Modelling in Teacher Education: Beliefs of Teacher Educators in Rwanda

Abstract

The study aims to explore teacher educators’ beliefs about role modelling in teacher education in Rwanda. This study hopes to contribute to filling the gap created by limited empirical study available on teacher educators and the relevance of role modelling for high quality teacher training. The study was designed as an exploratory qualitative research using semi-structured interviews of 20 purposively and conveniently selected teacher educators. Content analysis was used to analyze collected data. The findings reveal that participating teacher educators believe that role modelling is an important component in the process of teaching teachers. Moreover, participants hold beliefs about role modelling as implicit exemplar practices and behavior. They think that teaching teachers involves not only providing knowledge but also serving as a good example in both teaching practices and behavior at training institutions as well as in the society. The study concludes that both implicit and explicit modelling should be included in the overall reflections of policy, research and practice of pedagogy of teacher education and especially in the professional development of teacher educators. Further empirical studies are recommended about the implications of implicit modelling on student teachers’ learning outcomes.