Secondary Teacher Education Program Research Articles

Teacher educators and environmental justice: conversations about education for environmental justice between science and geography teacher educators based in England and Brazil

AbstractWhile environmental education has been present in the field of education for decades now, only recently our particular subject areas of science and geography have started to pay more critical attention to specific concerns surrounding the intersection of environmental issues and social justice (also known as environmental justice) within the context of formal secondary education, including in secondary teacher education programmes. Drawing on scholarship, policy landscapes and socio-environmental concerns from both the global South and the global North, and on a methodological approach based on transnational collective reflection and collaborative-dialogic writing, in this article we delve into our different cultural, geographical and disciplinary contexts, views and experiences as four teacher educators from Brazil and England who have been working at this intersection between environmental justice and Science and Geography teacher education programmes for secondary formal education. Here we will argue that environmental justice needs to have a central role in such teacher education programmes if we aim to support young people and their teachers in navigating the spatially diverse and unequal impacts of environmental emergencies in global North and South communities. We also consider future directions for research and collaboration across national and disciplinary boundaries within the landscape of environmental education for environmental justice, reflecting on the future of teacher education across the global North and the global South when facing more frequent and severe environmental emergencies.

독일과 한국의 중등학교 교원 양성 기관의 교직과정 운영 현황 비교 연구

This study aims to compare the current status of secondary school teacher education programs in German and Korean Universities and to draw implications for discussions on the operation and improvement of teacher education programs in Korea. To identify the current status of teacher education programs in Germany, we first selected one or two German universities that currently operate teacher education programs in each federal state, and then collected and analyzed information on teacher education programs posted on the official websites of each university. The focus of the analysis was on identifying the detailed operation status of the five components of the teacher education program, which are practice, pedagogy, and other areas, except for the major and teaching method. To identify the operation status of the Korean teacher education programs, we collected and analyzed the information on the teacher education programs posted on the official website of the College of Education at University A in Korea. This study then compared the detailed operation status of the German and Korean teacher education programs, focusing on practical, pedagogical, and other areas, and found that the proportion of practical areas in German teacher education programs is higher than in Korean teacher education programs, and that, unlike Korean teacher education programs, which have only practical courses in schools, German teacher education programs have practical courses in various education-related organization other than schools. Based on these differences, this study suggests three implications: increasing the proportion of practical courses in teacher education programs, introducing practical courses that take place in education-related organizations other than schools, and offering a variety of pedagogy-related elective courses at universities.

Examining the impact of disability studies in education-infused curriculum on attitudes towards inclusion in a U.S. secondary teacher education programme

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the impact of Disability Studies in Education (DSE) aligned curriculum at a United States university on the attitudes of general education pre-service teachers toward inclusive practices. The study employed a pretest-posttest design to compare the attitudes of teacher candidates at the beginning and end of a course that focused on inclusive instruction. Findings indicate that the course positively influenced students’ attitudes towards inclusion, particularly in their affective beliefs. Students identified several DSE topics and their cooperating teachers as influential in shaping their inclusive attitudes. We discuss implications of the findings on the development of courses aimed at fostering inclusive attitudes and supporting teachers to navigate the tension between school practices and perspectives in DSE.

An Exploration of Beginning Science Teacher Orientations Toward Social Justice: “What Does It Mean to Teach?”

ABSTRACT In this exploratory qualitative case study, we sought to develop a better understanding of beginning teachers’ (Scholars) ideas about justice-oriented science teaching. Data were collected from participants from the same secondary teacher education program with an overarching mission of social justice. The study spanned two academic years, including a one-year Master of Education program and the first year of teaching. Data sources included periodic semi-structured individual interviews, lesson plans, and written reflections. Findings are presented as chronological themes indicating: 1) Scholars used their own identities as a starting point for constructing their justice-oriented practice; 2) Scholars’ learning about social justice in science education varied based upon their initial teaching goals; and 3) as first-year teachers, Scholars struggled to enact their justice-oriented goals within the classroom, which enhanced their sociopolitical awareness. The implications of this study point to attending to prospective teachers’ science epistemologies and promoting critique of science and science education, as well as awareness of the simultaneity of identities they bring to the teaching of science to achieve the transformative goals of justice-oriented science education.

“I’m concerned about actually doing it”: The struggles of pre-service teachers becoming change agents

This paper reports the struggles of 24 pre-service teachers (PTs) while intentionally integrating anti-racist pedagogy in which they were trained in a secondary teacher education program. PTs participating in this study are from various disciplines (i.e. Science, Math, English and Social Studies). Our findings reveal a multitude of struggles that PTs face when designing and implementing social justice-oriented curricula at the middle school level. Specifically, PTs reflected on and wrestled with three major concerns: 1) PTs’ own identities of being White and/or new teachers when they engaged with diverse student groups; 2) parents’ misperception about Critical Race Theory; 3) a lack of support from leadership regarding social justice issues. Our research suggests that in order to be change agents, PTs need more support from teacher education programs on their teaching practice for the social justice issues in addition to theoretical training. We argue that university faculty, cooperative teachers, open-minded school leaders, and parents could all be involved in long-term efforts to reform schools so that we can improve education for all.

Multi-layered mentoring: exemplars from a U.S. STEM teacher education program

ABSTRACT This article presents a multi-layered approach to mentoring within an urban secondary teacher education program in the mid-southern United States. The featured case focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), although multi-layered mentoring could occur in other subject areas or in general preservice teacher education. The goal is to address the shortage of qualified teachers in the school districts in one of the largest, most diverse American metropolises. This narrative inquiry research captures preservice teachers' experiences of multi-layered mentoring in the form of exemplars. The evidence for the narrative exemplars is produced by the interpretive tools of broadening, burrowing and storying/restorying. Broadening captures the case’s research backdrop (i.e., history, events); burrowing digs deeply into individuals’ experiential narratives; and storying/restorying captures changes that happened over time and place. Three themes emerged from the case's four exemplars: 1) interactions in knowledge communities, 2) trying on of future selves, and 3) engaging in inquiry. The experience-rich exemplars, along with these common overarching themes, distinguish the multi-layered mentoring approach. In the spotlighted case, 88% of those who graduated from the secondary STEM preservice education program were retained over a 5-year period, which exceeds the retention rates of the participating urban school districts.

Enacting Critical Cosmopolitanism in Suburban Preservice Teacher Education through Crafting a Pedagogical Third-Space of Ethics

This paper explores critical cosmopolitan literacies as a framework to engage teacher preparation program candidates in re-conceptualizing about their work as active thinkers, ethical decision makers, and agentive global actors. The purpose of the study is to elucidate how preservice teachers, in a secondary literacy teacher education program, respond to ethics-oriented education in addressing complex and controversial sociopolitical issues, such as the dialectics of freedom, human rights, and growing racism in the neoliberal globalized context. The third space theory of ethics is used to interpret participant student teachers’ intellectual epistemology based on their engagement with literary and nonliterary works, as well as multicultural media products. Data consist of observations, discussions, focus-group interviews, reflective journals, and course evaluations. This study contributes to our understanding of how critical cosmopolitan literacies is situated in the intercultural dialogue pertaining to ethical and equitable decision-making as a promising professional enterprise in the preparation of literacy educators as global advocates for equity and social justice.

Who are the music student teachers in Norwegian generalist teacher education? A cross-sectional survey

This study is based on data from a national survey of generalist student teachers specialising in music in the new five-year primary and lower secondary school teacher education programme in Norway. The study aims to map students’ backgrounds, experiences of the educational programme and visions for their future practice as generalist music teachers in schools. The theoretical perspective is cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT). The findings suggest that generalist teacher education music programmes reproduce patterns of inequality. These patterns should be addressed in the future development of the programmes; however, the current lack of diversity may inhibit conditions for transformation and change.

Is supporting the needs of emergent bilingual learners in mainstream classes a cultural or linguistic issue? How do policy, curricula, and secondary teacher education programmes in Australia and New Zealand compare?

ABSTRACT Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia are similar in many ways. Both were colonised by English-speaking British settlers, and English is a national language in each country. In recent years, both countries have become destinations for immigrants speaking languages other than English and international fee-paying students. Both have a chequered history of maintaining the languages of the tangata whenua (people of the land) or aboriginal people. However, their histories and educational systems diverge on educational programmes and practices supporting citizens and newcomers from non-English heritage cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The linguistic and cultural histories of these two countries have shaped educational policies and practices that, in turn, have impacted how teachers are prepared to teach in linguistically and culturally heterogeneous classrooms. This paper reviews approaches found to support emergent bilingual learners, and those that research suggests are culturally sustaining. It then compares educational documents from Australia and NZ against principles drawn from this literature. It asks whether supporting the needs of emergent bilingual learners in mainstream classes in these countries emerges as a cultural or linguistic issue.

Patterns of Scientific Reasoning Skills among Pre-Service Science Teachers: A Latent Class Analysis

We investigated the scientific reasoning competencies of pre-service science teachers (PSTs) using a multiple-choice assessment. This assessment targeted seven reasoning skills commonly associated with scientific investigation and scientific modeling. The sample consisted of 112 PSTs enrolled in a secondary teacher education program. A latent class (LC) analysis was conducted to evaluate if there are subgroups with distinct patterns of reasoning skills. The analysis revealed two subgroups, where LC1 (73% of the PSTs) had a statistically higher probability of solving reasoning tasks than LC2. Specific patterns of reasoning emerged within each subgroup. Within LC1, tasks involving analyzing data and drawing conclusions were answered correctly more often than tasks involving formulating research questions and generating hypotheses. Related to modeling, tasks on testing models were solved more often than those requiring judgment on the purpose of models. This study illustrates the benefits of applying person-centered statistical analyses, such as LC analysis, to identify subgroups with distinct patterns of scientific reasoning skills in a larger sample. The findings also suggest that highlighting specific skills in teacher education, such as: formulating research questions, generating hypotheses, and judging the purposes of models, would better enhance the full complement of PSTs’ scientific reasoning competencies.

The impact of teacher preparation on preservice teachers' attitudes toward inclusive education in Qatar

Teachers' beliefs and attitudes are a significant component in the development and success of inclusive education. Research indicates that the foundation of positive attitudes toward inclusive education can be established in preservice-teacher-preparation programs. This study examines the change in preservice teachers' attitudes toward inclusive education following an inclusion-centered course, combined with an 18-hr practicum. Using the Multidimensional Attitudes toward Inclusive Education Scale (MATIES), 98 preservice teachers from primary and secondary teacher education programs in the College of Education at Qatar University in Doha, Qatar, were surveyed pre and post-course. It was found that all the participants' attitudes toward inclusive education changed significantly. No significant differences between primary and secondary preservice teachers were found at the end of the course. The results illustrated that combining information-based instruction with structured fieldwork experiences can potentially change preservice teachers' attitudes toward inclusive education. Implications for practice and future directions in research are considered.

Preparing secondary teacher candidates to teach academic English

In this qualitative study, mainstream teacher candidates in a secondary teacher education program were asked to incorporate academic English instruction into their lesson planning and implementation in fieldwork placement classrooms. Teacher candidates attended a training session in which one method for identifying academic English features was taught. Artifacts, classroom observations, and interviews from four teacher candidates were analyzed to determine what features of academic English were identified and how these were taught to high school students. While all four teacher candidates accurately identified features of academic English in their lessons, only two participants taught features of academic English to students. The experiences of the participants illustrated that teacher candidates need, in addition to the ability to identify features of academic English, knowledge about how to teach language, a commitment to teaching language in their lessons, and the support of university supervisors and supervising practitioners who possess the same knowledge and commitment.

일본어과 중등교원 임용시험 교과내용학 문항분석 -2014-2021학년도 일본어학 문항을 중심으로-

This study conducted an item analysis of the linguistics questions in the 2014–2021 recruitment exams for secondary school Japanese teachers. The frequency of the linguistics questions was examined by year, subfield, and question format. The results showed that the frequency of linguistics questions has increased over the past five years, and the 2021 exam included the highest number till date. Most of the linguistics questions concerned phonology/morphology and syntax/semantics that tested the examinees’ analytical skills. The questions in the 2021 exam seemed more difficult than previous exams because they included topics from sociolinguistics and semantics that might not be familiar to examinees and did not clarify the unfamiliar linguistic terms used in the questions. Linguistics education in the current secondary school teacher education program does not cover the linguistic knowledge required by the current recruitment exam, suggesting the need to change either the program or the exam.

Pre-Service Secondary Teacher Education Programme: Some Concerns of Sustainability

With the onset of a new academic session, teacher education programmes across the county will be in a new avatar. The revamping of a teacher education programme has been on the cards for several years but stiff resistance from different quarters of the educational community made it impossible to do so. The revised secondary teacher education programme is new in several counts. Firstly, curricular areas have been made more contextual, class, student and community based. Secondly, teaching pedagogy has been made more child centred, experiential and reflective. Thirdly, internship model has been introduced giving more thrust on acquisition of skills and competencies in actual classroom and real settings rather than artificial settings. But, the reform has brought several challenges in its realm which teacher education programmes and institutes have to face. The present paper deals with the new challenges like demand for teacher education programmes, the role of private teacher education institutes and their increasing focus on commercialization, demand for teacher educators and whether the new system is pro-rich or pro-poor student etc.

Student teachers’ beliefs about diversity: analysing the impact of a ‘diversity week’ during Initial Teacher Education

ABSTRACT This article reports findings from a week of enrichment placements framed around ‘diversity’ within a secondary Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme in England. The authors outline the demographics of the county – a largely rural, White county in the East Midlands of England – and describe the challenges this presents for ITE. A mixed-methods approach was used to study student teachers’ (n = 56) beliefs about diversity, generating data through: pre- and post-survey of beliefs and attitudes; student-created reflective videos; journaling; and one pre- and post-diversity week interview. The findings reveal shifts in student teachers’ perceptions about gender, race and sexuality, and these attitudinal shifts were more significant in those attending all week than those attending only the first day. This is particularly interesting because for some topics the only formal input was on the first day, and so the authors argue for the importance of time and space for creative reflection in beginning teachers’ professional development.

Epistemic agency, a double-stimulation, and video-based learning: A formative intervention study in language teacher education

Recent literature emphasizes the importance of viewing teachers as agents in knowledge-building practice. This study aimed to develop preservice language teachers’ epistemic agency in creating their language teaching resources through a double stimulation design using video-based learning modules. The study was conducted in a secondary language teacher education program in an Australian university. The first phase of the design presented a problem in language teaching, such as how to create resources for teaching Chinese characters, as the first stimulus. The second stimuli included a short video-clip containing an experienced teachers’ teaching demonstration as a resolution to the problem, group discussions, and discussion worksheets, which supported the participants to develop their own resolution to the problem in their lesson plans for teaching Chinese. The data included an initial survey results, audio-recorded group discussions, discussion worksheets, and assignment analysis. Based on the conflict of motives revealed in the initial survey, the dialogic analysis of the group discussion and content analysis of the assignment revealed the development of their epistemic agency in forming and transforming the object of learning. The findings revealed that the double stimulation design and collaborative discussions enhanced preservice teachers’ epistemic agency in creating new ideas and language teaching resources.

PERCEPTION OF TEACHER-EDUCATOR TOWARDS TWO YEARS B.ED. PROGRAMME

The present study investigates the perceptions of teacher-educators towards two years B.Ed. programme, which introduced according to NCTE 2014, norms and regulations. The study investigated the perceptions of teacher-educators towards two years B.Ed. programme considering gender, locale & experience variations of the participants. By using selfdeveloped standardized tool,in which 136 items in a five points scale, for the study. Where sample of the studywere 150 teacher-educators from 10 B.Ed. colleges of Murshidabad district of West Bengal participated. The participants were selected by using simple random basis technique. Descriptive survey method was applied for conducting the present study. The present studyinvestigated delimiting toteacher-educators perceptions towards two years B.Ed. programmefrommurshidabad district of WestBengal only. Another delimitation of the study is teacher educators perception analysed in the context of, B.Ed. programme as professional course, generates motivation for teaching, develops professional acumens, provides essential of child psychology,B.Ed.programme influences the personality of the teacher and perceptions about two years B.Ed. course only. The obtained data were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that,significant impact existed on the opinion of teacher educators perceptions as they are agreed mostly for positive impact of secondary teacher education programme. That is mixed perceptions towards secondary teacher education programme by the teacher educators.The present findings of the study is matched with i.e. confirmatory study of Adhikary (2017) in a study where found that teacher trainees mixed perception towards the two year B.Ed. programme in Assam.

What Are Literary Studies For?

The present article addresses the nature and purposes of literary studies in secondary and upper secondary English teacher education programmes in Sweden. It is based on a study of syllabi from all programmes nationally and for the academic year 2017-2018. The article maps the goals formulated for literary studies as well as the literary and disciplinary repertoires foregrounded in these documents, and so provides a snapshot of the kinds of literary studies that student teachers of Englishhad access to. It situates literary studies in the context of steering documents for English teacher education, and it shows that, whilst literary studies were a given part of English teacher education in the studied period, they relied on a narrow conception of the discipline. Literary studies mainly attended to twentieth and twenty-first century prose fiction and regarded literature primarily as a source of worldly knowledge. Indeed, the repertoires mediated seemed based on their potential to cover curricular ground in relation to steering documents for Swedish schools. Given the relative freedom institutions had to define the subject-specific content of teacher education, the results prompt a discussion about the knowledge repertoires that student teachers need as part of their higher education and as preparation for professional practice.

INFLUENCE OF ATTITUDE AND COMPETENCY TOWARDS ICT ON JOB SATISFACTION OF SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

Information and communication technology (ICT) tools are being increasingly used to facilitate teaching in educational institutions. This study observed the attitude, competency, job satisfaction of secondary school teachers toward using ICT tools in education. ICT is a scientific, technological and engineering discipline and executive technique used in handling information, its application and association with social, economic and cultural substance. In modern science and technological societies education demands more knowledge of teacher concerning ICT and skills to use ICT in teaching –learning process. The knowledge of ICT also required for pre-service teacher during their training programme, because this integrated technological knowledge helps a prospective teacher to know the world of technology in a better way by which it can be applied in future for the betterment of the students. This study inspect secondary school teachers’ competence and attitude,jobstatisfaction towards information and communication technology. ICT influence on their competence and attitude,job satisfaction were also observed on gender, educational qualification, locality. The data collected through a questionnaire were analysed using percentages, means, and chi-square statistics. Findings revealed that majority of the secondary school teachers have positive attitude towards the use of ICT and they are competent in the use of few basic ICT tools and also job satisfaction are positive to explore. The implication is that the secondary school teachers require the necessary competence in the full integration of ICT in the curriculum. This study gives emphasis to the need to improve the ICT contents of secondary school teacher education programs in developing countries.

Perception of Stakeholders towards Secondary Teacher Education Programme

Perception of Stakeholders towards Secondary Teacher Education Programme