University Teacher Education Research Articles

COVID-19: Education policy, autonomy and alternative teacher education in Israel

The study evaluates an alternative initial teacher education programme launched nationwide by the Israeli Ministry of Education (MoE) at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. The programme aimed to attract unemployed academics to teaching, thereby providing a response to the teacher shortage. To advance the programme, the MoE relaxed its strict regulations and granted the training institutions further autonomy to develop their own programmes. After three months of intensive online training, students were expected to start teaching and continue studying once a week for another year while on the job during their induction year. Since teachers, unlike other hired employees, continued working from home via distance learning during this period, teaching, previously an unattractive profession, turned into a desirable one and hundreds of potential candidates applied for the programme. The research, conducted in one large teacher education college in central Israel, examined the motivations of 125 student teachers to join the teaching profession, their sense of preparedness for teaching, their satisfaction with the programme and their level of commitment to teaching. Findings showed that the student teachers who participated in our research displayed high levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. They reported a high sense of preparedness for teaching, were satisfied with the programme and indicated their commitment to the teaching profession. The results strengthen the importance of tailor-made teacher education programmes and hence the value of greater autonomy in teacher education policy.

Cloud computing based big data platform construction of university informatization teaching service in Yunnan Province under the background of community of destiny

This paper summarizes the current situation of the university education informatization, cloud computing and the application of big data in education, and preliminarily constructs the big data platform model of university informatization intelligent teaching service of Yunnan University Teacher Education Alliance Based on cloud computing Part of the content of the model is described to provide reference for regional alliance education related research.

Resilience, professionalism, and reflective thinking: The three-legged stool of health professional and teacher education students’ fieldwork practice / Resilienz, Professionalität und reflektierendes Denken: die drei Säulen für das Praktikum von Studierenden der Gesundheitsberufe und der Lehrerbildung

Abstract Background Fieldwork is a core element of health professional and education student training that is often a professional registration and practice requirement. There are many personal, social, and professional factors that impact on students’ fieldwork performance. The impact of professionalism, resilience, and reflective thinking on fieldwork performance is not well described in the literature. Aim To examine the relationship between health professional and teacher education university students’ perceptions of professionalism, resilience, reflective thinking and their links to fieldwork performance. Methods Ten focus group interviews were conducted with university undergraduate or master's students across four disciplines: occupational therapy (n = 18), pharmacy (n = 6), social work (n = 38), and education (n = 16). Thematic analysis was used to identify codes and categories in focus group transcripts. Commonalities of ideas and constructs were identified and interpreted to create meaningful themes. Results Six themes were identified. Fieldwork placement created real-world opportunities for developing technical and nontechnical skills, professional acclimatization, psychosocial traits, and behaviors for coping with the transition from student to proto-professional. However, these outcomes had consequences related to bridging the gap between university course theory and the reality of the workplace, adapting to cultural differences and local practice as well as seeking their own resources, supports, and learning. Conclusion Despite the personal, professional, and practical challenges of fieldwork, students independently establish mental models of professionalism, resilience, and reflective thinking, which support their fieldwork performance. However, developing these mental models should be underpinned by theory, and coordinated university and industry supports should be provided to augment this process.

Challenging Misrecognition: A Case for Critical Literacy

This research set out to examine if a critical literacy pedagogy can help student teachers better understand how inequity is reproduced in the field of education. These issues were explored using Bourdieu’s (1977) distinctive concepts that frame literacy as an ideological act, an act of misrecognition that results in ‘symbolic violence’. The study took place in a small, specialist teacher education college in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The methodological design was based on action research supported by semi-structured interviews pre- and post- intervention. For the action research, a semester-long, pre-existing undergraduate literacy course was restructured to embed critical literacy. A group of eight self-selecting third year student teachers participated in the research project. Findings reveal that the students held beliefs that tended to conflate poverty with prejudicial stereotyping and attribution of fault to others who are located differently in the social world. Underpinning this was unquestioning acceptance of the education system. Acquiring a sociological, specifically a critical literacy perspective I conclude can help nurture student teachers’ ideas and understanding about teaching for social justice.

Educational Research Training in Teacher Training Programs: The Views of Future Teachers

The objectives of this study were to explore teacher student’s views on the research training they receive and know their suggestions for improving it. This was a qualitative study conducted on students in the teacher training programs of a Chilean public university who were distributed into nine focus groups. The findings showed that the students have a rather critical view about the training they receive, particularly due to the lack of continuity of research-related courses and their limited participation in research activities. Regarding how to improve their training, the students suggest providing one research-related course each year, having researchers as teachers, and giving greater visibility to the educational research produced within their university. The study concludes that it is important to promote participation in educational research and that university teacher educators and the entire university community must adopt a broad-ranging view on this subject.

Project “Schule für alle” as a mentoring programme in university teacher education: Professionalization processes of student teachers in different practical university phases

AbstractIn the mentoring programme project “Schule für alle” (“School for all”) at the University of Bielefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia, university students of primary or special education support a child who is in a situation of crisis for more than one year. In addition, the university students receive ongoing, systematic university support (cf. Kottmann, 2007, p. 32; Kottmann, 2014, p. 380).The accompanying research by “Schule für alle” focuses on the professionalization processes of student teachers during practical phases at universities; accordingly, control groups were included on a pro rata basis. In the pre-post design, all students completed a questionnaire (cf. Pieper, Kottmann & Miller, 2018, p. 294), the evaluation of which shows few changes in the professional perception of competence. Students of the mentoring programme also regularly reflected on their practical experience. Based on the objective hermeneutics it was discovered that the conception of the project supports the process of perceiving, acknowledging and becoming more sensitive in regard to heterogeneous realities in life (cf. Pieper & Kottmann 2019b, p. 312) and that students can consciously perceive and reflect their own normative expectations (cf. Pieper & Kottmann 2019a, p. 79).The article primarily presents the results of the pre-post survey in detail and adds insights into the qualitative evaluation processes. In the conclusion, the potential of the project and mentoring programmes in general, specifically for teacher training students, is described.

Gender sensitivity in pedagogical practices in secondary education in Bhutan

The terrain of gender inequities in education has seen many changes in recent times. The purpose of the study was to find out the gender sensitivity in pedagogical practices in secondary education in Bhutan. The study was qualitative and used non-probability convenient sampling techniques. The study used classroom observations to gain the first-hand experience of a normal classroom and focus group discussions with teachers and students to get in-depth views. The classroom observation and focus group discussion data were analysed using the process of emerging themes. The study revealed that teachers were not gendered sensitive in pedagogical practices in the secondary education level. There were challenges in understanding gender in education both by teachers and students. There was neither gender awareness nor conscious effort made by teachers to address gender inequality in the classroom. A gender-responsive education that supports the realization of student full potential requires the teachers to practice gender-sensitive pedagogy. To address the issue, there is an immediate need for gender awareness and sensitization among teachers and school leaders. Teacher education colleges should introduce modules such as gender and education or gender and development so that the classroom environment is gender-sensitive and gender friendly.

Investigation of Ethnopedagogical Factors in Teacher Education: Kyrgyzstan Sample

The purpose of this study is to investigate the ethnopedagogy education in the teacher education programs in Kyrgyzstan. Basic qualitative research method was applied in the study. The data were collected through document review and interviews with graduate students from Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University and instructors. The researcher stayed in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan for 50 days to collect the data, the documents and to plan and conduct the interviews. The data collected via document review and interviews, were analyzed by content analysis method. As a result of the analysis, information about the ethnopedagogy class at Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University teacher education program was reviewed and the instructors’ opinions about ethnopedagogy education at teacher education programs and the graduate students’ opinions about the ethnopedagogy class were identified. The most important result can be seen as that instructors and students give great importance to ethnopedagogy and adopt its ideas. They also indicated further insight and concrete proposals. As a country with a deep and rich history, it would be a great chance for Turkey to benefit from this educational experience.

Critical discourse analysis of university teacher educators’ professionalism in Chilean teacher education policy

This article uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) to interrogate the discursive construction of Chilean university teacher educators’ professionalism in government initial teacher education policy and institutional policy enactment documents. The study examines the network of discourses—new managerialist, quality assurance, performance, functionalist professional development—producing a version of professionalism akin to organizational professionalism. Used as a form of managerial control over teacher educators’ professional practices, such professionalism exacerbates performativity while reducing professional agency opportunities and consistent professional/academic development. Ultimately, this study contributes to the necessary questioning of Chilean ITE policy reform and the need to examine its effects on university TEs’ professional lives and the professional modeling of their student teachers.

The enactment of social justice in HPE practice: how context(s) comes to matter

ABSTRACT For more than 40 years, health and physical education (HPE) academics in universities and teacher education colleges have drawn attention to issues of social justice specific to the context of PE and advocated for teachers in fields, gymnasiums and other physical activity spaces to do a better job of promoting more equitable outcomes for all students. Building on this advocacy, in the late 1990s, countries such as Sweden, Norway and New Zealand designed HPE curricula that address social justice. However, limited research has focused specifically on the enactment of social justice in HPE practice. Drawing on a larger international project involving Sweden, Norway and New Zealand the aim of this article is therefore to explore the constitution of social justice pedagogies across these three different HPE contexts and more specifically how HPE teaching practice may be understood from regulative, normative and cultural perspectives on social justice. The data reported on in this paper were generated from educational acts, curriculum documents, observations of HPE lessons in each of the three countries and follow-up teacher interviews. In order to analyse the data, we employed Scott’s (2008. Institutions and organizations: Ideas and interests (3rd ed). Sage) institutional theory to further understand and discuss the enactment of social justice across the three different countries in HPE practice. In our representation and analysis of the findings we draw attention to how social justice pedagogies are informed differently by institutionalised governing systems and therefore they may be enacted differently by teachers in different societies. In particular, we highlight the influence of (i) regulative; (ii) normative; (iii) cultural-cognitive elements on practice. We conclude by pointing out the complex interplay between regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive elements that both enable and constrain HPE teachers’ enactments of social justice in HPE practice.

Provision and Awareness of Digital Library Resources in a Multi-Mode University: Perspectives of Distance Learners and Librarians.

The purpose of the study was to explore the extent to which digital library provision affects awareness and use of digital contents, digital reference services, and information literacy among stakeholders in distance education at a large multi-mode public teacher education university in Ghana. The study makes use of the concurrent mixed-method design. The population of the study was 1,834 distance students with a sample size of 641 distance learners reading programmes in Basic Education in three distance education Centres of the University of Education, Winneba namely Winneba (247), Kumasi (276) and Asante-Mampong (118). A total of 453 (70.67 percent) distance learners, selected randomly, completed a 31-item questionnaire. Also, the population consisted of four librarians from three Campuses in the vicinity of the Centres. A combination of probability and non-probability sampling methods were used for this study. The study found that awareness and use of digital library resources in the three distance education Centres were very low, if not non-existent. The findings revealed that for all the three main classes of digital library resources and services; digital contents, digital reference services and educative services, provision was very poor or non-existent for the distance learning community. This negatively impacted awareness and use of these resources. Among others, the study recommends a regular collaborative needs assessment of distance learners; establishment of dedicated library services for distance education; and the development of embedded library services which can appreciably raise the visibility of digital library resources in distance education. Keywords: Digital library provision; distance learning community; awareness; multi-mode; academic libraries in Ghana.

Preservice teachers’ experiences with digital formative assessment in mathematics

ABSTRACT This study investigated the experience of preservice mathematics teachers working with example-eliciting tasks (EET) on an online formative assessment platform. The study focused on the effect of working with EETs on the preservice teachers’ (PSTs) professional noticing of learners’ mathematical thinking. Participants included nine PSTs studying for their master's degree in a teacher education college in Israel. The PSTs were presented with their own responses and peer's responses about an angle bisector activity, and semi-structured interviews were conducted following the completion of course meetings. Qualitative methods were used to analyse the data. The findings show that the PSTs’ experiences of engagement with EETs were reflected in their noticing skills: attending, interpreting and responding. The findings also show that PSTs paid special attention to the variance between submitted examples and noticed the differences between answers. Their experiences also affected their knowledge of content and teaching, namely the proper sequence of instruction and the choice of examples for use in the classroom to facilitate deeper understanding of concepts. Finally, the findings indicate that using EETs on an online formative assessment platform enhanced the noticing skills of PSTs.

Mediating Profession and Discipline

With increased focus on grade school teachers as subject professionals as background, this article articulates and explores some of the challenges and responsibilities that disciplinary scholars of school subjects in a teacher education context face. Using narrative and phenomenological approaches to document analysis as well as qualitative analysis of empirical data from 16 university teacher educators, this article explores ways in which conflict between two teacher education cultures, the old and the ‘new’, can be managed productively to the benefit of teacher students in this new professional paradigm. The article illuminates some of the key conflicts rising from the ‘universitization’ of teacher education (Hudson, 2017), and also some of the ways in which divergent university cultures can support one another, within the context of teacher education in Norway but also with Nordic and international relevance.

Digital pedagogy: analysis, requirements and experience of implementation

The object of research is the process of digitalization of teacher education in Russian universities at the present time. The authors pay special attention to the characteristics of the concept of ‘digital pedagogy’. They analyze the definitions of the concepts of ‘digital pedagogy’, ‘electronic pedagogy’, ‘virtual pedagogy’ and ‘techno-pedagogy’. The authors of the article describe the functional and content components of digital pedagogy characteristics such as content-based, environmental, technological and competence-based components on the result of research by methods of content analysis, discursive analysis, synthesis of ideas of modern digital technologies. The article reveals the significance of digital transformation of education in creating non-standard algorithms for solving traditional pedagogical problems, forming and developing an innovative learning process based on artificial intelligence, big data and distributed computation. The article describes the Master’s program in digital pedagogy implemented at the Mari State University.

Predictive Validity of Entry Level Mathematical on Mathematical Knowledge of Pre-service Teachers for Teaching Basic School mathematics in Ghana

Introduction: Knowledge about teaching mathematics remains a contentious issue in the preparation of pre-service teachers in Ghana. This study explored relationships among entry-level mathematical knowledge (ELMK), mathematics content knowledge (MCK) and mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK) scores of pre-service teachers in colleges of education (CoEs) in Ghana. Methods: The cross-sectional survey design was adopted for this study. A total of 998 pre-service teachers from ten (10) public colleges of education were sampled via multi-stage sampling technique. Structured questionnaire and unstructured observation schedule were used for the survey. College mathematics test results were used as secondary data. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics (frequency count, percentage) and inferential statistics (Pearson’s correlation, paired-samples t-test and regression analysis) with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences software version 22. Results: The majority of pre-service teachers in Ghanaian colleges of education had average but relatively weak grades in ELMCK. ELMCK did not significantly predict pre-service teachers’ MCK statistically (p ≥ 0.05) although a statistically significant positive correlation existed between the variables. Although a negative correlation existed between ELMCK and PMCK, ELMCK significantly predicted pre-service teachers’ PMCK statistically (p ≤ 0.05) but the effect size was statistically negligible. Conclusions: This study concluded that, CoEs in Ghana admit pre-service teachers with average but weak grades in ELMK. Therefore, Ghanaian CoEs should structure and introduce PMCK alongside MCK for pre-service teachers. Mathematics tutors in CoEs should organize remedial lessons for pre-service teachers to scale-up their MCK and PMCK that adequately equip them with MKT. Keywords: Entry-level mathematical knowledge (ELMK), mathematics content knowledge (MCK), mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK), mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT), pre-service teachers.

“We Got Y’all!”: Leading and Supporting Black Male Teacher Trajectories

ABSTRACT Black male teachers possess an epistemological and pedagogical stance that is largely different from their non-color counterparts. Having a nontraditional stance can be problematic when evaluated by school leaders who hold traditional views of teaching and learning. Where many Black male preservice teachers enter the profession with desires to be a difference maker to marginalized communities, they often find pressure to acquiesce to Eurocentric educational norms or face isolation. As such, we find increased retention issues to an already limited teacher population. This study employs a qualitative approach informed by a narrative design that integrates the stories of Black male teachers, school leaders, and university teacher educators in the recruitment, support, and retention of Black male teachers. Through fictional narrative, I will restory the experiences of Black male teachers to highlight where critical caring and support from leadership can sustain Black male teaching trajectories.

Computer-Based Classification of Preservice Physics Teachers\u2019 Written Reflections

Reflecting in written form on one’s teaching enactments has been considered a facilitator for teachers’ professional growth in university-based preservice teacher education. Writing a structured reflection can be facilitated through external feedback. However, researchers noted that feedback in preservice teacher education often relies on holistic, rather than more content-based, analytic feedback because educators oftentimes lack resources (e.g., time) to provide more analytic feedback. To overcome this impediment to feedback for written reflection, advances in computer technology can be of use. Hence, this study sought to utilize techniques of natural language processing and machine learning to train a computer-based classifier that classifies preservice physics teachers’ written reflections on their teaching enactments in a German university teacher education program. To do so, a reflection model was adapted to physics education. It was then tested to what extent the computer-based classifier could accurately classify the elements of the reflection model in segments of preservice physics teachers’ written reflections. Multinomial logistic regression using word count as a predictor was found to yield acceptable average human-computer agreement (F1-score on held-out test dataset of 0.56) so that it might fuel further development towards an automated feedback tool that supplements existing holistic feedback for written reflections with data-based, analytic feedback.

Developing teachers’ professional identity through conflict simulations

ABSTRACT In recent decades, live simulation has been introduced into teacher training in the USA, Europe and Asia in order to better prepare students for teaching in class. The current study sought to examine the effect of using live simulations of conflict management on the formation of professional identity among Israeli students in a multicultural teacher education college. The study included 145 B.Ed. and M.Ed. students attending an Israeli teacher education college. Data were collected using the teachers’ professional identity scale, teachers’ identity conflicts scale and an open-ended questionnaire about the advantages and challenges of teaching-learning through simulations. The content analysis of the open-ended questions supported the SEM findings and showed that the less central, cognitive and emotion-arousing the conflict, and the higher its level of resolution, the stronger the professional identity formation among the intervention group members. The research conclusion is that learning through conflict simulations contributes to the development of pre-service teachers’ professional identity.

THE USE OF MULTIMEDIA AS AN EFFORT TO IMPROVE ELEMENTARY TEACHER EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM COLLEGE STUDENTS’ COMPREHENSION ABILITY AND CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS IN FOLLOWING SCIENCE STUDY COURSES

The research objective was to improve the understanding and creative thinking skills of elementary teacher education college student as prospective teachers in following science courses. The research design used is to make college student groups into small groups. During the learning process, observations about college student cooperation during learning with multimedia media were carried out to assess their understanding and creative thinking skills. The results of the observations of each cycle were evaluated as material for reflection in the next cycle to improve college student understanding and creative thinking skills in accordance with predetermined targets. Data analysis was carried out by descriptive quantitative. From the results of the T-test, it was found that there were significant differences. This means that understanding of concepts and Science Process Skills increases after prospective teacher college student experience the science learning process using multimedia learning media. From the results, the average value of understanding the concept increased from 53.61 % to 89.78%. and science process skills increased the average value from 43.57 to 87.32. 92% of college student gave a positive response, namely agreeing and strongly agreeing that the science lecture process using multimedia learning media can improve science process skills and understanding of material in science subjects for elementary teacher education college student

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Academic Motivation of Students in Teacher Education University of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

ABSTRACT The Academic Motivation is divided into two types: Intrinsic Academic Motivation and the Extrinsic Academic Motivation. Academic motivation is one of the factors contributing to student achievement and academic success. This study was conducted to understand students’ Intrinsic Academic Motivation and Extrinsic Academic Motivation. The sample included 212 students (71 male and 141 female). The results of correlation analysis show that there is a positive correlation between students’ Intrinsic Academic Motivation and Extrinsic Academic Motivation. There is a gender difference in extrinsic academic motivation, in which female students have higher extrinsic academic motivation than male. There is no gender difference in intrinsic academic motivation. Findings also suggest that there is no difference in significance to major intrinsically and extrinsically academic motivation. Based on the above research results, the research team proposes future research directions and ways to promote students’ motivation.