Student Teacher Characteristics Research Articles

Codes and control: explicating pedagogic communication in classroom practice

ABSTRACT The impact of State policy to combat educational disadvantage with two iterations of DEIS supports has had a positive influence the patterns of achievement among all social groups with some notable improvements across a range of indicators for students in DEIS schools. Notwithstanding these improvements, research and evaluations continue to identify a persistent achievement gap for large numbers of working-class students compared to their more middle-class peers. Research evidences the inextricable links between class, economic circumstances, and student outcomes. In producing these more system-oriented data, the dynamism of underlying processes that produces these outcomes can be often masked. Student-teacher characteristics and classroom interactions become variables or aggregated performance datasets, rather than signifiers to unpack the mechanisms of how students and teachers construct their classroom world. Pedagogic communication, so central to classroom teaching and learning, is largely unexplored from the perspective of its construction, transmission, acquisition, context and how these are framed by structures of social relationships. This paper intends to explicate a core component of the student/school relational domain by examining specifically the patterns of pedagogic communication that frame teaching and learning in one case study school located in a very marginalised and challenging community in Ireland. The findings are stark. Different linguistic strategies for engaging in pedagogic communication are detailed in the data but in all cases, they fail to lead to rich learning experiences and positive student outcomes.

Exploring the Relationship between Saber Pro Test Outcomes and Student Teacher Characteristics in Colombia: Recommendations for Improving Bachelor’s Degree Education

This explanatory sequential mixed methods study explores the perceptions of academic and administrative managers responsible for teacher training at a public university in Colombia, as well as their views on improving such training after learning about the performance of teachers student teachers in the 2019 Saber Pro test, the differences in their test scores, and the relationships and statistical correlations between these outcomes and the students’ personal, family, socioeconomic and academic characteristics. Our findings show significant differences in the student teachers’ mean scores and performance when data are grouped according to personal, socioeconomic and academic conditions; a significant relationship between performance and student teacher characteristics; and correlations between critical reading scores and the other competencies assessed. Our data also highlight the lack of knowledge among academic and administrative managers about students’ life circumstances and the diversity of factors that may impact their performance; the importance of correlational data; the difference between expected and true outcomes; the inequity under which students seem to pursue their education; the limitations in access to resources; the training required for teachers to be able to analyze quantitative data and use specific software; the impact of teachers’ critical reading skills on student outcomes; the importance of data-driven decision-making; and the need for teachers to engage in quantitative research practices.

Who withdraws from initial teacher preparation programmes and why?

Background: In recent years, withdrawal from initial teacher preparation (ITP) programmes, in England and elsewhere, has become a cause for concern amongst both ITP providers and policy-makers. Purpose: This paper seeks to enhance the presently underdeveloped evidence base on the causes of withdrawal from ITP and on the characteristics of student teachers who are most likely to withdraw. Sample: All ITP providers in England were stratified by ITP route (including university-administered undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, school-centred and employment-based programmes) and a random sample within each route was selected. Of the 110 providers invited to participate in the research, 74 agreed to take part. All student teachers following the specified ITP routes in these institutions were then invited to participate in a longitudinal survey about their experiences of ITP and early professional development. Design and methods: Student teachers (n = 4790) completed an initial questionnaire about their reasons for undertaking ITP and their preconceptions about ITP and teaching. Of these, 3162 took part in a follow-up telephone interview about their experiences of ITP and, for 135 of these participants, about their experiences of withdrawing from ITP. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed: (a) to explore the experiences of those who withdrew from ITP; (b) to examine the extent to which withdrawal might be predicted by their reasons for undertaking ITP or their preconceptions of ITP and teaching; (c) to compare the responses to a number of key questions of those who withdrew from ITP and those who did not. Results: The findings show that withdrawal from ITP is differentiated by a number of variables including the ITP route being followed, whether student teachers are seeking to teach in primary or secondary schools, their age, gender and prior commitment to the profession. Data suggest that the main causes of withdrawal relate to workload and an apparent lack of support from ITP providers. Conclusions: The findings support some those of earlier studies but contradict others, for example by showing that those who report more prior experience of working in schools are not less likely to withdraw from ITP. A number of implications are presented for teacher educators and policy-makers.

A Study of Student Teachers' Reflections on Their Beliefs, Thoughts, and Practices

The purposes of this study were to identify critical events that student teachers encountered and to investigate how the interaction between the characteristics of student teachers and their school environment influences their role-assumption strategies. Twenty-seven student teachers (15 elementary and 12 secondary) in three midwestern communities provided data in the form of prepared journal guides, classroom observations, interviews, and questionnaires. Analysis of the data over several phases led to a refined theory of beginning teachers' role-assumption strategies. Perhaps the most significant finding from this study is that the interaction of an individual's needs and perceptions of the salient characteristics of the school and classroom environment results in unique, understandable, and adaptive patterns of behavior aimed not just at the goal of developing competence but at that of contributing to improved school practice. Implications for teacher education, supervision practices, and future research are discussed.

Characteristics of outstanding student teachers

This paper describes the characteristics of student teachers who were evaluated as outstanding during their teacher education studies. Outstanding students were selected after 2 years of field experiences based on their teaching abilities and academic achievements. Data were collected at three points of time: before they commenced their studies at the college, during the first 2 years of their studies and 4 years after completion of their studies. The study was conducted in two stages. The first compared three groups: (1) outstanding student teachers (22); (2) students with average achievements (55); (3) students who experienced difficulties (24). The comparison comprised the national psychometric test scores, high school matriculation examination grades, the written results of the acceptance interview and the evaluations of student teachers’ supervisors kept in each student's personal file. In the second stage, 4 years later, telephone interviews were conducted with 19 of the 22 students in the outstanding group and with 25 students from the same graduating class, who were chosen from a random sample of 75 students. Data analysis included descriptive statistics of means and standard deviations and one-way ANOVAs, to identify differences between the groups, and content analysis of the telephone interviews. Significant differences were found between the groups in their matriculation grades and in three parameters from the entrance committees’ reports: appearance, thinking and comments. Similarly, significant differences were found in the evaluations written by the supervisors in three categories: teaching ability, behaviour and social functioning. Four years later the prominent difference between the outstanding and the comparative groups was in the larger number of students from the outstanding group that continued with graduate studies towards a master's degree. All of the graduates in the outstanding group and most of the graduates in the comparative group performed additional tasks in school and had other employment outside school.

Who becomes a teacher? The characteristics of student teachers in four countries

This paper reviews the characteristics of students entering initial training in four countries—Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, and Trinidad and Tobago. First a brief overview of the teacher education systems is provided. Second, biographical data is reviewed on age, religious affiliation, ethnic group and mother tongue, parental occupations and academic achievement, and students’ educational qualifications. Third, some insights into trainees’ perceptions about teaching and the teaching profession are presented. Finally, comparisons are made for two countries on cross-sectional data comparing the perceptions of entering and exiting trainees and newly qualified teachers. The results draw attention to the qualities and perceptions that those on initial training programmes bring to the teacher education curriculum. They provide a reminder that teacher education curricula should recognise these characteristics and be designed to respond to needs that they create.

Student-teacher characteristics from the pupils' viewpoint.

Student-teacher characteristics from the pupils' viewpoint.

Teacher-pupil rapport and student teacher characteristics.

Teacher-pupil rapport and student teacher characteristics.