What is pedagogical innovation? Perceptions of teacher educators in Israel

Abstract

ABTRACT The present study sought to examine the perceptions of teacher educators with respect to pedagogical innovation. The research included in-depth interviews with eighteen members of academic faculties at a teachers’ education college. The findings revealed that teacher educators understand pedagogical innovation as having four central features: disrupting teaching regularities; listening to students’ voices; promoting active learning based on personal responsibility; and, relevance in teaching-learning processes. Sustaining these features is the teacher educators’ sense of commitment with respect to two facets: the first, to implement changes to teaching so as to adapt it to 21st century skills needed for the purpose of training and developing educators capable of working in a world of evolving realities; and, the second, to serve as a model of teaching for student teachers through direct and indirect modelling of these four features. A descriptive model relating the teacher educators’ perceptions was constructed based on the research findings.