Imagining anew: a narrative analysis of STEM teachers’ fictional educational futures

Emotion research in teaching and education more generally is a well-developed field of inquiry, offering suggestions for initial teacher education course development and practical suggestions for improving the working lives of teachers and schoolchildren. In contrast, emotion research in teacher education is an emergent and expanding area of inquiry. Preservice teachers, or university teacher education students, have unique emotional demands given that their teacher identities may still be in formative stages and their school-based practicum may not present the full complement of emotional experiences that full-time teachers encounter daily and for extended periods of time. Some specific objectives of past research in teacher education include explorations of preservice teachers’ emotions; preparing preservice teachers for the emotional demands of the job; developing understandings about the interplay between teacher–student relationships or social bonds, emotions, and learning; and addressing the strong emotions associated with practicum for preservice teachers, school-based teacher educators, and university-based teacher educators. A diverse range of theories are available for investigating emotion in preservice teacher education. This range presents different ways of conceptualizing what emotions are considered to be, stemming from disciplines including sociology, philosophy, psychology, critical studies, cultural studies, anthropology, and neuroscience. In addition to canvassing theories and traditions, dominant approaches to the study of preservice teacher emotions are addressed including early investigations, which relied on single self-report research methods to the more complex and dynamic multimethod and multitheoretical studies that have emerged in recent years. Suggestions are made for fruitful future lines of inquiry of preservice teachers’ emotional experiences and needs. Teacher attrition and burnout, particularly in the early years, continue to be vexing international problems. Research into preservice teacher emotions and emotion management are two important areas of inquiry that could address the related problems of burnout and attrition. Emotion management is also linked to social bonds, and better understandings of these connections are needed in the context of preservice teachers’ experiences and learning during practicums and within university courses. A focus on enacted classroom and staffroom interactions offers great scope for novel research contributions. Better understandings of structural conditions affecting emotions and preservice teachers’ learning are needed that include the bridging of macrosocial structural factors influencing work conditions with microsocial interactions in classrooms, staffrooms, and during parent-teacher interactions. New research adopting contemporary theories of emotion and methods is needed to explore preservice teacher identities. Combining this focus with the aforementioned lines of investigation into burnout, attrition, social bonds, and connections between macrostructural and microinteractional aspects of teaching and learning presents a third line of novel research. Guiding questions to prompt these and other lines of investigation are offered.

This study investigates the impact of an inquiry‐based teacher education course in nurturing second language (L2) teachers’ research mindset, defined herein as their cognition and action toward research. One hundred and thirty pre‐ and in‐service L2 teachers of various nationalities participated in a teacher education course on instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) at an Australian university. The course was designed following an inquiry‐based approach, with course activities focused on promoting teacher learners’ curiosity about ISLA issues and their engagement both with and in research. Data were collected before, during, and after course participation, using a precourse survey, written reflections, and focus group interviews. Findings revealed that the inquiry‐based course activities enabled the teacher learners to adopt a stronger research mindset. They were able to articulate the importance of research for teaching practice and gained firsthand experience as well as increased confidence in conducting research. They also showed inclination toward research‐informed teaching and were keen to maintain their newly established favorable relationship with research, despite acknowledging concerns about their future actual research engagement, mostly due to time constraint and lack of institutional support. These findings suggest implications for nurturing language teachers’ research mindset within L2 teacher education courses.

The structure of teacher education in Germany and the pathways to teaching are closely linked to the organization and structure of the different school systems in the 16 Lander. Thus, the following description of the ‘German teacher education system’ provides an overview of its general features, rather than a detailed description of all its variations. Following the primary school, which is a comprehensive school for all pupils, the lower secondary school is vertically tracked. This school system, which can be described as a ‘mixed model’ of a horizontally and vertically structured system is also reflected in the teacher education system. Thus, we can identify vertically differentiated teacher education tracks at the secondary school level (e.g. grammar schools and teachers for Hauptand Realschulen) and a horizontally structured, comprehensive teacher education phase for the primary school level. As a result of this mixture of horizontal and vertical structures, there is a multitude of teaching degrees in the different Lander, ranging from teaching degrees for a particular type of school (e.g in Bavaria) or a teaching degree for a combination of different types of schools (e,g. teaching degree for Hauptand Realschule in Baden-Wurttemberg) to teaching degrees for a certain school level (e.g. primary or lower secondary school). Despite the multitude of different teaching degrees, the relevant entry requirement for all university-based teacher education courses is the Abitur. As the multi-faceted structure suggests, teacher education in Germany is not a federal issue and is therefore organized and controlled by the 16 Lander. In order to guarantee a minimum of uniformity and comparability of teaching education courses and degrees across the whole of Germany, the ‘Standing Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs’ (KMK) coordinates structural issues related to schooling and teacher education. However, this does not include the definition of entry requirements, which are defined by individual universities with regard to certain subjects and/or teaching degrees.

There has been considerable interest in the socialisation of (student) physical education (PE) teachers, the beliefs and values developed as a result of this socialisation and the impact of these on teachers’ learning, behaviours and practices and the curriculum. Many studies looking at the beliefs and values of PE teachers have used the values orientation instrument (VOI). However, as far as we know, in England there has only been one study using the VOI to study the value orientations of PE teachers and none which has studied the value orientations of student PE teachers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to look at the value orientations of secondary student PE teachers learning to teach in England. Two hundred and seventy two student PE teachers studying on both one year postgraduate certificate of education and four year undergraduate PE initial teacher education (ITE) courses at four universities in England completed the revised VOI (VOI-2) once during the academic year. Means and standard deviations were used to calculate the score for each value orientation across the whole sample, Pearson product–moment correlation coefficients were computed to determine the relationships between value orientations and one way analysis of variance tests were used to test for any differences between the groups according to gender and course/year on course for undergraduate student PE teachers. Results showed some variability in the value orientations given highest and lowest priority by different groups of student PE teachers in this study. However, with a few exceptions, learning process, ecological integration and self-actualisation were consistently given highest priority, whilst social responsibility and disciplinary mastery were consistently given lowest priority. There were some relationships between value orientations, but the only difference between groups was between male and female student PE teachers on learning process. Results are compared to the results of a similar study in England, and discussed in relation to possible reasons for the results, practical implications for meeting the aims and outcomes of the PE curriculum and for student PE teachers’ development on ITE courses and into their induction year.

‘Burnout’ and praxis shock seem to be causing teachers to leave the profession early. Much research suggests that this is a reflection on the quality of teacher education programs. Interviews with teachers who were in their first four years in the secondary music classroom reveal how they view their pre-service preparation, and therefore provide an insight into how pre-service teacher education might be effectively reconceptualised. This paper explores the relationship between Zeichner and Liston’s (1990) teacher education ‘traditions’ and early-career music teachers’ perceptions of an ‘ideal’ teacher education course. Analyses of interviews with 15 early-career secondary classroom music teachers suggest the emergence of a common understanding regarding the design of effective music teacher education programs. Rather than representing any of Zeichner and Liston’s four traditions in particular, early-career music teachers speak of a music teacher education approach that incorporates all of the traditions in an integrated way. This understanding of an ‘ideal’ teacher education course should be considered when designing or reconceptualising teacher education courses in order to provide improved opportunities for future music teachers.

Enlightenment of teacher education patterns in foreign countries on Chinese teacher education reform

The study investigated a second language teacher educator and teacher learners’ awareness of classroom interactional competence (CIC) to communicate pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) on a teacher education course in Iran. Therefore, the teacher educator’s classroom discourse was scrutinized using classroom observation triangulated with an interview data with the educator to characterize the interactional features of his talk-in-interaction with respective discourse modes. The resulting 43 interactures represented four interacture types which mediated Effective Eliciting, Shaping Learner Contribution, Facilitating Interactional Space Focused on the Learner, and Facilitating Interactional Space Focused on the Teacher. The corresponding mode analysis revealed frequent mode integrity incorporating classroom context mode with a pivotal role in all except Facilitating Interactional Space Focused on the Teacher interactures. Later, the taxonomy was incorporated into CIC TLA questionnaires. 32 teaching candidates, and the educator completed respective ethnographically-developed questionnaire versions indicating their awareness of the teacher educator’s choice of CIC interactures. Besides, the interview data concerning the TLA deliberation was triangulated with a Spearman rho correlation results of the perceived CIC strategy frequencies. Consequently, the confirmatory evidence for the significant degree of correspondence (rho = 0.67, n = 33,  < 0.01) between the educator and teacher learners’ awareness revealed the student teachers’ heightened declarative TLA. The findings urge language teacher educators to tune interactures in type, mode, and intensity to the professional content and the TLA they negotiate with teacher learners thereby.

This paper is a reconsideration of the nature of teaching and learning in the language teacher education course room. Drawing broadly on sociocultural perspectives of Lave and Wenger and Vygotskian models of cognitive apprenticeship, it considers how to design the course room as a learning environment. It begins with a critique of technical-rational discourses of teacher education, one of the implications of which has been to assert the primacy of the social construction of teacher identity. We present the case for the course room as a community of practice where teachers learn through engaging in activities and discourses, mediated through cultural artifacts. A community of practice is also shaped by larger systems of power, which are reproduced in the micro-context of the course room. Teacher learning is a site of struggle over activities, discourses, tools and identity because of its situated nature within institutional, historical and cultural contexts. A revised role for teacher educators in shaping an emerging course room culture is presented, acknowledging the realities of power and ideology that influence the daily practices in the course room.

The authors of this chapter have significant professional experience within the field of pre-service teacher emotional experiences. Both authors have worked as teacher educators for a substantial part of their careers, which has afforded several insights into the emotional life worlds of pre-service teachers. Acting as facilitators for professional experience units has provided a space for witnessing the ways pre-service teachers come to explore a constellation of feelings associated with learning to teach. The central argument of this chapter has emerged from the reflexive practice of the authors, predicated upon a profound dissatisfaction with the context of reform impacting on teacher education courses and schools generally in Australia. Numerous critics have argued that in Australia, as in the United Kingdom and the United States, teacher education courses have been subsumed by a ‘technocratic instrumentalism’. This new paradigm has reshaped what is of value in education, namely, rational performance-based targets achieved via the standardisation of curriculum, teaching methodologies and large-scale testing regimes. In line with these priorities, teacher education has been reshaped in profound ways. Increasingly, technical skills take precedence over context sensitivity or insights gained through the constructed nature of language, culture, identity and the historical assemblage of the teaching profession itself.KeywordsFoucaultEthicsPre-service teachersEmotions

To improve educational outcomes for maltreated children, there is an urgent need to strengthen the capacity of the education workforce to respond appropriately to their needs. We conducted a systematic scoping review to synthesize current evidence about child protection and safeguarding in initial (pre-registration) teacher education with the aim of developing a knowledge base, and understanding what we — as researchers, teacher educators, and professional accreditation bodies — can and should be doing better. Thirty-one studies (reported in 38 papers) met the inclusion criteria. Studies were coded inductively against standardised criteria and critically appraised. Coding of study aims yielded three themes forming a descriptive map of research in the field: (i) studies investigating student teachers’ perceptions of their preparedness to deal with child protection and safeguarding (n = 15); (ii) studies investigating preparation for child protection and safeguarding in initial teacher education courses (n = 14); and (iii) studies investigating student teachers’ preferences for future training (n = 2). We identified key contents or topics covered, teaching methods and delivery modes, time allocations, and personnel involved in course delivery. Findings show that child protection and safeguarding are seldom investigated in initial teacher education, averaging only one published study per year over a 32-year search period with most studies having been conducted in Australia and the UK. Time allocated to child protection and safeguarding in initial teacher education courses varied from 1 to 16 h. Content covered was limited to several core topics with primacy given to child maltreatment subtypes, indicators, and reporting duties. Delivery methods were dominated by lectures, workshops, and discussions. Few studies had investigated the efficacy of innovative and interactive teaching strategies or online learning. We conclude that child protection and safeguarding in initial teacher education may be improved by leveraging off existing well-designed, rigorously evaluated programs, which have been found to be feasibly delivered and acceptable to future professionals.

Introduction 1. Student Teachers' Changing Beliefs on a Pre-service Teacher Education Course in Hong Kong Icy Lee 2. Modern Languages Initial Teacher Education in England: The Impact of School-based Training Gee Macrory 3. Practical Theories of Teaching in Peripheral Contexts: Messages from Schools in Swaziland Sikelela Dlamini 4. Learning to Teach Many Languages: A Multilingual Teacher Education Programme Offered by the Wiener Volkshochschulen Thomas Fritz 5. 'Inviting Eve to Taste the Apple': Some Metaphors for the Issue of Theory in In-service Second Language Teacher Education Courses in Greece Eleni Manolopoulou-Sergi 6. Reframing 'Public Lessons' to Support English Teachers for Curriculum Change in China Qiang Wang 7. Exploring Continuing Professional Development: English Teachers' Clubs in Central India Amol Padwad and Krishna Dixit 8. Teacher Learning through Participation in Course Evaluation: an Indian Experience Susmita Pani 9. New Technologies in SLTE: A Virtual Teacher Development Experience in Tocantins, Brazil Chris Lima 10. Bringing Information and Reflection Together: A Distance Mentoring and Teacher Development Experience in South Korea Kyungsuk Chang and Shelagh Rixon 11. Experiencing a Change Process in ELT in West Bengal Kuheli Mukherjee 12. Becoming a Trainer: The Experience of Philippine English Teachers in the Primary Innovations Project Maria Luz C. Vilches Postscript ?

Purpose While research on language teacher cognition is increasingly developing, the scope of research on writing teachers’ cognition is still limited, particularly on how teacher education influences their cognitions. The present study moves along this line of inquiry and investigates the impact of a teacher education course on second language teachers’ cognitions of argumentative writing. Design A teacher education course was initially designed to negotiate the central issues in genre-based instruction (GBI) focusing on argumentative writing, followed by the teachers’ argumentative writing instruction. Data were collected at three junctures of time before, during, and after both the teacher education course and the teachers’ writing instruction, from semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, stimulated recalls, and reflective journals. Findings The findings indicated that the teachers navigated through three lines of development: Enhanced awareness and a more professional authorial identity, enhanced pedagogical content knowledge, and developing GBI-featuring mental representations. Value The study concludes with implications for reducing the gap between teacher education programs and teachers’ subsequent writing instruction, especially helping the teachers develop and retain a professional language for representing their practice.

Understanding how preservice teachers (PSTs) engage with knowledge of educational sciences through reflective practice is critical to improving teacher education. This study investigates how PSTs construct knowledge when analyzing a complex classroom situation and explores how a reflective task format—individual essay writing or collaborative group discussion—shapes the types and quality of knowledge construction processes involved. Drawing on frameworks of reflective practice and epistemic cognition, we developed a coding scheme to identify five knowledge construction processes and three levels of implementation quality. Using data from a university-based teacher education course, we applied this scheme to PSTs’ written essays and transcribed group discussions. Our findings indicate that collaborative discussions elicited a broader variety of knowledge construction processes and deeper levels of implementation, while essays involved more references to scientific literature but fewer exploratory hypotheses. These results suggest that different reflective tasks afford distinct opportunities for preservice teachers to mobilize and integrate educational sciences knowledge. The study highlights how the perceived relevance and applicability of theoretical content are shaped not only by individual cognition but also by the task design and social context of reflection. Implications for teacher educators include selecting reflection formats strategically to support meaningful engagement with educational knowledge in preparation for complex pedagogical reasoning.

The use of cases in teacher education is not a new phenomenon, with early records of case methods dating from the beginning of the last century. However, the rapid expansion of information and computer technologies over the past decade has influenced case construction and use in profound ways. Written cases are now being integrated with video and other textual forms to create sophisticated hypermedia case environments. Hypermedia (more commonly referred to as multimedia) case platforms provide the potential to incorporate various kinds of contextual, theoretical and pedagogical information into a rich and multilayered representation of classroom teaching. In this chapter we explore the implications of these developments for teacher education and teacher learning. Factors that appeared to influence development of this motivation included student-teachers' preinstructional perspectives about science and the personalization and contextualization inherent to the modified multimedia case method.

Introduction An important component of learning to teach involves integrating the theoretical framework developed in teacher-education courses with practical experience in schools. Institutions offering initial teacher-education programmes acknowledge that this endeavour constitutes a challenge during their work with teachers (Kane, 2005). For teacher educators, making these connections also requires that what prospective teachers are learning incorporates new ideas about knowledge, encompasses understanding of current research on and learning and addresses the needs of a different generation of students in the 21st century. While meeting these objectives, educators must also counter claims that teacher-education programmes are too theoretical, inaccessible and unrelated to the real world of the classroom (see, for example, Cameron, 2004; Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training, 2002; Ministerial Advisory Council on the Quality of Teaching, as cited in Vick, 2006). Situated learning for preservice teachers in New Zealand occurs during practicums over a limited number of weeks. They must then draw on this experience during discussions of pedagogy and curriculum in their teacher-education classes. School-based practice is a constructive professional learning experience when the preservice teachers' course work underpins the practicum, and they have the opportunity not only to implement pedagogy and knowledge of learning, but also to reflect on their practice and receive feedback from associate teachers (teachers in secondary schools with responsibility for mentoring teachers). In other situations, experiences for preservice teachers are less successful. The demands of today's busy school environment can mean that teachers do not receive the degree of support from associate teachers that they need or would like (White, 2006). Further concerns for teacher educators are highlighted in findings of a review of New Zealand research regarding the practicum that suggest student teachers do not necessarily learn to teach in ways that research would define as quality teaching (Cameron & Baker, 2004, p. 69). This is reinforced by the findings of a series of studies located in secondary schools (Haigh & Ward, 2004) in which visions of associate teachers working (with teachers) in social constructivist and collaborative frameworks were only partially realised (p. 145). Case-based is one methodological tool that has been advocated since the late 1980s to help teacher educators bridge the theory-practice divide (Merseth, 1996; L. Shulman, 1992, 2004). Cases that contain attributes of both theory and practice enable preservice teachers to examine complex real-life classroom situations outside the school and to practise thinking like a teacher (Kleinfeld, 1992; J. Shulman, 1992). When situated in professional education courses, the use of cases also has the potential to bring about cognitive change in prospective teachers and thereby help reform pedagogical practices (Sykes & Bird, 1992; Wasserman, 1994). This article reports on a case study examination of case-based in a New Zealand teacher-education course for preservice history teachers. The intent of part of the teacher-education course was to provide these teachers with cases, in which they themselves were participants, that would allow them to (i) examine the pedagogical and subject-related issues arising from secondary school history, (ii) develop their pedagogical content knowledge and (iii) make links between current educational theory and research and their experiences. The article begins by discussing the literature relating to case-based with preservice teachers and to learning in a community of professional colleagues. A description of the study, and an elaboration of the students' group-based examination and critical analysis of each case, follows. …