Pre-service Teacher Education Students Research Articles

Advancing the study of levels of best practice pre-service teacher education students from Spain: Associations with both positive and negative achievement-related experiences.

The study of optimal best practice, coinciding with a person's 'motivational mindset', is an interesting research inquiry for development. Optimal best practice, in brief, relates to the maximization of a person's state of functioning (e.g., cognitive functioning). Moreover, the nature of optimal best practice is positive and motivational, helping individuals to flourish in different courses of action (e.g., academic performance at school). Several research undertakings, non-experimental in design, have provided clear and consistent evidence to substantiate the existing viewpoints and perspectives of optimal best practice. Our proposed investigation, which involved physical education pre-service teacher students from Spain (N = 681), explored one notable focus of inquiry-namely, the formation of optimal best practice and its predictive and explanatory account on future adaptive outcomes. As such, using Likert-scale measures and path analysis techniques, we were able to identify two associative patterns: achievement of optimal best practice is positively accounted for by academic self-concept, optimism, and current best practice and, in contrast, negatively accounted for by pessimism; and that optimal best practice could act as a determinant of academic engagement for effective learning. Such associations are significant, providing relevant information for different teaching and research purposes.

Promoting Intercultural Competence in Preservice Teacher Education through Virtual Exchange

Intercultural competence refers to the ability to effectively communicate with people from diverse cultural backgrounds while utilizing one’s intercultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes. To become a competent teacher in English, preservice teacher education students would have to be able to manage a classroom with students from different cultural backgrounds. This study explores the possibilities of promoting intercultural competence among a group of pre-service teacher education students at Dhofar University through a virtual exchange program with Tulane University. Through a curriculum intervention, the pre-service teacher education students were given the opportunity to engage in conversations virtually. Utilizing an approach of action research, the study attempted to seek the pre-service teacher education students’ perspectives on their intercultural competence in three areas namely attitude, skills, and knowledge by assessing their responses before and after the virtual exchange program. The results of the study revealed that the preservice teacher education students perceived their openness, communication skills, empathy, worldview, and self-awareness to have significantly increased after participating in the intercultural virtual exchange program. However, the virtual exchange program did not have an impact on the students’ reservation of judgment towards their peers of different cultural backgrounds.

Portfolios as assessment for learning: A case study of pre-service Foundation Phase teacher education students

Portfolios as assessment for learning: A case study of pre-service Foundation Phase teacher education students

The Impact of COVID-19 on Digital Competence

The study looked into how COVID-19 affected the digital competence of a group of preservice teacher education students at a higher education institution in the Sultanate of Oman. The paper examined students’ digital profile in five areas namely information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, safety and problem solving. Data from 32 undergraduate students was collected by utilizing DigComp, a European Commission digital skills self-assessment tool and findings from a survey. The digital competence framework measures the set of skills, knowledge and attitudes that describes what it means to be digitally competent. These skills are important for students to be effective global citizens in the 21st century. The results of the study revealed that the majority of the students scored Level 3 (Intermediate) in their self-assessment competency test score. The majority of the students perceived that their digital competence improved significantly as the result of online learning which was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The rationale of this investigation is that it helps educators understand the students’ level of digital competence and the students’ perspectives on ICT skills. In turn, it informs us the ways to monitor the students’ digital progress and the next steps in developing their digital competency.

Chinese and Canadian preservice teachers in face-to-face dialogues: Situating teaching in cultural practices for West-East Reciprocal Learning

This study was contextualized in a Teacher Education Reciprocal Learning Program that has been an essential part of Xu and Connelly's (2013–2020) SSHRC Partnership Grant Project for West-East reciprocal learning in education. Canadian and Chinese preservice teacher education students were given the opportunity to have face-to-face dialogues to enhance their cross-cultural learning and understanding. Our research was to find out the reciprocal learning outcomes through our participant observations, reflections, and follow-up interviews. Both Canadian and Chinese teacher candidates valued this face-to-face interaction, which hopefully has helped open their eyes to view education from others' cross-cultural perspectives and lived experiences with broadened horizons and enhanced global competences.

Analysis of English Learning Anxiety of English Pre-service Teacher Education Students in Mainland China

This study aims to investigate the anxiety of preservice English EFL teachers in a normal Chinese university. This article identifies and analyzes the various types of anxiety students experience in their typical classroom experiences. We used a survey research design with the FLCAS questionnaire in this study, along with the FLCAS questionnaire, to conduct this research. 74 preservice English teachers participated. The results showed that communication apprehension represented the highest anxiety among the three categories. As preservice English teachers, participants had less test anxiety. Further research on how their anxiety in teachers' preparation programs affects their subsequent teaching performance at schools would be helpful. This is based on the study participants' perceptions of classroom anxiety as a preservice English teacher.

Analysis of English Learning Anxiety of English Pre-service Teacher Education Students in Mainland China

This study aims to investigate the anxiety of preservice English EFL teachers in a normal Chinese university. This article identifies and analyzes the various types of anxiety students experience in their typical classroom experiences. We used a survey research design with the FLCAS questionnaire in this study, along with the FLCAS questionnaire, to conduct this research. 74 preservice English teachers participated. The results showed that communication apprehension represented the highest anxiety among the three categories. As preservice English teachers, participants had less test anxiety. Further research on how their anxiety in teachers' preparation programs affects their subsequent teaching performance at schools would be helpful. This is based on the study participants' perceptions of classroom anxiety as a preservice English teacher.

Intersex awareness and education: what part can health and physical education bodies of learning and teaching play?

ABSTRACT It is well-documented that schools fail to adequately engage with contemporary content about intersex awareness and education or inclusion of people with intersex variations. Where sexuality and relationships education are the remit of Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum in countries such as Australia, the learning area shows little obligation/response-ability towards the needs of students with intersex variations. It also fails to pay nuanced attention to non-dominant issues, knowledge, or people with respect to sex, gender and sexuality. Similarly, the normative endosex nature/focus of HPE/PE/sport and related professional education bodies (e.g. in teaching and coaching) ignore the need for relevant and affirming content about intersex bodies. A recent project reported here, created a collective narrative addressing how such HPE bodies of learning and teaching can advocate for and enact approaches that are inclusive, affirming, visible, and supportive in promoting and upholding the human rights and health needs of students with intersex variations. The research question driving the project was: What part can HPE bodies of learning and teaching play concerning intersex awareness and education? This original empirical research draws on the methodology and theory of narrative inquiry. The narrative was created between artefacts from a cohort of second year Australian pre-service HPE teacher education students in dialogue with teacher/researcher/expert/author bodies. The paper employs a recently developed Strategic Framework for intersex inclusion that promotes a positive whole-school approach, for educational institutions to be more inclusive, humane, safe and educationally relevant for people with intersex variations. This framework assists critical reflection on project findings. We argue that such engagement, as illustrated in this project’s scope, promotes a positive and diverse understanding about intersex in educational spaces, curriculum and pedagogies, guidelines, and policies, and ultimately reflect Australian Human Rights Commission recommendations and Australian anti-discrimination legislation.

Motivations for entering into a teaching career in Brunei Darussalam: An update

189 pre-service teacher education students completed a qualitative questionnaire in which they were asked to state reasons for their decision to become teachers. The results were then compared to those of another study conducted in the same teacher education institute in 1995. The study revealed that, with the transformation of the institute which raises the education level required for entry to the profession, there were differences in students’ motivations. Extrinsic motivation was no longer the predominant determinant for students entering into teaching; instead, there were more students who identified intrinsically- and altruistically-motivated reasons for pursuing a teaching career.

A critical reflection of my collaborative learning journey in a South African pre-service teacher education film study module

ABSTRACT This paper reports on the process of understanding myself and my pre-service teacher education students better through my lecture reflections and deliberations with critical friends as I taught a South African film entitled Tsotsi. Conversations with colleagues deepened my analysis as I was challenged to revisit my musings on lecture reflections, and to probe facets of my background that influenced my responses to students. At the outset, I believed that my learning lay in the film. I now realise that I could have engaged in the process with any text. My learning happened not through the film, but in beginning to understand how my socio-cultural background influences my pedagogy. My reflections along with colleagues’ comments served as the link between myself and my classroom practice. I explore the question: What did I learn about myself in relation to my students through lecture reflections and my engagements with colleagues?

Covid- 19 and the future of practicum in teacher education in Zimbabwe: Rethinking the ‘new normal’ in quality assurance for teacher certification

ABSTRACT This article examines the policy and quality assurance debates in teacher education ensuing at one school of education in Zimbabwe following the sudden closure of schools and universities due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Unfortunately, final year university pre-service teacher education students’ practicum assessment could not be finalised. The practicum is a critical component in teacher education as it engenders professional transformation, reflection and growth. Unlike other academic modules which could be completed via online and distance education, the practicum, being a practical undertaking in a classroom situation, presented unique challenges. The research question that the article addresses is: How would certification of teachers be finalised when this time-tested assessment had not been done?The articleemploys content and discourse analysis to unpack the philosophical and professional arguments being advanced by faculty, in order to understand how they are likely to determine future directions of teacher education. The argument is that the emerging ‘new normal’ should not compromise the quality assurance mechanisms developed overtime.

High Order Thinking Skills for Biology Education: Applied Microbiology Learning Videos Based on Jambi Local Wisdom

Purpose: Critical thinking is needed in 21st-century learning. The fact is that critical thinking skills are still low. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate critical thinking skills using video learning based on local wisdom Jambi in microbiology courses with regular print modules. Method: Using a quantitative design quasi-experimental post-test control only. Where the total number of samples from this study were 72 biology pre-service teacher education students taken by purposive sampling technique. The experimental group (n = 36) was taught with local wisdom Jambi based learning videos in applied microbiology courses, while the control group (n = 36) was taught using traditional teaching materials. The Oliver-Hoyo Rubric for Critical Thinking (OHRCT) and the attitude questionnaire regarding cultural values are given. The data is then analyzed with the help of the SPSS 21 application to look for descriptive statistics in the form of mean, and inferential categories and statistics for the independent sample t-test. Finding: There is a significant difference in terms of critical thinking and student cap between the control class and the experimental class. It was found that by using video learning based on local wisdom Jambi obtained differences with the t-test value of 15.540 on critical thinking skills. It can be underlined that video learning based on local wisdom Jambi has a significant effect on students' critical thinking skills compared to conventional groups.

Work done in the margins: A comparative study of mental health literacy in pre‐service teacher education in Australia and in Scotland

Ensuring pre‐service teachers have strong mental health literacy is vital for progress towards an inclusive, effective education system; yet little is known about how pre‐service teachers are prepared for practice with school students who present with poor mental health. The original, internationally comparative small‐scale (N = 24) qualitative study reported here compared current mental health literacy provision to pre‐service teacher education students in Scotland and Australia. Semi‐structured telephone interviews with teacher educators who delivered mental health content divulged highly variable, often ad‐hoc mental health literacy provision; a concern, given the prevalence of poor mental health affecting children and young people in schools. Thematic data analysis revealed striking commonalities among issues raised by participants from both countries, highlighting the need for urgent improvement in the provision of mental health literacy to pre‐service teachers. Results suggest the possibility of strategically developing a joint Australian‐Scottish mental health component suitable for delivery in both countries.

Critical Reflections of Pre-Service Teacher Education Student Participation in Service-Learning: A Pilot Study

This pilot study explored the effects of participation in a service-learning initiative on first-year pre-service teacher education student development. The focus of the service-learning was a combination of problem-based learning and immersive activities, pairing pre-service teacher education students with an early high school-to-college bridge program established within a public urban high school in the Northeastern United States. Through examining pre-service (6) student interviews as well as content analysis of individual student journaling and researcher observations, three themes emerged that contribute to pre-service student development: (i) exposure, (ii) involvement, and (iii) learning from experience. Students who participated in the service-learning expressed perspective taking in relation to engaging and being responsive to school-aged youth. This in turn may enhance pre-service student views of their own personal growth; preparation for future work as teachers; and continued awareness and promotion of benefits to community engagement and applied learning.

Switching colours: Becoming a culturally responsive teacher educator

This narrative inquiry self-study project explores ways to bridge the socio-cultural and cognitive gap between myself, my pre-service teacher education students and the characters and events in a Victorian novel. In the study I investigate the students’ cultural capital through focus groups, conversations and classroom activities. A self-reflective journal relates how I translated what I learned about the students’ beliefs, attitudes and experiences into teaching that was culturally responsive, purposeful and underpinned by constructivism. My findings were that in getting to know the students, I was able to respond to their contexts and construct knowledge jointly through purposeful pedagogy. In doing so, the chasm between myself, the students and the novel narrowed.

Travelling into the other's world: South African pre-service teacher education students' construction of difference, belonging and identity

Against the backdrop of a lack of social engagement in South Africa’s classrooms, this paper explores how nine pre-service student educators constructed stories of difference, belonging and identity in facilitated conversations around race relations in South Africa. As such it will contribute to an emerging field of research on pedagogical interventions that engage students in difficult conversations to create more socially just classrooms. Bamberg’s (2012) positioning analysis for small stories was used as analytical tool. What transpired in this analysis was that students tended to position themselves first and foremost along racial lines, revealing their experiences of continuing academic and social segregation. Although students expressed a desire to overcome these divides, they struggled to visualise a world where black and white students could engage beyond their comfort zones, moving beyond the narratives with which they grow up. Lugones’ (1987) concept of world-travelling and her suggestion that world travelling might be more difficult for those who are at most ease in their lives, was useful to unpack and understand the different roles students performed. Students’ stories also showed the importance of destabilising dominant understandings of subjectivity, by allowing the emergence of fragmented narratives in difficult conversations. Recommendations of how to use narratives to facilitate students’ world travelling include the emphasis on intersectionality, fluidity and complexity in students’ stories but also discuss the difficulties to facilitate such a process and the importance of self-reflexivity on the part of the facilitator.

Examining the Status of Transition-Focused Content Within Educator Preparation Programs

Almost two decades since the last study of how educator preparation programs (EPPs) offer transition-related content to preservice teachers, this study sought to understand if the educator preparation landscape has changed. Given the impact of well-prepared secondary educators on student transition outcomes, reexamining the status of transition-related content within teacher education was warranted. Thus, the primary purpose of this study was to query a national sample of EPPs regarding the specific transition content provided and methods for conveying transition content to preservice teacher education students. Results indicated that small changes have occurred over time, with most programs reporting positive perspectives regarding the level of preparation among program graduates. However, the capacity of EPPs to offer high quality and evidence-based transition content appears to be inconsistent. This study emphasizes the need for future research, as well as improved practice within EPPs.

Enhancing Phonological Awareness and Orthographic Knowledge of Preservice Teachers: An Intervention through Online Coursework

Abstract: The teaching of reading is a core priority across the education sector. In an attempt to better prepare our next generation of professional teachers of reading, academic staff at an Australian university implemented coursework changes that were designed to enhance the phonological awareness and orthographic knowledge of first-year preservice teacher education students. All students were asked to complete written surveys measuring phonological awareness and orthographic knowledge during class-time at the start and end of their first semester of study. During the semester, students were expected to complete two online modules on phonological awareness and orthographic conventions and pass an online quiz (worth 10% of their grade) as part of their course on the Teaching of Reading and Writing. Education students’ performance in phonological awareness and orthographic knowledge improved significantly over the course of the semester. However, a significant percentage of students failed to achieve mastery level in phoneme-level awareness. Implications and future directions for current higher education practices are presented.

Evaluating the alignment of self, peer and lecture assessment in an Aotearoa New Zealand pre-service teacher education course

The ability to reflect and self-assess are essential attributes for graduates to develop during their education. At many tertiary institutions, peer and lecturer-assessment contribute to summative assessment, but self-assessment, whilst recommended for development, does not. In order to make a case for the inclusion of self-assessment as a summative assessment task its reliability needs to be analysed, tested and established. This paper reports a study comparing the alignment of self, peer and lecturer-assessment of 34 pre-service teacher-education students and their lecturer. Students annotated a teaching artefact evidencing their attainment of an Aotearoa New Zealand Graduating Teacher Standard. Peer groups of students and their lecturer also assessed the annotated artefacts using the same collaboratively constructed assessment rubric and feedback sheet. While 59% of self, peer and lecturer-assessments fully aligned, in the remaining 41% many of the participants awarded lower grades to their achievement, indicating less confidence concerning their attainment than their peers and lecturer did. Emerging themes from the annotations of those students whose self-ratings were lower than those of their peers and/or the lecturer indicate a need for further research focussed on the potential influence of self-efficacy and cultural responsiveness on the reliability of self-assessment.

Inclusive and accessible physical education: rethinking ability and disability in pre-service teacher education

ABSTRACTThis paper identifies and explores emergent themes in inclusive PE in the specific context of pre-service teacher preparation programs. Fully inclusive PE encompasses four areas: knowledge and curricula related to ability and disability, teacher attitudes, pre-service teacher education and a reframing of our understandings of multiple perspectives on physical literacy. Fully accessible PE involves material and attitudinal conditions configured to render these programs actually usable by all those whose ‘inclusion’ is intended. Access is, indeed, conceptually implied in ‘inclusion’, however, in practice the latter can easily become more of a slogan naming an aspiration than a realizable state of affairs. Unless an organization or individual brings a universal commitment to access, attitudinal barriers may prevent full inclusion from becoming a reality. The paper uses qualitative case study methodology to examine pre-service teacher education students’ preconceptions about ‘dis’ability and analyses heuristically how pre-service teachers pre-conceived notions of ability and disability may be challenged through an intervention. 21C PE programs can move towards an emphasis on inclusive activities which are not based on traditional conceptions of physical competence, size, shape, appearance and ability, but instead focus on how all bodies can develop fundamental movement skills, functional fitness and physical literacy. The author challenges pre-service students to address issues of accessibility, normative notions of ability, body equity, social justice and inclusion, as well as the need for multiple definitions of physical literacy. The paper is a case study of the specific phenomenon of ‘broadening student teachers’ understandings of ability and disability in PE’ as a necessary condition for preparing students to work in schools where full inclusion may not have been integral to PE policies, programs and practices.