Teacher Education Reform Research Articles

What Do We Mean by “Reform?”: On the Seductiveness of Reform in Teaching and Teacher Education and It's Mischievous Influences

Drawing on literary critic Kenneth Burke's concept of “terministic screens,” the author explores some of the history and a few of the troubling implications for the work of teachers and teacher educators that flow from the idea of reform. Concluding that “reform is a bad idea,” the author argues for an alternative conception of educational improvement, one that is more life-affirming and hopeful. Seeking to weaken the conceptual and ethical hold of reform on policy-makers and educators, the author argues with John Goodlad that educational improvement first and foremost must be understood as a learning problem, an issue of educational renewal.

The reform of initial teacher education in Wales: from vision to reality

ABSTRACT Over the last four years, initial teacher education in Wales has been fundamentally reformed. The stimulus for those reforms were concerns about the quality of current provision, but more importantly a recognition by the Welsh Government that if their wider reforms of curriculum and assessment were to succeed, then teachers themselves had a key role to play. Teachers would no longer be simply required to ‘deliver’ a curriculum defined by others; they themselves would need to become active agents in realising that curriculum in ways that were appropriate for the children and young people they taught. What is being required is a new vision of teacher professionalism in Wales. But what are the implications of these changes for initial teacher education? The Welsh Government has taken the view that they demand a fundamentally different conception of how initial teacher education is organised, with both universities and schools working closely together to support student teacher learning. This paper sets out the background to these recent reforms, and then examines the way in which three key dimensions of the new model are being implemented in practice. They are: co-construction and governance; integrating university and school perspectives; and re-visioning mentoring.

Establishment of the concept of ‟CHE subject” and reform of teacher education in Europe: History teacher education as citizenship education

Establishment of the concept of ‟CHE subject” and reform of teacher education in Europe: History teacher education as citizenship education

Trends and current status of social studies-related teacher education reform in China:Focusing on the reform of the teacher qualification system and the actual situation of Shanghai Normal University and East China Normal University

Trends and current status of social studies-related teacher education reform in China:Focusing on the reform of the teacher qualification system and the actual situation of Shanghai Normal University and East China Normal University

Book review: From ‘Teach for America’ to ‘Teach for China’: Global teacher education reform and equity in education, by Sara Lam

Book review: From ‘Teach for America’ to ‘Teach for China’: Global teacher education reform and equity in education, by Sara Lam

Indian pre-service teachers’ conceptualisations and enactment of inquiry-based science education

ABSTRACT Situated in the context of teacher education reform which vehemently emphasises inquiry-based science education, this study examined the conceptualisations and enactment of inquiry-based science education by a group of four pre-service teachers enrolled in a teacher professional development programme in India, using mixed-method research design. This study elucidates the tapestry of PSTs growth as inquiry-oriented science teachers during the field internship period. Several factors that are teacher-related, student-related, and classroom-related were identified in influencing pre-service teachers’ conceptualisation and enactment of scientific inquiry. It is advocated that to translate teacher education reform rhetoric to classroom practices, it is essential to develop a culture of inquiry in schools. Implications for pre-service teacher education programme are drawn.

Shadow Elite of Teacher Education Reforms: Intermediary Organizations’ Construction of Accountability Regimes

In the 2010s, teacher education witnessed the rise of accountability regimes. Studies examining efforts to introduce teacher preparation accountability focused predominantly on federal or state actors, leaving the involvement of intermediary organizations in the construction of these regimes largely underexplored. To address this gap, I analyze nonprofit and for-profit actors’ advocacy for teacher preparation accountability. Using the tools of anthropology of policy and social network analysis, I demonstrate that these actors’ success rests on their ability to work together as a flex net, or a collective that pursues a shared vision and pools together resources to accomplish a common agenda.

Transforming Education With Problem-Based Learning: Documenting Missed Opportunities for Multicultural Perspectives

The purpose of this article is to document a study where we problematized the notion of meaningful instruction in the context of problem-based learning for culturally and linguistically diverse students. We analyzed 32 lessons with independent measures of the levels of integration of multicultural content and culturally responsive teaching and found the “real-world and meaningful” problems, a key feature of PBL, are laden with mainstream-centric perspectives. Furthermore, the majority of PBL lessons lack attention to social justice, equity, and decolonization. The central argument is that trends in education cannot simply be taken off a shelf and replicated in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms without taking affirmative steps to support teachers’ understanding of the need for multicultural education. Implications include reforming teacher education and grants supporting teacher professional development toward the inclusion of multicultural perspectives.

Effectiveness of Newly Reformed Teacher Education Program of ADE/B. Ed (Hons.): Student-Teachers' Perceptions

In Pakistan, the teacher education program has undergone a number of changes in terms of a new curriculum, quality measures and certification policies. The present study has attempted to assess the effectiveness of the program from student-teachers' perspectives. A closed-ended questionnaire was used to collect data from 200 student-teachers from four public sector universities. An initial descriptive analysis showed that teaching quality has slightly improved. An institution with a better learning environment was better at meeting student-teachers expectation. Only 12% of the participants reported that 100% of their expectations were met, while 40% of the participants reported that 80% of their expectations were met by the program. There was no association between Strengths of the Program and Sex' as, ?2 (2, n = 165) = .588, p >.05, phi = .06. The association between Program Level (ADE, B. Ed) and Perceived Strengths of the Program was statistically significant as ?2 (3, n = 165) = 24.725, p >.0005, phi = .380. Institution Type and Perceived Strengths of the Program were also statistically significantly associated as ?2 (9, n= 165) = 80.060, p<.05.

In Search of an Effective Teacher: Ghana’s Move towards Achieving Sustainable Education through Teacher Education Reforms

Ghana has experienced a number of education reforms in the post-independence era and the study aimed at examining Ghana’s attempt at finding an effective teacher, in relation to sustainable education, through teacher education reforms. Qualitative approaches, such as documents analysis and interviews with 10 experienced college educators, were the methodology for the research. After constant comparison, students’ quality and entry requirements, changes in curriculum, and role of development partners in education reforms affected quality of teacher education. However, cultural context, support systems, and educator professional development are means of achieving sustainable basic education. Ghana should, therefore, have teacher education policy for a reasonable period of time, uninfluenced by change in political power and ideologies, but tailored to socio-cultural and economic needs of the people; preparing motivated-teachers to accept the profession as a chosen-career.

A MODEL OF ISLAMIC TEACHER EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE IN INDONESIA: A Critical Pedagogy Perspective

This paper proposes a model for teacher preparation in the context of Islamic education using a critical pedagogy perspective. The constantly increasing social injustice combined with sectarian frictions has placed Indonesian society in a fragile situation and, it, therefore, needs a closer attention, and more so in the field of education. This paper argues that reforms in education should begin from the very vital component of education, i.e. teacher since teacher contributes significantly to the development of students in almost all aspects. Also, the traditional approach of instruction does not seem able to provide solutions for most of the social problems, even though Islamic teachings strongly endorse equality, justice, and respect for differences. This conceptual paper, therefore, develops a model for reforms in teacher education starting from philosophical foundation of teaching to critical pedagogy practices. In this paper, this critical pedagogy approach is argued to enable teachers to become change agents for promoting education for social justice.

Nigerian Teacher Education Reform: Implications for National Development

Nigerian Teacher Education Reform: Implications for National Development

Svensk yrkeslärarutbildning efter reformen 2011: Lärarstudenters uppfattningar om antagning, VFU och läraranställning

Through a survey to former vocational teacher students at two universities in Sweden, we explore their perceptions of admission, practicum internship during vocational teacher education, and employment as a vocational teacher after education, since teacher education reform in 2011.
 The questionnaire used in the survey was answered by 140 former teacher students and the result contributes with knowledge about which vocational subjects were applied for, and which subjects the students later were admitted to, how long the former students’ professional experience was when they applied for the education. The result shows that measures should be taken to support the application process. The study also illustrates how students perceive their practicum at schools and to what extent they were taught in their vocational subjects, and how they value the supervision during the practicum at schools. Here, we can draw conclusions from the questionnaire about differences between different vocational programmes regarding the supervision. Finally, we examined what happened after the vocational teacher education and we see that a large majority of former students have employment as vocational teachers, but that the possibilities of competence development and the broadening of the competencies for more vocational subjects vary.

Designing 21st Century Language Learning Scenario in Indonesia: A Perspective from Computer-Assisted Language Learning

The integration of international quality assurance standards into Indonesian higher education curricula, together with the enactment of the New Standard of Higher Education (NSHE), are creating new and significant pressures on the curriculum renewal as well as the reconstruction of course syllabus design in foreign language departments in Indonesian universities. Just like any other units (courses) in foreign language departments in Indonesia, Academic Writing course at English Language Teacher Education (ELTE) is impacted by the new government policies. Latest research suggest that both curriculum renewal and syllabus development project are integral part of the quality assurance system where it focuses on the transparency and accountability in curriculum design and delivery. The key elements of the course syllabus that are made transparent and accountable, for instance, gives hints at the shifting knowledge structures, the use of new technologies, the emphasis on the development of students’ skills, and the extended responsibility being placed on students for their own learning development. This paper reports how these key elements are inserted into a learner-centred pedagogy of academic writing at ELTE department in Indonesia in order to meet the requirements of the 21 st century learning that are individual, personalized, adaptive, modular, integrated, and non-sequential. The establishment of computer-assisted language learning environment combined with the new pedagogy of academic writing, in essence, opposes the existing traditional approaches to language learning and literacy pedagogy in Indonesia. The entire story presented in this paper is a significant excerpt from the preliminary phase of experiment of a PhD research project conducted in Indonesia. The insights presented in this paper should trigger a holistic reform in language teacher education in Indonesia.

Accountability and Initial Teacher Education Reform: A Perspective from Abroad

This article focuses on accountability as a tool for teacher education reform. The article is based on my experience as a teacher education scholar and practitioner over the last 40 years and especially on analyses of teacher preparation accountability in the United States, recently conducted by Project TEER (Teacher Education and Education Reform), a group of teacher education practitioners, researchers, and scholars at Boston College. The members of the group were united by a growing concern about the direction education reform was taking and the impact it was having on teacher education in the US and by a commitment to equity for all the students served in the nation's schools. For five years, we tracked US teacher education reform, concentrating on the major accountability initiatives that were shaping the field. This work culminated in the book, Reclaiming Accountability in Teacher Education (Cochran-Smith et al., 2018). Drawing on this work and on my experience in the national and international teacher education communities, this article has three purposes: to present a framework for unpacking accountability policies related to initial teacher education; to use that framework to describe briefly the dominant accountability paradigm in the US as well as an alternative to the dominant paradigm –democratic accountability in teacher education; and finally, to use ideas from the framework and from our US analyses to comment on the current reform of initial teacher education in Wales.

Doing Things Differently: Responding to the 'policy problem' of Teacher Education in Wales

Responding to a clear justification for the reform of initial teacher education (ITE) in Wales (Furlong, 2015) the Welsh government has committed itself to strengthening provision through 'a truly collaborative system, where universities and schools work in robust partnership, supported by the consortia, recognising the importance of research' (Williams, 2017: 1). The publication of the national criteria for the accreditation of ITE programmes in Wales (Welsh Government, 2017) set out the requirements for all ITE programmes, emphasising the need for an integrated approach to student teacher learning within collaborative models which are research-informed at all levels. Using Vidovich's (2007) dynamic model of policy analysis, which takes into account influences on policy text production at the macro, intermediate and micro levels, the paper examines the process by which these particular reforms (covering a six-year period from 2013 to 2019) have been proposed and set in motion and the ways in which recently-accredited providers in Wales have begun to respond to the challenging agenda that they represent. The paper concludes by offering a view as to what the opportunities and challenges for ITE providers in Wales might be in terms of further developing models of research-informed clinical practice.

ITE Reform at the University of Glasgow: Principles, Research-basis and Implications

The Faculty of Education at the University of Glasgow's reform of initial teacher education was undertaken on the basis of current research within a mature educational infrastructure. Within the university research knowledge was utilized in two ways: research on teacher education indicated that enquiry could become a key aspect of teacher identity; and it indicated the need for a curriculum for pre-service teachers in schools. Thus enquiry learning was embedded in schools and the new school-based curriculum had three elements: seminars; peer learning through learning rounds; joint-assessed visits. These innovations were positively reinforced by Teaching Scotland's Future (Donaldson, 2011). This series of reforms has implications for Wales and can be usefully analysed against the binary thinking which dominates discourses in teacher education; and Williams's thought on the vulnerability of emergent culture. Four binaries are identified and re-conceptualised: binaries of time, space, content and persons. The binary of time (initial and continuing teacher education is conceptualised a career-long process; the binary of space (school and university) is recast as a third space; the binary of content (theory and practice) is recast as different forms of knowledge permeating space and time; and the binary of persons is recast as a (university-based teacher educator and pre-service teacher) is recast as a triad which sets all three in dialogue. Implications include the deeper consideration of career-long teacher learning; and the role of the teacher educator. This emergent practice may be vulnerable to dominant practice.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE EUROPEAN PROFILE FOR LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION ON THE LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION REFORMS IN TURKEY

English language is now the most commonly used lingua franca all over the world and has become an international language. Consequently, learning English is an important objective in the education system in every country as well as the EU member countries. This status of English language results in some fundamental changes in the foreign language education and foreign language teacher education policies of almost every country globally. This paper addresses the question whether the European Profile for language teacher education affects the foreign language teacher education policies and reforms in Turkey. The study also focuses on the general European profile for foreign language teacher education on Turkey contexts as well as the influence of the European profile for language teacher education on the foreign language teacher education reforms in Turkey.
 Keywords: English language, foreign language education, language teacher education profile in Europe, language teacher education reform in Turkey

Computer Science for Equity: Teacher Education, Agency, and Statewide Reform

This paper reports on a statewide “Computer Science for All” initiative in Oregon that aims to democratize high school computer science and broaden participation in an academic subject that is one of the most segregated disciplines nationwide, in terms of both race and gender. With no statewide policies to support computing instruction, Oregon’s legacy of computer science education has been marked by both low participation and by rates of underrepresented students falling well-below the already dismal national rates. The study outlined in this paper focuses on how teacher education can support educators in developing knowledge and agency, and impacting policies and practices that broaden participation in computing. In particular, this research seeks to understand two questions. First, how do teachers experience equity-focused professional development in preparation for teaching an introductory course in computer science? Second, this study queries, how do teachers understand their own agency in influencing policies and practices that broaden participation in their specific schools and classrooms? To answer these questions, this inquiry employed a mixed method approach, drawing from surveys, observations, and interview data of two cohorts of teachers who participated in the Exploring Computer Science professional development program. To show the variety of school contexts and situate computer science education in local and place-based policies and practices, three teacher case studies are presented that illustrate how individual teachers, in diverse geographic and demographic settings, are building inclusive computer science opportunities in their schools. The findings reveal that centering equity-focused teacher professional development supports teachers in formulating the confidence, knowledge and skills that lead to inclusive computer science instruction, computer science content, and equity-centered pedagogy. The findings also highlight how school reform in computer science requires not only technical and pedagogical supports and structures, but also a systemic rethinking and reworking of normative and political forces that are part of the fabric of schools. Based on these findings of teacher knowledge and agency, the paper concludes with a presentation of particular statewide policies and practices that are generative in broadening belief systems and expanding political capacity of computer science education to reach all students.

Teacher Mentoring in Service of Preservice Teachers’ Learning to Teach: Conceptual Bases, Characteristics, and Challenges for Teacher Education Reform

Preservice teacher education programs worldwide are increasingly becoming field based with student teaching as the capstone experience for preservice teacher learning in the program. Consequently, mentor teachers at field-placement program schools are bestowed with new and unique functions to support preservice teachers’ learning to teach, which calls for new conceptualizations of teacher mentoring approaches. This article critically examines the theoretical underpinnings of four existing approaches to teacher mentoring during student teaching, analyzes the focuses and practices associated with each approach, and identifies the major challenges that each approach faces in guiding preservice teachers to learn to teach as expected by the field based teacher education reforms. Finally, it proposes an integrated approach to teacher mentoring for field-based teacher education that transcends the four existing teacher mentoring approaches.