Primary Teacher Education Courses Research Articles

Children's Literature, Ecocritical Dialogues and Social-Emotional Learning: Developing Integrated Teaching Practices

An innovative primary teacher education course at the University of Padova combines children's literature, ecocritical dialogues, and social-emotional learning (SEL). It aims to enhance educational quality and prepare teachers for global environmental and social challenges. Developed through the Green Dialogues project, it fosters internationalization and interdisciplinarity. This article examines the course's interdisciplinary teamwork, focusing on its design and teaching methods. A case study highlights the benefits of incorporating ecocritical and SEL approaches in climate action teacher education. The course illustrates how children's stories can foster environmental and social consciousness and empathy among students. This approach not only enhances pedagogical practices but also prepares teachers to contribute meaningfully to climate literacy and social equity in European higher education.

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.

Where Western Australian Graduate Diploma of Education Primary Students Source their Information on Sustainability

Sustainability has recently been made a cross-curriculum priority in Australia, through the development and implementation of the Australian Curriculum. Subsequently, primary and secondary teachers across all subject areas are required to integrate Education for Sustainable (EfS) into formal education. A recent research case study was undertaken to determine Western Australian (WA) Graduate Diploma of Education (Primary) students’ perceptions of sustainability on entering their teacher education course. This paper reports on part of the findings from this study, specifically the sources of information these pre-service teachers used to inform their perceptions of sustainability. The case study emphasised the need for reliable scientific information in mass media and pre-service teachers’ mistrust of commercial media. It also underscored the need to provide specific sustainability content in pre-service primary teacher education courses.

Teaching Science with Experimental Work and Computer Simulations in a Primary Teacher Education Course: What Challenges to Promote Epistemic Practices?

Abstract The objective of this work is to study how teachers’ mediation can promote the development of students’ epistemic practices (EPs), in a classroom environment, using computer simulations (CS) articulated with experimental work (EW). In particular, we want to explore characteristics of teacher mediation using CS articulated with EW as a didactical approach and what EPs occur when students work in the pathway from theory (T) to the observable-world (OW), and vice-versa. We report a multi-case study with two teachers of a primary teacher education course. We use multimodal narratives (a description of what happens in the classroom, using several types of data collected) to analyse the students’ EPs and the teachers’ mediation. This analysis is made using the qualitative analysis software (NVivo 8®). The results point that the differences in the occurrences and pathways found in students’ EPs can be related to the different characteristics of teachers’ mediation. The results also point to the existence of students’ epistemic practices that were differently promoted depending on the use of CS or EW, which means an interesting complementarity between the two teaching approaches. When teachers’ mediation incorporates the use CSs articulated with EW.

Epistemological and methodological issues for the conceptualization, development, and assessment of ICT–TPCK: Advances in technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK)

In this paper, several issues regarding the epistemology of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) are first raised for the purpose of clarifying the construct. Specifically, the transformative and integrative views are juxtaposed for exploring the epistemology of TPCK, and, at the end, the transformative view is adopted concluding that TPCK is a unique body of knowledge that is constructed from the interaction of its individual contributing knowledge bases. Then, ICT–TPCK is introduced as a strand of TPCK, and is described as the ways knowledge about tools and their affordances, pedagogy, content, learners, and context are synthesized into an understanding of how particular topics that are difficult to be understood by learners or difficult to be represented by teachers can be transformed and taught more effectively with technology in ways that signify its added value. One model for the development and another for the assessment of ICT–TPCK are then discussed. Technology Mapping is proposed as a situative methodology for the development of ICT–TPCK, and three forms of assessment, namely, expert assessment, peer assessment, and self-assessment are proposed for assessing teachers’ competencies to teach with technology. The paper also reports on the empirical findings of a study that was undertaken to investigate the impact of the proposed models on student learning within the context of two design tasks in a pre-service primary teacher education course. Repeated measures within-subject effects were tested and the results indicated that ICT–TPCK competency significantly improved over the course of a semester. The results of this study clearly show that the theoretical models proposed herein can positively impact the development of ICT–TPCK. Lastly, these results can be used as baseline data in future studies that may be conducted to further validate or improve the proposed models in different contexts.

Equipping future arts educators for primary schools of the 21st century: an Australian point of view

This article discusses two interrelated themes. First, that arts education plays a valuable role in developing the skills required by successful individuals of an increasingly sophisticated knowledge economy; and second, that arts education programmes in initial primary teacher education courses should be linked to, and compatible with, the needs of future schools. If young people are successfully to develop skills, knowledge and understandings that prepare them as productive citizens of the creative economy, then those enabling that development should understand and in turn be able to demonstrate and foster these capacities.

Students' Reasons for Wanting to Teach in Primary School

Despite the introduction of training salaries for Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) students, a substantial increase in enquiries (Tabberer, 2000) and some reported increase in the actual number of applications for primary teacher education courses (Campbell, 2000), recruitment overall has declined significantly, from 24,994 applications in 1994 to 9,875 in 1999 (Gates, 1999). Higher entry qualifications will not readily be imposed on a smaller pool of applicants if the educational characteristics of those applicants remain at the same level (generally considered to be low: House of Commons, 1997). Specific subject-knowledge for teaching may be enhanced by increased emphasis on first degrees and thus recruitment to primary PGCE courses, through the discriminating allocation of training salaries and as an outcome of the Secretary of State’s description of the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree as a ‘sub-degree undergraduate course’ (McAvoy, citing Hansard, 2000), but the PGCE neither ensures adequate coverage of shortage subjects nor the whole curriculum competence required of most primary teachers (Thornton, 1998). Despite the introduction of training salaries for PGCE students, starting in September 2000, recruitment of ethnic minority and male students remains low (Barnard, 2000, reports just a 5 per cent increase in applications from men and a 5 per cent increase in enquiries from ethnic minorities) and there is strong evidence that the teaching profession in England is becoming increasingly feminised (Howson, 1998).

Determinants of the competence and confidence of teacher education students studying primary science education

This study suggests that most students entering science or science education units in preservice primary teacher education courses have a positive attitude to the teaching/learning of primary science and see value in all domains of science for children at this stage. This was an unexpected finding. It was of concern however, that their interest in physical science topics was so low. This may be due to previous specific experiences in secondary science. Science and science education units should build on the positive attitudes of students and could develop physical science ideas through their significance in environmental and social problems.

Preservice primary teacher education in NSW: A comparative analysis of espoused science education curricula

Recently the "Green Paper" (Dawkins, 1987, p. 18) commented that a "better understanding of ... science by primary teachers" is needed, and it was proposed that a major discipline assessment of "teacher education in ... science" be undertaken. These remarks beg the question: "What do we know about the science education courses provided in preservice primary teacher education program mes? Two recent reviews of science teacher education (Owen et. al. 1983; Tisher, 1986) concluded that there was little written about preservice primary teacher education courses. Following the above review by Owen et. al. (1983), a major project in science in primary teacher education was conducted (Owen et. al. 1985). One aspect of this work surveyed the content and structure of preservice primary science courses in Victorian CAE's. This paper extends the data available on preservice primary science teacher education courses by analysing and comparing the espoused curricula of primary science curriculum units offered by eleven NSW tertiary institutions in 1985/7. Comparisons are made with the Victorian study.

Reasoning Ability of Preservice Primary Teachers: Implications for Science Teaching

The study investigated formal reasoning ability of preservice primary teachers in a Western Australian teacher training institution. The paper explores the implications of a wide range in reasoning ability of teachers for teaching science in primary grade levels. Relationships between reasoning ability and prior studies in science, science elective choice in a preservice teacher education program, and integrated process skill achievement in a science education course were also investigated. A sample of 299 students enrolled in the second year of a preservice primary teacher education course participated in the study. The results of the study suggest that students with high formal reasoning ability are best equipped to teach primary science. As well as having the intellectual capacity to utilize formal modes of thinking during science lessons, students in this group are more likely to have studied physical science subjects at Year 12 level and to have engaged in science elective studies in the preservice teacher education program. In contrast, students with lower reasoning ability are likely to encounter significant difficulties in implementing an effective science program. In addition to problems associated with reasoning limitations, teachers from this group tend to have a background in biological sciences at Year 12 level and have usually avoided additional elective studies in science during their preservice teacher education program.