Novice Pre-service Teachers Research Articles

Pre-service teachers applying culturally-responsive critical pedagogy

How do pre-service teachers practice culturally-responsive critical pedagogy in the classroom? This study of two pre-service teachers investigated a professional practice placement that followed theory courses. The research found five applications of culturally-responsive critical pedagogy: reflecting on self and identity; centring ākonga (learners); uplifting culture; developing critical consciousness; and improving academic outcomes for non-dominant culture learners. However, the pre-service teachers placed varied emphasis on those applications, including not engaging with the achievement application. The research offers concrete practice examples of culturally-responsive critical pedagogy by pre-service teachers, and questions the assumption that novice pre-service teachers have the skills to enact theory-to-practice.

Views of Novice Pre-Service Teachers Towards the Use of L1 in the EFL Classroom

This study aimed to explore the views of pre-service teachers (freshman students) at English Language Teaching program at a state university in Turkey towards the use of L1 (mother tongue) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms while also investigating their actual use of L1 during an extracurricular teaching event. It also aims to find out if there is a relationship between participants’ educational background in language learning, their views towards use of L1 and their actual use of L1. This study employed a qualitative approach by collecting data through semi-structured interviews and these interviews were supported with field notes taken by the researcher. The findings showed that ELT students mostly favored the use of L2 (target language) in the classroom and stated that it must be used as much as possible; however, some participants also stated that L1 could be used depending on the proficiency of students. The analysis of the interviews showed that there was no relationship between the participants’ actual use of L1 and their educational background for the participants. Finally, the study suggests some implications towards the ELT curriculum in line with the findings.

The effects of instructional design based web course on pre-service teachers’ competencies

<span>Web Pedagogical Content Knowledge (WPACK) is an important competence for pre-service teachers in the educational technology course. However, novice pre-service teachers require the preparation stage to integrate the Web into instruction. The purpose of the study was to develop and to investigate the new instructional model for pre-service teachers in integrating the Web. The Preparation, Isolation, Transformation, Action, Reflection, and Revision (PINTARR) and two other models were implemented in three physics education technology groups with seventy-four participants. The instrument test was constructed to assess the pre-service teachers’ competencies, namely Student analysis, Curriculum organization, Instructional strategy selection, Evaluation, Technological knowledge, and Physics knowledge. The result of MANOVA showed pre-service teachers in PINTARR group outperformed overall the pre-service teachers’ competencies rather than the Multimedia and Web Design Learning group. The results indicated that the Preparation and the Isolation stage were the most important for novice pre-service teachers in improving the competencies.</span>

E-Peer Coaching: A Model to Support Rural Special Education Field Placements

Providing adequate supervision for pre-service teachers enrolled in special education field placements is a challenge. Rural placements often exacerbate this challenge due to the large geographical areas in which these placements are located. The purpose of this article is to describe one approach to early field supervision in rural settings that may provide solutions to this dilemma. E-peer coaching utilizes video-facilitated peer coaching to provide novice pre-service teachers (NPTs) with accurate feedback that is both frequent and timely. This study investigated the use of a Google App that allowed NPTs to record instructional sessions and provide feedback to one another under the supervision of a course instructor. Recommendations for implementation are discussed.

Pre-service teachers’ emotion in teaching practicum

This present study involved two novice pre-service teachers who had teaching practicum. It focused on their emotion during two-months teaching practicum. Their emotion dealt with personal geography as well as professional geography. The results revealed that pre-service teacher had emotional experience positively and negatively. The emotional experience that pre-service teachers had in personal geographies starting from nervous, anxious, scared, guilty, shame, self-doubt and being oppressed to being calm, being enthusiasm to teach, having self-confidence and having good rapport with school citizens. Meanwhile, in term of professional geographies, pre-service teachers’ emotions were various, ranging from how to adopt theory to practice, confused how to interpret mentor teachers’ feedback to being disciple, learning how to both design lesson plan and manage classroom, learning to dress well and keeping good relation to students, mentor teacher, supervisors, and school staffs. In addition, this study found the culture influence on pre-service teachers personally and professionally. The Indonesia culture to respect senior emerge during teaching practicum such different social status between student and teacher, tendency to underestimate the value of quality and achievement.

Make biology relevant again! Pre-service teachers’ views on the relevance of biology education This paper was presented at the ERIDOB conference 2020

ABSTRACT Biology education should be relevant to young students so that they can become interested in biology and understand biological topics in their everyday and vocational lives. We conducted interviews and collected mind maps to examine Finnish pre-service biology teachers’ (N = 16) views on the relevance of biology education. Furthermore, we analysed Finnish secondary school biology curricula, which were compared with the pre-service teachers’ answers. We classified the views on relevance into nine main categories using grounded theory as the methodological frame of reference. Pre-service teachers emphasised the relevance of biology to the student’s own life, whereas scientific practices and the nature of science were expressed in secondary school curricula more often. Novice pre-service teachers put more value on general knowledge, while more experienced pre-service teachers were more likely to mention sustainable futures and societal aspects in their reasoning. Based on the results, we identified two stages in the development of the views. This study suggests that pedagogical studies, teaching experience and teacher training have an impact on the pre-service teachers’ views about the relevance of biology education. Moreover, we could find differences between curricula and pre-service teachers’ views, especially regarding scientific practices and the role of the nature of science in biology education.

Action orientation in novice pre-service teachers—A predictor for academic success and academic progress

This article investigates whether action orientation as a facet of self-regulation can be used to assess the differences in prerequisites for a successful teacher training in pre-service teachers. Based on the data acquired we have identified and replicated four clusters of students with diverging abilities to overcome failure and implement plans. The content validity, concurrent validity and predictive validity of the clusters were tested using satisfaction with life, academic progress and academic performance data. Based on this classification different needs for support can be inferred and implications for educational interventions can be drawn.

An analysis of the form and content of quadrilateral definitions composed by novice pre-service teachers

Mathematical definitions are an important mathematical construct which has been noted as a challenging topic for both teachers and students. This study provides an analysis of the form and content of a set of 308 definitions of quadrilateral types provided by 44 novice pre-service elementary teachers (NPSTs) who had not yet studied geometry or definitions on the college level. Analysis of definition structure including necessary, sufficient, and minimal conditions, as well as hierarchical and partitional structure, provides insight into what NPSTs may think about the form of mathematical definitions in general. Analysis of the properties used in definitions of each shape type and the frequency of those properties reveals the shape types with which NPSTs are most and least familiar. These results are presented alongside possible applications and implications for instruction.

¡Guiamos!: A university-based program for pre-service bilingual and ESL teachers

ABSTRACTThe researchers explored the benefits, challenges and preferred methods of communication of those who took part in the ¡Guiamos! online and face-to-face mentoring program. Participants included 21 novice pre-service teachers who served as mentees and 32 experienced educators of English language learners who served as mentors. To explore the answers to the research questions, participants completed a survey which contained Likert-scale items and open-ended questions. The researchers found that ¡Guiamos! mentors and mentees rated a large number of benefits highly ranging from the improvement of relationships to increases in knowledge and skills; and in their commitment to teaching. Furthermore, with the exception of not having enough time, participants perceived challenges within the mentoring program as occurring relatively infrequently. In regards to mentor-mentee communication preferences, participants favored email and least favored video-conferencing.

Elementary Teachers’ Selection and Use of Visual Models

As science grows in complexity, science teachers face an increasing challenge of helping students interpret models that represent complex science systems. Little is known about how teachers select and use models when planning lessons. This mixed methods study investigated the pedagogical approaches and visual models used by elementary in-service and preservice teachers in the development of a science lesson about a complex system (e.g., water cycle). Sixty-seven elementary in-service and 69 elementary preservice teachers completed a card sort task designed to document the types of visual models (e.g., images) that teachers choose when planning science instruction. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted to analyze the card sort task. Semistructured interviews were conducted with a subsample of teachers to elicit the rationale for image selection. Results from this study showed that both experienced in-service teachers and novice preservice teachers tended to select similar models and use similar rationales for images to be used in lessons. Teachers tended to select models that were aesthetically pleasing and simple in design and illustrated specific elements of the water cycle. The results also showed that teachers were not likely to select images that represented the less obvious dimensions of the water cycle. Furthermore, teachers selected visual models more as a pedagogical tool to illustrate specific elements of the water cycle and less often as a tool to promote student learning related to complex systems.

Instructors’ teaching styles: relation with competences, self-efficacy, and commitment in pre-service teachers

Instructors’ teaching styles in higher education are an issue of major importance because these interactions affect students’ self-perceptions, involvement, and achievement. This study aimed to test a theoretical model of relations between perceived teaching styles (autonomy support, structure, and control) and competences, self-efficacy, and commitment in pre-service teachers; to assess the invariance of the model in two samples; and to analyze the mediated relations between these variables. Measures were collected from 842 Spanish pre-service teachers. As main research implications, teaching styles predicted acquired competences, competences predicted teaching self-efficacy, and self-efficacy predicted commitment to the profession. This model was equivalent in two samples of childhood and primary education pre-service teachers. Competences and self-efficacy mediated the relationships between variables. As practical implications, this study clearly shows the need for different interventions to enhance adequate instructors’ teaching styles and to foster among novice pre-service teachers the acquisition of professional competences, initial self-efficacy, and a good level of commitment to their profession.

Measuring pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy in tutoring children in primary mathematics: an instrument

ABSTRACTThis article reports on the use of Rasch modelling to develop and validate an instrument measuring self-efficacy in tutoring children in primary mathematics (SETcPM). In response to the literature on teacher efficacy, the 20-item instrument aims to inform teacher educators, and is designed for novice pre-service teachers (nPSTs) preparing to teach mathematics in primary school (grades 1–7, ages 6–13). To ensure that the tasks of teaching are imaginable for nPSTs, the instrument targets the core activity of teaching mathematics: helping a generic child with mathematics tasks. We propose that SETcPM is measurable for the intended population and represents a central part of self-efficacy in teaching mathematics (SETM). Understanding the initial SETcPM of novices and mapping its development over the course of their training programme can contribute to a better understanding of SETM, and allow teacher educators to tailor their support.

“White People Don’t Work at McDonald’s” and Other Shadow Stories from the Field: Analyzing Preservice Teachers’ Use of Obama’s Race Speech to Teach for Social Justice

This study investigates the outcomes of two novice preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) attempts at taking up the roles of critical guides (Damico & Apol, 2008) to mediate discussions about racism inresponse to President Barack Obama’s (2008) campaign speech “A More Perfect Union.” With the objective of teaching for social justice, these PSTs initiated their discussions in two senior English classrooms at the same high school located in a predominantly white, economically low-middle-class Midwest community. Profiles of each intern were developed from data comprised of field notes, meeting notes, interviews, video and audio recordings, journal entries, essays, and other artifacts. Framed by Damico and Apol’s (2008) concept for mediating historical risky texts, and grounded in the principles of critical literacy and antiracist pedagogy, this investigation demonstrates that despite their objective to teach social justice, the PSTs enacted discussions that generated shadow texts (Simon, 2000) and perpetuated stereotypes. It suggests that for these PSTs, there may be a disconnection between the theories they learned in their teacher preparation courses and their practical application of such theories in the field.

The Novice as Facilitator of Learning: Turning Workplace Practices Upside Down

Building preservice teacher confidence and competence in teaching Science as Literacy in the workplace of schools is crucial for their future practice. However, this paper looks at changing the usual model of practising educators leading the novice preservice teachers in the workplace. Primary educators tend to avoid teaching science because they lack confidence or believe they lack competence in the pedagogy of science teaching. This can be alleviated by involving pre-service teachers (PSTs) in teaching science as literacy. This practice-based paper explores the concept of the Novice as Facilitator within a project partnership between schools and university through a five-week buddy project in the workplace of schools (WiL). The paper illustrates that PSTs can affect their learning and that of others.

Preparing beginning reading teachers: An experimental comparison of initial early literacy field experiences

This randomized-control trial examined the learning of preservice teachers taking an initial Early Literacy course in an early childhood education program and of the kindergarten or first grade students they tutored in their field experience. Preservice teachers were randomly assigned to one of two tutoring programs: Book Buddies and Tutor Assisted Intensive Learning Strategies (TAILS), which provided identical meaning-focused instruction (shared book reading), but differed in the presentation of code-focused skills. TAILS used explicit, scripted lessons, and the Book Buddies required that code-focused instruction take place during shared book reading. Our research goal was to understand which tutoring program would be most effective in improving knowledge about reading, lead to broad and deep language and preparedness of the novice preservice teachers, and yield the most successful student reading outcomes. Findings indicate that all pre-service teachers demonstrated similar gains in knowledge, but preservice teachers in the TAILS program demonstrated broader and deeper application of knowledge and higher self-ratings of preparedness to teach reading. Students in both conditions made similar comprehension gains, but students tutored with TAILS showed significantly stronger decoding gains.