Novice Teacher Educators Research Articles

Exploring emotional experiences of Chinese university novice EFL teachers: An ecological perspective

Drawing on Bronfenbrenner's ecological system, the present study employs a qualitative longitudinal approach to delve into the emotional experiences and ecological factors that contribute to these emotions in eight novice EFL teachers from four Chinese public universities. Based on data collected from semi-structured interviews and case documents, this study identifies four types of emotional experiences—fear, anger, sadness, and joy—in their first school year. The findings revealed that their emotional experiences were shaped by college students, teachers' teaching competence, EFL teaching-related activities in the microsystem, interpersonal relationships in the mesosystem, novice teacher education and development systems in the exosystem, traditional cultural values and English curriculum reforms in the macrosystem, and changes in the emotional experiences over time in the chronosystem. The implications for novice EFL teachers, teacher educators, school leaders, and policymakers are proposed.

A case study on researcher identity development of novice and experienced teacher educators: A different or similar research journey?

This qualitative study aims to investigate the researcher identity development of novice and experienced researchers. In the study, which adopted the case study, one of the qualitative research designs, the maximum diversity and criterion sampling methods were used. Data were collected through interviews with seven novice and five experienced teacher educators. Data were analyzed by content analysis through MAXQDA software. Results showed that experienced and novice teacher educators shared similar views while depicting research and revealing the influential factors in developing researcher identity. It was found that researcher identity was developed through the interaction of three main components: academic, social, and individual factors. While individual factors were at the core of a researcher identity development process, academic and social factors influenced researcher identity through three phases: exploration, engagement, and continuous development. For each phase, there were academic and social factors that had a prevalent influence on researcher identity construction.

Concerns of novice teacher educators: a narrative self-study

Concerns of novice teacher educators: a narrative self-study

A Qualitative Case Study on the Experiences of Korean Early Childhood Teacher Educators Enacting Multicultural Social Justice Education in the U.S. -Focusing on Their Dilemmas-

Purpose: This study examined three novice Korean teacher educators’ multicultural social justice teaching experiences who work in an early childhood teacher education program in the United States. An understanding of the participants’ teacher educating practices from a phenomenological perspective is presented. Methods: Three semi-structured interviews with each participant were conducted, which were guided by Seidman’s three-interview series. Results: The research found that all three participants demonstrated a strong belief that notions of multicultural social justice should be incorporated into all classrooms. However, they shared a timid approach rather than proactively creating a space for addressing structural inequities. This was understood to be related to the participants being situated in multilayered dilemmas. Conclusion: Conceptual, pedagogical, cultural, and political dilemmas encountered by the participants were delineated and practical suggestions for supporting teacher educators in delivering multicultural social justice teaching at an institutional level are detailed.

Learning to Teach, Teaching to Learn: A self-study to Promote Gender Awareness through Debates in Teacher Education

ABSTRACT Education should encourage active citizenship through a critical and transformative lens to promote a more just, equal, and inclusive society. This article presents a self-study that examines my teaching practice as a novice teacher educator. It describes my first experience using debates to discuss gender inequalities through critical pedagogy. With this study I aimed to answer: (1) What can I learn from my first attempt to use debates that focus on gender issues in teacher education to improve my teaching practices based on critical pedagogy? and (2) How can participation in debates frame pre-service teachers personal and professional views on gender issues? Data collection methods included the teacher diary, students’ surveys, exit slips and a group interview. Data analysis encompassed both more traditional techniques (i.e., data analysis spiral method) and more complex and relational methods (i.e., thinking with theory). Findings are presented through a visual network showing the connections among three categories: tensions to improve, positive lens, and awareness of gender issues. This article, therefore, makes public the knowledge built and created through my experience so that it can inform my (and potentially others’) future practice. Findings show that debates offer a variety of benefits for teacher education in terms of both pedagogical insights and raising awareness about critical issues. However, debates are not magic formulas, and they may not serve nor impact all pre-service teachers in the same way.

REFLECTIVE PRACTICES OF TEACHER EDUCATORS IN PUNJAB: A NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Purpose of the study: Reflective practices are considered very important and influential for teacher training and professional development. This study was conducted by using a narrative perspective. The main aim of this study was to explore the role of reflective practices in building teacher educators’ professional lives. Their stories were explored to understand what is needed to become an effective teacher educator. Methodology: The current research involved six teacher educators from GCETs selected purposively as research participants. Semi-structured interviews were used as data collection instruments. Teacher educators who have a minimum of ten years of experience were interviewed. After gathering stories, the researchers build categories and themes from interview data. The narratives of teacher educators were reconstructed through analysis and discussion. Main Findings: The findings of the current research reveal that reflective practices can play a very effective role in the professional grooming of teacher educators. The effective use of reflective practice tools is significant in building these practices. It is implicated by the study findings that novice teacher educators and future teacher educators can learn from the experiences of experienced teacher educators. Novelty: This research will help the administration to know about problems that teacher educators face while using reflective practices. Future researchers can be helped to explore the ways that how the reflective practices-related challenges and problems can tackle. Moreover, how the reflective practices of school teachers and college teachers can be made more effective.

Fostering Teacher Educators’ Professional Development through Collaborative Action Research

This study reports on the experience of three novice science teacher educators as their journey on unpacking and scrutinizing their inquiry implementation. In this study, the three science teacher educators formed a critical inquiry group and engaged in collective action research to identify weaknesses and strengths in their instruction of inquiry as they attempted to teach a science laboratory course for future primary teachers and develop new knowledge about how to best promote inquiry in their laboratory courses. For this purpose, the novice science teacher educators engaged in inquiry collaboratively within a learning community to improve their own professional development through a whole semester. Data was collected by use of audio-recorded planning and reflection meetings, written weekly reflections, and pre-interviews and post-interviews with three researchers and final written reflection. Data collection was continuous and spanned through the fall semester of the science laboratory course offered in a primary teacher education course. Analysis of the findings revealed the reflection and the construction of collegial relationship between science teacher educators enabled them to view them as science educators through new lenses. The implications derived from the data, served to inform science teacher educators regarding the professional development of novice science teacher educators through forming collaborations in which they questioned and pursuing the theoretical and practical bases for their practice.

The preparation of novice teacher educators for critical, justice-oriented teacher education: A longitudinal exploration of formal study in the pedagogy of teacher education

ABSTRACT There continues to be limited focus on the preparation of teacher educators, particularly for teacher education aimed at challenging educational inequities. This case study explores the impact of a curricular approach to preparing novice teacher educators in the pedagogy of teacher education. Drawing on surveys, interviews, documents, and observations of practice, the study traces what novice teacher educators learned 5 years after enrolment in a doctoral course, and how this learning shaped their teacher education practice over time. The analysis illuminates conceptual and practical tools as well as unanticipated learning that were salient for novice teacher educators’ learning and practice.

The Cycle of Enactment and Investigation

Novice teacher educators (NTEs) occupy a complex role of teaching pre-service teachers and typically do not have formalized supports or professional development. This study used the Cycle of Enactment and Investigation (CEI) as framework for NTE professional development. NTEs engaged in a modified CEI that emphasized repeated individual and collective analyses before and after enactments. Findings suggest that this framework allowed the NTEs to engage in the work of a teacher educator with the support of each other and a more experienced teacher educator. This study highlights the need for further research on ways of supporting NTEs.

Becoming coaches: A study of two novices’ journey

This paper examines the practice of two novice teacher educators working as instructional coaches in a university-based teacher education program. Previous research suggests that the knowledge and skills required to be an effective teacher are distinct from those required to be an effective teacher educator. Yet novice teacher educators often receive minimal preparation. This qualitative study identifies dilemmas that novice coaches encounter during observation debrief conversations in order to inform coach training. The findings suggest that the process used by the researchers to surface dilemmas may also be a useful intervention in shaping the identity and practice of novice teacher educators.

Becoming Clinically Grounded Teacher Educators: Inquiry Communities in Clinical Teacher Preparation

Calls for the renewal of teacher preparation through clinical practice have left many novice teacher educators to learn on the job. This article reports on the research of two such novices, studying their own practice. Addressing the need to better understand the approaches teacher educators take to clinically grounding their work, the authors used a hermeneutic approach to naturalistic inquiry to study their use of an inquiry community framework in a teacher preparation clinical setting. The authors found that within an arc of practitioner inquiry, explicitly teaching guided reflection and professional dialoguing skills within an inquiry community were key teacher educator practices. They found that an inquiry community approach holds promise as a structure and space for teacher educators to advance teacher preparation toward clinical practice.

A Collaborative Self Study of Critical Digital Pedagogies in Teacher Education

ABSTRACT This article explores the critical digital practices and pedagogies of two novice teacher educators. Employing self-study research methodologies, we examine our collaborations and integrations of critical digital practices into two literacy methods teacher education courses. Seeking to emphasize the ‘critical’ aspects of critical digital literacies, we co-planned and designed learning opportunities, which deliberately considered social, cultural, and ethical issues related to learning with and from digital technologies. Data were collected from the memos and shared on-line reflections recorded from our weekly meetings over the course of four months. This self-study helped us to understand our conceptualizations and enactments of critical digital pedagogies for teacher education. We developed a deeper understanding of the opportunities and challenges present when integrating critical digital texts into the curriculum. The planning, ongoing reflection and revisions of the course were meaningful, however, were time-consuming in nature. We argue this work should not be left solely to teacher educators; rather, teacher preparation programs must play a larger role in preparing and supporting teacher educators with both the technical and pedagogical know-how of meaningfully designing and integrating critical digital practices into their courses.

Becoming a teacher educator through being a student teacher: an autoethnography in the practicum

ABSTRACTThis In Practice paper reports on an autoethnographic study based on the author’s 12-week teaching practicum experience in two secondary schools in an initial teacher education programme to professionally develop himself as a teacher educator. As a novice teacher educator, the author took on the role as a student teacher in the practicum. Through ongoing dialogues with different stakeholders in schools and the author’s own reflective self, the practicum experience provided an opportunity for the author to understand the tension between theory and practice, learn to give feedback as a teaching practicum supervisor and facilitate the development of schools. This paper offers implications on the benefits of engaging in self-study such as autoethnography in the school context for novice teacher educators to understand the educational reality and professional lives of schoolteachers as well as professionally develop themselves in their teacher education career.

Análisis de las necesidades formativas del tutor universitario de prácticas externas desde la perspectiva del self-study

Este artículo analiza la experiencia de una formadora novel que comienza su andadura como docente e investigadora desde el enfoque del self-study. El centro de esta aportación es el análisis de la propia actuación profesional a través de la tutorización de 12 futuros maestros durante sus prácticas de enseñanza o prácticas externas universitarias. La metodología, enmarcada en el self-study, sigue la propuesta de Johns (2010) secuenciando fases de indagación a través de tres fuentes de información, contrastación y ayuda: la observación y participación en sesiones de focus group con estudiantes de grado en educación primaria que realizan por primera vez sus prácticas externas, un diario personal narrativo-reflexivo, y finalmente, varios encuentros con dos amistades críticas. Se concluye mediante el análisis contextual y reflexivo sobre la dimensión emocional que subyace la tutorización del proceso de prácticas externas universitarias. Esta valoración suscita, por un lado, mejoras hacia el propio desempeño profesional de la formadora novel y, por otro lado, mejoras hacia la formación inicial del maestro.

Novice nontraditional teacher educators’ identity (re)construction in higher education: A Hong Kong perspective

This study explores two novice nontraditional teacher educators’ identity (re)construction in different universities in Hong Kong. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews, field observation, and informal communication, the findings demonstrate how the two novice teacher educators, without formal school teaching experience, underwent different identity change trajectories (i.e., from identity conflicts to identity deficits and vice versa), influenced by their personal beliefs and aspirations as well as contextual demands in higher education. The findings provide insights into the under-researched area of nontraditional teacher educators’ professional development and offer useful implications on how to prepare and develop effective and committed teacher educators in Hong Kong and similar educational contexts where teacher education is mainly housed in higher education institutions.

Developing mathematical knowledge for teaching teachers: potentials of history of mathematics in teacher educator training

What mathematical knowledge is required for teaching has been researched by many, with Ball et al. (J Teach Educ 59(5):389–407, 2008) and their practice-based theory of mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) primary among them. However, what is required in terms of mathematical knowledge for teacher educator training has been researched much less. The present study builds on an emerging framework on mathematical knowledge for teaching teachers (MKTT) by Zopf (Mathematical knowledge for teaching teachers: the mathematical work of and knowledge entailed by teacher education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2010) augmented with more recent developments in the field. The empirical basis for the study stems from an implementation of a short course on history in mathematics education at the Danish School of Education, and in particular on two case studies involving three teacher educator students participating in that course. Based on analyses of their developments in terms of MKTT, we point to the potential of using history in both teacher and teacher educator training, and in particular historical source material. As part of the analyses, we also consider the teacher educator students’ development of disciplinary knowledge of mathematics, especially in relation to developing and making use of knowledge of the epistemology of mathematics and mathematical work. We assert that the cases we present here address Zopf’s call for case studies from different teacher education contexts as well as investigations of novice teacher educators, and further contribute to the developing theory of MKTT.

Teaching and Learning Innovation Among Teacher Educators

Innovation is an important competency to be honed by all the school teachers. To promote innovation among school teachers, teacher educators in Teacher Training Colleges play a prominent role. Align with this, approaches of integrating innovation in teaching and learning activities are found to be very significant in enhancing the quality of teacher education. In spite of the significance of this construct, valid instruments have proven yet to be developed in the context of teacher education. Therefore, the absence of valid instrument to assess innovation in teaching and learning activities among teacher educators has stymied researches in this area. The main aim of this study was to develop a valid instrument to assess innovation in teaching and learning activities among teacher educators. A survey comprised of 100 teacher educators was carried out in one of the Teacher Training Colleges in Malaysia. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was employed to identify the underlying factors. Result of EFA formed a nine-item version of Innovation in Teaching and Learning Activities Inventory (ITLAI). All the combined nine items explained 65.809% of the total cumulative variance. Based on these findings, ITLAI can be used as a valid instrument to assess innovation in teaching and learning activities among teacher educators in Teacher Training Colleges. Besides, it provides comprehensive guidelines for head of departments to organize a clinical workshop on teaching and learning innovation for novice teacher educators.

(Re)conceptualizing preservice teacher supervision through duoethnography: Reflecting, supporting, and collaborating with and for each other

This paper reports on ways duoethnography encouraged reflection, support, and collaboration for two novice teacher educators. Through duoethnographic research, they juxtaposed their experiences in new roles supervising preservice teachers as lived curriculum, or “currere.” Although supervisors often work in isolation, their collaborative research allowed the opportunity to reflect, coach one another through challenging situations, and collaborate on tools and strategies to use with preservice teachers. By engaging in the process of duoethnography, these teacher educators found themselves jointly (re)conceptualizing the role of supervisors. The authors suggest that duoethnography can promote critical reflection and break down supervisor isolation.

Trying and reflecting: two novice teacher educators’ first attempts at guiding pre-service teachers’ reflection on literacy field experiences

ABSTRACTIn Democracy and Education, Dewey aligns trying and undergoing as experience. Undergoing the consequences of trying by reflecting entails noticing and naming the details of the connections between the activity and the consequences. In this paper, we explore two novice teacher educators’ first attempts at guiding pre-service teachers (PSTs) throughout the reflection process. Using the Framework for Facilitating Reflection as a support for coaching PSTs, we analyse transcripts of 10 Teaching Cycles guided by 2 novice teacher educators in a study abroad programme. Without intentional mentoring, the teacher educators were neither successful with clarifying course content nor creating dissonance leading to the reflective process.

How Will I Know What My Students Need? Preparing Preservice Teachers to Use Running Records to Make Instructional Decisions

AbstractEffective teachers use assessment data to make instructional decisions. One of the most informative techniques to assess young learners’ reading progress in the primary grades is the running record. Running records provide concrete evidence of students’ skills, reading levels, strategies, and progress as readers. The data gathered help teachers identify readers’ current strengths, needs, and reading levels. Frequent consideration of assessment data allows teachers to make up‐to‐the‐minute evidence‐based instructional decisions for their students. How do preservice teachers learn to take, score, and analyze running records to inform their literacy instruction? This article describes two approaches used by teacher educators to equip preservice elementary teachers with beginning proficiency in using running records to determine next steps of reading instruction for young students. The authors also provide novice teacher educators with insight into how they might incorporate running records instruction into their assessment or methods coursework, and they suggest resources to guide follow‐up instruction.