to the various experiences they have while enrolled in a teacher education program, but also their receptiveness to future professional development opportunities. I investigated the developing and emerging beliefs regarding reading and its instruction of four preservice elementary teachers during their participation in two university reading methods courses and the accompanying field-based experiences in the elementary teacher education program that was the site of my study. Two purposes framed the qualitative, longitudinal design of my study. One purpose was to examine the participants’ prior, university-, and field-based experiences with reading and its instruction and the meaning they attached to these experiences. The second purpose was to learn how the participants incorporated into their developing belief systems as teachers of reading the various conceptions regarding reading development and its instruction they brought to and encountered during their university coursework and field experiences. Data sources included interviews, archival documents from the courses (reading philosophies, belief surveys and autobiographical reading histories), reading expert surveys, reflexive philosophies and personal pedagogies. Results, presented in portraits for each participant, indicated that the participants created fictive images of the teachers they wanted to be that served as the lenses through which they interpreted both their universityand field-based experiences that were the focus of my study. When discussing their action agendas for teaching reading in the future, each participant relied on the fictive image she had created of herself as a teacher of reading. Consistent with existing research in this area, prior and field-based experiences with reading and its instruction seemed more influential in the development of these preservice teachers’ beliefs than were the reading “methods of teaching” courses or instructors. A key implication, consistent with the National

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is the necessary professional knowledge for teachers and an important feature to distinguish teachers from scholars. The development of pre-service teachers’ PCK affects the quality of education. What are the aspects of the PCK of English pre-service teachers improved through educational practice? What are the influencing factors? To improve pre-service English teachers better understand the importance of educational practice, promote the development of professional knowledge and teaching competence, a questionnaire survey was used to study the development of PCK of pre-service English teachers, analyzed the development and the changes of pre-service teachers’ PCK in the educational practice. Pre-service English teachers have developed in the aspects of knowledge of pedagogical, knowledge of students, knowledge of subject matter, knowledge of environmental contexts. And the influencing factors mainly included communication with peers, experienced teachers; teaching experience and reflection; and personal observation. It indicates that the normal universities should carry out more practical courses, and demonstrates that pre-service teachers should pay more attention to educational practice, accumulate teaching experience, improve teaching quality and teaching competence, and strive to become an excellent and qualified teacher.

In this article, we analyze how IBL affects the experimental competency of pre-service physics teachers. An experimental quantitative analysis method, the static-group pretest-posttest design, has been utilized. A total of 32 pre-service physics teachers participated in the experimental group. In order to observe the experimental competency development level of pre-service physics teachers, the PLIC test and experimental competency test have been used. The findings revealed that inquiry-based laboratories are remarkably effective in developing pre-service physics teachers' experimental competency. The growth rate of behavioral indicators is relatively uniform except for two behaviors (2.7) and (4.5). In addition, the development of pre-service teachers’ experimental competency has reached a high level, but the percentage of students reaching level 3 is still low (14.63%). Therefore, it is suggested that further research, which focuses on increasing the support of teachers at level 3 and expanding the sample size, is needed.

Based on the research theories and methods of the TPACK model, an empirical research study was conducted in a normal university in Shanghai, China, to investigate how to improve pre-service teachers’ TPACK level. The subjects were pre-service mathematics teachers. The authors developed a learning-by-design micro-course and designed a TPACK Scale for the mathematics teachers, which aimed to test the change of their TPACK level before and after completing the micro-course. The result indicated that such a micro-course could effectively help the pre-service teachers improve their TPACK level. This paper describes the design and findings of the study, and provides suggestions for further improving the design of the micro-course to enhance pre-service teachers’ TPACK.

Teachers’ competences should be shaped from a very early stage of their training (Mâţă, Cmeciu, & Ghiaţău, 2013). For that reason, pre-service teachers are required to get involved in teaching internships and gain professional experience from training programs and workshops. These experiences are assets for these pre-service teachers when they resume teaching positions upon graduation. The present narrative study, therefore, aims to investigate the benefits of international teaching internship, known as South-East Asian Teacher (henceforth SEA-Teacher Program) on Indonesian pre-service English teachers’ identity and competence development. There were four male and four female participants of SEA-Teacher program participated in the study. The data for this study was generated through in-depth semi-structured phone and email interviews. The study reveals that this program has developed personal competences of the pre-service teachers, in which they improve self-confidence, coping mechanisms, and time management skill. The “SEA-Teacher” also improved pre-service teachers’ professional competences, such as development of communicative competence, pedagogical skills, new worldviews on education, career goals and new opportunities. The program also benefited these pre-service teachers’ understanding of different cultures, strengthening global-networking and promoting respect. The findings also indicated that SEA Teachers’ competences need to be further developed. Given the significant relationship between teaching competences and teaching internship at international level, it is necessary to promote the SEA-Teacher personal and professional competence. These competences are advised to be reinforced, with more emphasis on weaker domains.

The purpose of this study was to examine preservice teachers' perceptions of the support their teacher education programs provide for developing their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). The research was conducted with 215 preservice teachers in the last year of teacher education programs and teaching certificate programs in three universities in Turkey. Data sources were the synthesis of qualitative evidence (SQD) scale that was validated in the Turkish context as part of this study and the TPACK‐practical scale. The strategies investigated in the SQD‐model included: using teacher educators as role models; reflecting on the role of technology in education; learning how to use technology by design; collaboration with peers; scaffolding authentic technology experiences; and providing continuous feedback. The linear regression analysis revealed a positive relation between teacher education strategies and preservice teachers' TPACK. Reflection and teacher educators' as role models were the most frequently used teacher education strategies in teacher education programs included in this study. Results provided recommendations for further research on the connection between the teacher education strategies and the development of preservice teachers' TPACK in teacher education programs.

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has been adopted by schools to equip students with the competencies and language skills needed in today’s multilingual and multicultural society. However, teaching content courses through a foreign language requires specific teacher training, both initial and ongoing. This qualitative descriptive study analyses the development of bilingual teaching knowledge in terms of teaching skills among pre-service CLIL teachers (n = 15) at the University of Cádiz in Spain. Two reflective reports written by each pre-service teacher before and after participating in the course CLIL I: Foundations and Curricular Proposals for the Primary School Classroom (2022/23) were analyzed. The responses were categorized using Qualitative Content Analysis. The reflective reports included questions about their conception of bilingual teaching; methods for teaching bilingual courses; and justifications for their teaching methods. In addition, a focus group was conducted with a representative sample of participants. The results reveal a significant development in pre-service teachers’ knowledge of the teaching skills required for bilingual teaching. Particularly, there is an increase in contributions related to justifying their teaching methods. Moreover, the findings highlight pre-service teachers’ recognition of the differences between foreign language and CLIL teachers, as well as their ability to plan CLIL teaching effectively.