Secondary Teacher Education Program Research Articles

Awakeness, complexity and emergence: Learning through curriculum theory in teacher education

In this self-study research, we explore how the work of significant and diverse curriculum scholars informed the learning of teacher candidates within an intensive summer semester that serves as the foundation for a Secondary Teacher Education Program (STEP) at a Canadian university. Questions that guided our inquiry include: How did teacher candidates take up and negotiate theory as part of their emerging professional identities? How did teacher candidates understand the relationship between pedagogy and their learning of/through curriculum theory? How did teacher candidates embody diverse theories and how did they understand the significance of this within and beyond this foundational semester? And finally, as teacher educators, how are our beliefs, understandings and practices developing through this self-study? We employed a qualitative, grounded theory approach and engaged in iterative cycles of analysis with learning artifacts and interview transcripts from 26 teacher candidates. We identified the rich and layered themes of emergence, complexity, and awakeness, which revealed shifts in teacher candidates’ awareness in relation to their evolving identities. We discuss these themes in relation to the above questions and locate the influences of the selected theorists. This research contributes to the field of curriculum studies through offering a living case that explores how taking up diverse and contemporary curriculum theorists has potential to both support teacher candidates to experience praxis and shift the ground of teacher education.

專業標準本位中等技職教育師資職前教育課程規劃之探究 Professional Standard-based Curriculum Planning for Secondary Technical and Vocational Teacher Education Program

專業標準本位中等技職教育師資職前教育課程規劃之探究 Professional Standard-based Curriculum Planning for Secondary Technical and Vocational Teacher Education Program

Effects of Teacher Training on Secondary Teachers’ Mathematical Content Knowledge in Dhaka, Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, there are improvements in secondary education by quantitative indicators but the satisfactory picture is remained far from the quality. The gross deficiency in teaching includes one of the main reasons for poor quality of secondary education. There are higher failure rates in Mathematics subject in Secondary School Certificate examination in the last consecutive years. An extensive review of research has shown that teachers account to a large extent for student learning and achievement gains. For secondary teacher education in Bangladesh, there is a one-year long training program named as Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.). Therefore, the study sought to find out the effectiveness of B.Ed. training program on mathematics teachers’ content knowledge as a mean of improving secondary school mathematics in Bangladesh. The study was conducted among 38 mathematics teachers (trained and untrained) selected from 16 secondary schools of Dhaka city using survey method. Teacher’s content knowledge was measured through an assessment test and classroom teaching observation. The study found that though the B.Ed. trained mathematics teachers (96.3%) possess better content knowledge than their counterpart (91.7%) but no relationship between teachers’ personal characteristics and their content knowledge in mathematics. This is the first study to investigate the effectiveness of secondary teacher education program within Bangladesh. It contributes important insights about secondary teacher education that can be used to inform the professional development of the secondary school mathematics teachers in Bangladesh.

Teachers’ Longitudinal NOS Understanding After Having Completed a Science Teacher Education Program

The study reported here investigated experienced teachers’ views on several nature of science (NOS) issues 2 to 5 years after they completed a demanding secondary science teacher education program in which the NOS was an extensive and recurring component. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed to determine study participants’ NOS understanding. Study participant’s NOS views were determined to be generally accurate and robust, suggesting that experiences in their science teacher education program had a long-lasting positive impact on NOS understanding. The preservice program that study participants completed has several unique features that may account for that long-lasting impact and has implications for preservice and inservice science teacher education professional development.

Teacher Educator Professional Development as Reflexive Inquiry

Professional development for teacher educators must recognize and account for how aspects of our pedagogies often run counter to institutional, managerial, and bureaucratic demands. We need professional development that nurtures our minds, hearts, and spirits, and that is congruent with our values. In this paper, three teacher educators who co-teach an intensive, interdisciplinary, inquiry-based semester in a secondary teacher education program, explore how collaborative approaches to narrative forms of inquiry and reflexive analysis supported them to enact their learning, as well as helped them to surface the situated, complex, and emergent aspects of their own—as well as their students’—identities.

Recruiting Science Majors into Secondary Science Teaching: Paid Internships in Informal Science Settings

Despite the importance of recruiting highly qualified individuals into the science teaching profession, little is known about the effectiveness of particular recruitment strategies. Over 3 years, 34 college science majors and undecided students were recruited into paid internships in informal science settings to consider secondary science teaching as a career. Analysis of interns’ subsequent career plans revealed the internships were not effective in recruiting the interns into the secondary science teacher education program, although many interns thought they might consider becoming teachers later in their lives. Reasons for not pursuing teaching included continued indecisiveness, inflexibility of required plans of study, and concerns about teachers’ pay and classroom management.

Student teachers’ conceptions of teaching biology

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate prospective biology teachers’ conceptions of teaching biology and identify how these conceptions revealed their strategies for helping their future students’ learning of biology. The study utilized drawings, narratives and interviews to investigate the nature of the prospective biology teachers’ conceptions in a secondary science teacher education programme, in a university located in the south-west of the USA. Data analysis revealed that three conceptions of teaching biology were common among the participants: (1) teaching biology is an interactive process; (2) teaching biology is a lecture-based process; and (3) learning biology is a visual process. A common theme that underpinned the three conceptions was the simple perspective of using lectures, apparatus and models within interactive processes and lectures as reference points to help students to attach onto biology concepts rather than relating the reference points to prior knowledge and to cognitive activities that foster optimal learning.

Pre-Requisites of Pre-Service Secondary Teacher Education Programme in Jharkhand: An Analysis

The fundamental basis of the curriculum, critical andragogical input, availability of time period, modern and innovative transactional approaches and qualitative evaluation process in the prescribed curriculum, infrastructural facilities as well as the teacher composition are considered to be the quality indicators of teacher education programme. The study was delimited to colleges (both private and government) having attached B.Ed. wing under Kolhan University. By utilizing both qualitative and quantitative techniques the relevant data were collected in terms of intended curriculum, infrastructural facilities and teacher composition. Subsequently it was revealed that the secondary teacher education programme of Kolhan University was more or less a knowledge transmission model inefficient to foster prospective teachers as a facilitator of pupil’s learning in varied socio-cultural contexts. The present research contrives necessary measures to evolve a quality teacher education programme which may be capable of meeting the emerging challenges of secondary education in Jharkhand.

Deliberating Controversial Public Issues As Part of Civic Education1

The authors argue that deliberation should be an integral part of secondary civics classrooms and teacher education programs. Drawing on a wide range of research, they contend that teaching and learning deliberative skills has the potential to build individual and group civic capacity. They share some of the results of an evaluation of one ten-nation project, Deliberating in a Democracy, which suggest that teachers can learn to conduct deliberations in secondary classrooms. Furthermore, across countries, students reported increases in their understanding of issues, their ability to state their opinions, and their confidence in talking about controversial issues with peers. Most important, students demonstrated greater perspective-taking abilities than students not involved in the project. The potential limitations and weaknesses of the deliberative model are discussed, as are the implications for civic pedagogy and learning.

Effectiveness of University Teacher Education Curriculum on the Secondary School Teacher Performance in Uganda : The Case of Kyambogo University

The main objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the Kyambogo University teacher-education curriculum on secondary school teacher performance in Uganda. The study was conducted between 2008-2011. Questionnaires, focus group discussions, lesson observations and interviews were administered to Kyambogo University lecturers, university students, secondary school teachers and students. Results indicate that most lecturers and secondary school teachers use teacher-centred methods. Theoretical teaching was widely practiced in schools and university. Teachers attributed their use of teacher-centered methods to their training and pressure of national examinations. Suggestions to improve the effectiveness of the university secondary teacher education program are made and include: university curriculum review, reform of examination system, conducting pedagogical courses for university lecturers, teachers, and involving experienced teachers in supervising students on school

Learning Critical Thinking in Saudi Arabia: Student Perceptions of Secondary Pre-Service Teacher Education Programs

Saudi scholars have been agitating for education reforms to incorporate critical thinking in education programs.This paper is a qualitative case study undertaken at King Abdul Aziz University and Arab Open University andexamines students’ perception of learning critical thinking in secondary pre-service teacher education programsin Saudi Arabia. Definitions of critical thinking are based on the Delphi Report (Facione, 1990). The findingsunderscore the need for education reforms based on critical thinking to elevate the quality of education in SaudiArabia.

Multicultural Teacher Education in Korea*: Current Trends and Future Directions

This study examines current trends in multicultural teacher education in Korea and offers directions for improvement. Curricula of pre-service teacher education and professional development programs for multicultural education are analyzed. The results of this study are as follows: first, pre-service elementary teacher education programs mostly offer lower-level survey courses for freshmen and sophomores as electives and as part of general education courses; second, most of the courses in the secondary teacher education programs are introductory courses similar to those found in elementary teacher education; third, professional development programs focus on the children from multicultural families. Suggestions offered for the future direction of multicultural teacher education include offering more advanced courses as requirement in pre-service education focusing on majority group students in terms of multicultural citizenship education.

Prospective Teachers' Interest in Teaching, Professional Plans about Teaching and Career Choice Satisfaction: A Relevant Framework?

This study aimed to examine the relationships among prospective teachers' interest in teaching, professional engagement and career development aspirations, and career choice satisfaction. A total of 602 prospective teachers from various primary (for example, primary school teaching) and secondary (for example, English language teaching) teacher education programs of a large university in Turkey participated voluntarily in the study. The results show that, regardless of the effects of demographic variables such as gender, age, year of study or fields of study, the prospective teachers' interest in teaching can be identified through three distinctly different profiles: high, medium and low interest in teaching. Results of the present study also demonstrate that the profiles of prospective teachers' interest in teaching were significantly related to their career choice satisfaction and professional plans.

Learning Together: Advancing the Training of Preservice Teachers While Training Mentor Teachers to Lead

This study summarizes the results of a survey conducted by university faculty to improve the secondary teacher education program at a public university in the southeast. The survey's primary objectives were to identify areas of needed improvement among student teachers and to identify areas in which supervising teachers desired additional training or information. Secondary student teachers were given an abbreviated version of the survey. Results revealed that both groups overwhelmingly identified behavior management and time management within teaching situations as the major areas of needed improvement. Program changes made as a result of these survey findings are discussed.

Critical Thinking Implementation by Lecturers at Two Secondary Pre-service Teacher Education Programs in Saudi Arabia

Critical Thinking Implementation by Lecturers at Two Secondary Pre-service Teacher Education Programs in Saudi Arabia

COLLABORATION BY DESIGN: INTEGRATING CORE PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT AND SPECIAL EDUCATION METHODS COURSES IN A PRESERVICE SECONDARY EDUCATION PROGRAM

In this article the authors describe a collaboratively designed secondary teacher education program focused on the preparation of preservice general education teachers to work effectively with children who have diverse learning needs in inclusive classrooms. The focus of the article is on the collaborative development and initial evaluation of the program by secondary teacher education faculty and special education faculty. The instructional design emphasized a co-teaching model where principles of Universal Design for Learning and instructional adaptation were integrated and assessed in multiple courses by collaborating university faculty. Data from the initial evaluation included student teaching portfolios, formal teacher observations, and 6th- through 12th-grade student assessments. The data suggest that preservice teachers appropriately used strategies for adapting their instruction to meet the needs of students with exceptionalities.

Analysis of Expert Readers in Three Disciplines

The purpose of this study is to describe educationally relevant differences in literacy use among three subject-matter disciplines—history, chemistry, and mathematics. These analyses were drawn from an investigation of the teaching of disciplinary literacy in high schools. The purpose of the overall project was to improve the literacy-teaching preparation in a secondary preservice teacher education program, but this study sought to identify specific features of literacy and literacy use only in the three disciplines. It is the first expert-reader study to consider the reading of mathematicians and chemists (though other kinds of scientists have been studied in this way). To conduct this investigation, three teams were assembled, one for each discipline, including two disciplinary experts (historians, chemists, and mathematicians), two teacher educators who prepare high school teachers to teach those disciplines, and two high school teachers from each discipline. Using think-aloud protocols, transcripts from focus group discussions, a recursive process of member checking, and a cross-disciplinary consideration of reading approaches identified in each discipline, the study identified important differences in the reading behaviors of the six disciplinary experts. Although much of the work was based on think-aloud protocols and interviews with the disciplinary experts, the teachers and teacher educators participated with the disciplinary experts in focus-group discussions of the protocols, and their reactions and insights helped the disciplinary experts to articulate their approaches and to determine implications of the reading behaviors that were observed. Differences were evident in sourcing, contextualization, corroboration, close reading and rereading, critical response to text, and use of text structure or arrangement and graphics.

Novice Teacher Learning and Motivation Across Contexts: Assessment Tools as Boundary Objects

We present a longitudinal study of novice teachers’ appropriation, negotiation, and recontextualization of assessment tools and practices. During the four years of the study, we observed and interviewed beginning mathematics and social studies teachers, along with their colleagues, mentors, and supervisors, from their time in a graduate secondary teacher education program through their second year of professional teaching. Analysis of fieldnotes, interview transcripts, and artifacts suggests that assessment tools function as boundary objects in negotiations within and between the social worlds in which novices learn to teach. Boundary objects serve as reifications or representations of values, goals, and meanings (Bowker & Star, 1999; Star & Griesemer, 1989; Wenger, 1998). Assessment tools and artifacts, as boundary objects, facilitate engagement of teachers, administrators, students, and their families in coordinating activity across social boundaries and are central to the function of educational organizations. Novice teachers’ motivation to learn promoted assessment tools and their affiliated practices changed as they crossed boundaries between university and school and changed positions from student teacher to newcomer to experienced novice. Implications of this analysis for understanding novice teacher learning and motivation, and for assessment policy more broadly, are discussed.

Examining Epistemological Beliefs of Pre-service Teachers in Korea

The purpose of the present study is to examine the nature of epistemological beliefs held by pre-service teachers in Korea. While a considerable body of research on personal epistemology has been conducted in Asian contexts, findings related to Korean samples have been rarely reported in the literature on personal epistemology. This research aims to examine two main research questions: (a) What is the overall profile of the epistemological beliefs of Korean pre-service teachers? (b) What factors are significantly affecting the nature of epistemological beliefs of Korean pre-service teachers? Participants include 1,006 students in secondary teacher education programs at two universities in Korea. A survey instrument was designed based on the translation of the Epistemological Beliefs Inventory (EBI). This study reveals that only three factors of epistemological beliefs could be confirmed: Certain Knowledge, Quick Learning, and Innate Ability. Regarding relationships among epistemological beliefs and other examined variables, gender and academic domains appear to be significant factors while other developmental factors and teaching-related factors were not statistically significant. Findings of the present study may provide a useful addition for deepening our current understanding of personal epistemology in the Asian cultural contexts, and provide baseline data to inform future research on epistemology and pedagogy among pre-service teachers.

Inquiry-based Instruction with Archived, Online Data: An Intervention Study with Preservice Teachers

This mixed methods study described preservice teachers’ conceptions of tides and explored the efficacy of integrating online data into inquiry-based instruction. Data sources included a multiple-choice assessment and in-depth interviews. A total of 79 participants in secondary, middle, and early childhood teacher education programs completed the multiple-choice assessment of their baseline knowledge of tides-related concepts. A sub-group of 29 participants also was interviewed to explore their understanding of tides in more detail before instruction. Eighteen of those 29 teachers participated in the instruction, were interviewed again after the instruction, and completed the multiple-choice assessment as a posttest. The interview data sets were analyzed via a constant comparative method in order to produce profiles of each participant’s pre- and post-instruction conceptual understandings of tides. Additional quantitative analysis consisted of a paired-sample t-test, which investigated the changes in scores before and after the instructional intervention. Before instruction, all participants held alternative or alternative fragments as their conceptual understandings of tides. After completing the inquiry-based instruction that integrated online tidal data, participants were more likely to hold a scientific conceptual understanding. After instruction, some preservice teachers continued to hold on to the conception that the rotation of the moon around the Earth during one 24-hour period causes the tides to move with the moon. The quantitative results, however, indicated that pre- to post-instruction gains were significant. The findings of this study provide evidence that integrating Web-based archived data into inquiry-based instruction can be used to effectively promote conceptual change among preservice teachers.