Developing Student Teachers’ Innovative Minds as a Tool for Enhancing the Art of Teaching

Abstract

Teaching is a multifaceted activity dependent on many variances. Developing teachers’ innovation, competences and creativity take a vital position for effective teaching. On the contrary, limited investment on innovative teaching would harm the young generation by producing dormant and inactive learners. Such individuals would be unable to cope with and manage the knowledge learning and application in digital era. Failure to embrace innovation in education would also produce students with inability to tackle challenges in their future workplaces and insufficient skills to adapt diverse situations in life. This systematic review study explored how teacher educators develop student teachers’ innovative minds as a tool for enhancing the art of teaching. The study reviewed thirty (30) articles published within recent ten (10) years (2013-2023). The findings show that in the digitalized 21st century’s teaching and learning, innovation takes an important role of turning classrooms into mind operating industries to be implemented in daily practices. Innovative teaching works as a tool for developing the 4Cs - critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity for sustainable professional development. Teacher educators in teacher training colleges and universities are charged with the responsibility of developing and nurturing student teachers’ innovative teaching. In learning to teach, student teachers need to be equipped with innovative minds considerate to teaching as a complex-dynamic process. Teachers are heterogeneous and their art of teaching is unique, flexible and dependent on own set of professional learning, practices and operation of things, behaviour, judgements and experiences. Innovative teaching responds to the nature of learners, teaching and learning environment, validity and applicability of the content to learners and entire community. Thus, the study is a tool for teacher educators, teachers and student teachers to develop and implement creative or innovative competences in their classes. The study has implications on refinement of teacher training curricula to incorporate continuing innovative inputs to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Also, training of active student teachers with inquisitive minds, life-long motivation, commitment, and well-informed to deliver efficient learning outcomes.