University-based Teacher Education Research Articles

Teacher agency for social justice in telecollaboration: locating agentive positioning in virtual language interaction

ABSTRACT In this study, we draw data from a tripartite telecollaborative project that involved 112 teacher candidates (TCs) from university-based teacher education programmes in France, Turkey, and the USA. Theoretically, we rely on Pantić’s (2015. A model for study of teacher agency for social justice. Teachers and Teaching 21, no. 6: 759–778) model of teacher agency for social justice and use discourse analytic methods (Gee. 2018. Introducing Discourse Analysis; from Grammar to Society. Routledge) to examine how TCs negotiated their agency for social justice in small group discussions around the topics of social justice (e.g. conditions of refugees and immigrants, gender inequities, and LGBTQ+ rights) in their educational contexts. We found that when TCs used agentive positionings in their discussions, their discourse involved first person pronouns coupled with will + infinitive structure (e.g. I will teach …) followed by specific plans of action, as opposed to when agentive positioning was lacking with the use of generic pronouns and hypothetical structures (e.g. teachers/everyone would/could …). We also found that TCs used the discursive space of telecollaboration to negotiate their agencies and had variable success as they navigated tensions in their beliefs and positioned themselves as future social justice teachers in relation to the discussion topics. Their positionings demonstrated their level of engagement and their individual/collective efficacy. Our findings suggest that future research should continue to investigate the micro-level discourse involved in telecollaborative spaces.

Postpandemic futures of Global Citizenship Education for preservice teachers: Challenges and possibilities.

Rather than returning to prepandemic normal, initial teacher education (ITE) must reexamine strategies to instill global citizenship education (GCE) skills in all preservice teachers. This article considers the impact of higher education’s neoliberal internationalization context on efforts to provide GCE to preservice teachers in university-based teacher education. Examining study abroad, one prominent example of GCE in ITE, reveals how higher education’s neoliberal internationalization practice limits potential transformation. This article asserts that ITE should follow school and community partnership models based on education theories that value diversity and social justice. Theories of boundary crossing offer one approach for reimagining study abroad for GCE in ITE and may have implications for other efforts at GCE for preservice teachers. In this moment, ITE must radically reimagine GCE in response to the generation of students and teachers who know they live in a deeply connected, unjust world.

Exploring Teacher Educators’ Perspectives of Play-Based Learning: A Mixed Method Approach

Background: This study examined teacher educators’ perceptions of play-based learning in the context of university-based teacher education programmes in Palestine. Methods: Using a cross-sectional, multi-method design, we explored factors relating to teacher educators’ capability, opportunity and motivation to incorporate play-based learning into their practice. Thirty-six staff from four Palestinian universities completed an online survey and 17 were interviewed. Results: Teacher educators recognise the value of play-based learning and are motivated to apply this pedagogical approach. However, attempts to incorporate play-based learning into their practices is affected by insufficient knowledge and skills to apply play-based learning in practical contexts. Furthermore, social cues, cultural norms and physical challenges currently limit their opportunity to adopt play-based approaches. Conclusion: Our findings highlight that Palestinian teacher educators are motivated to embrace play-based learning as a pedagogical approach and recognise the importance of using play-based learning in educational practices. The findings can inform future professional development programs for teacher educators.

The Disappearing Identity of the Teacher Educator?

The education of new teachers in the UK is in the midst of a massive upheaval. Since the DfE Market Review in 2021, teacher educators have had to evaluate their intended provision and, in line with guidelines (DfE, 2021), have had to submit their plans for reaccreditation. This process has been the cause of huge disruption amongst school-based and university-based providers. This paper will argue that the role of the university-based teacher educator, as understood in the UK, is endangered and could disappear. This will be done by examining these five ideas. Firstly, by reviewing the evolution of teacher educators and their professional identity (Davey, 2013). Secondly, by considering the contrasting perceptions of teacher education in different countries compared to the UK (Gunn, et.al, 2016, Høydalsvik, 2019). For example, the professional development of teacher educators appears to have a higher priority in some countries. I will look at how these differences reflect the radical re-evaluations of the teacher role itself and will take into account that the UK route to teacher educator roles is predominantly via the practitioner route (Murray & Male, 2005). Thirdly, I will suggest that the on-going divide between educational research and practice in the UK is a contributing factor to the disappearing role of the university-based teacher educator. Fourthly, I will briefly consider whether the perceptions of the role are being challenged by the focus on teacher training rather than education and the apparent lack of interest in an academic route for teacher education. Finally, I will argue that the teacher educators’ role can be recovered through ensuring their work is values-based and by a re-evaluation of their professional leadership identity, both external and internal (Ibarra, 2016). Rather than disappearing, the teacher educator needs to straddle the divide, through their leadership example.

Secondary Teacher Candidates’ Mathematical Modeling Task Design and Revision

The purpose of this study is to investigate secondary teacher candidates’ experience of mathematical modeling task design. In the study, 54 teacher candidates in a university-based teacher education program created modeling tasks and scoring rubrics. Next, the participants pilot-tested the tasks with students and had the opportunity to revise the original tasks and rubrics based on student responses. The data included participants’ statements, in which they described and reflected on the design and revision process of modeling tasks. The study describes six didactic revision strategies in revising modeling tasks and identifies five emerging pedagogical ideas from revising tasks and rubrics. The study also discusses the way modeling task design activities have the potential to support teacher candidates’ learning through a bottom-up modeling curriculum in teacher education.

Constituting ethical academics in teacher education: Navigating multiple and conflicting discourses

Many studies on academic identity draw upon a narrow epistemological and empirical base. To broaden this and enrich our understanding, this study explores how university-based teacher educators make sense of and construct their academic identities. We apply Foucault's technologies of the self as a framework to analyse data from teacher education academics working in an education faculty created by the merger of a standalone college of education and a university department. Participants describe a dynamic, tension-filled and on-going process of self-constitution, as they resist and/or comply with multiple, conflicting discourses to knowingly and deliberately transform themselves into ethical academic subjects.

Shoulder to shoulder: why stance matters in instructional coaching

ABSTRACT Drawing on adult learning theory, this article proposes a coaching stance that is conducive to cultivating teacher agency and developing teacher effectiveness. As university-based teacher educators and literacy coaches in a large urban school district, the authors describe the evolution of three distinct coaching stances, based on a 3-year grant-funded school-based professional development effort. Using compelling vignettes and reflections from the field, the authors illustrate why the first two stances lack sustaining power; while the third one, that of a shoulder-to-shoulder stance, leads to productive coach/teacher collaboration and school-wide changes. Central to the effectiveness of this stance are 1), making student learning data accessible and meaningful to teachers; and 2), the positioning of the coach as a co-learner, thus turning the entire inquiry process as learning for everyone. This coaching stance is of value to teacher educators, coaches, designers of school leadership training programs – stakeholders who are interested in meeting the needs and demands of school-based professional learning communities.

Teacher educators in Finland and Turkey: their roles, knowledge base, and professional development profiles

ABSTRACT The professional development of teacher educators has received global interest worldwide following the notion that teacher educators are profoundly responsible for teacher education quality. Still, research on teacher educator professional development is scarce in Finland and under-researched in Turkey. In this article, the authors examine how teacher educators in two institutes in Finland and Turkey define their roles and knowledge base as teacher educators, professional development practices, problems in professional development, and suggestions for better professional learning opportunities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 university-based and school-based teacher educators working at two universities and two school settings in Finland and Turkey. Similarities and differences between the two groups in their professional development practices, problems and suggestions are discussed. The results reveal that though teacher education policies in these two countries share certain commonalities in structure and governance, definitions of professional development and practices differ in two contexts.

Reflexivity and agency in university-based teacher educators: a critical realist analysis

ABSTRACT Addressing university-based teacher educators’ complex work in current higher education contexts requires identifying the variables influencing their professional agency. However, limited related literature mostly falls within boundaries of the global North, while the specifics from those in the global South remain under-researched. Thus, focusing on Chile, a country with a highly marketised education, this study explores how teacher educators agentically navigate contextual and personal factors by drawing on Archer’s theory of reflexivity. Qualitative analysis reveals how participants’ reflexivity mediates factors (i.e. collegiality, precarity) and yields diverse forms of agency (i.e. weak, progressive), reflecting their professional identities, concerns and professionalism. The findings suggest that participants’ dominant communicative reflexivity relates to managerialism in education and Chilean society’s collectivist nature. Implications are presented for future research on broader structural and cultural factors influencing teacher educators’ reflexivity and agency and the role of policy implementation and institutional cultures in supporting their professionalism and careers.

A Case Study on Teacher Educators’ Technology Professional Development based on Student Teachers’ Perspectives in Malawi

Student teachers’ perspectives on how their teacher educators act as exemplars of using technology appropriately (or fail to do so) could create a basis for teacher educators’ technology professional development (TPD). However, there is a dearth of research on student teachers’ input into teacher educators’ TPD, as research is dependent on self-reports of teacher educators’ own competencies. This study explored teacher educators’ TPD based on perspectives of student teachers. The study involved policy analysis, a survey, and interviews with student teachers in a university-based teacher education programme in Malawi. Findings indicate that student teachers have a stake in what it means to be a professional teacher educator in Malawi. The case study has also shown the contribution of student teachers’ perspectives in strengthening teacher educators’ TPD. The contribution includes clarifying the image of a technologically competent teacher educator and student teachers’ co-learning with teacher educators. The paper discusses scholarly and practical implications of these findings. For instance, it is suggested that teacher educators should make the co-learning process more explicit to the student teachers.

The quality conundrum in initial teacher education

ABSTRACT Despite attempts to define quality in initial teacher education (ITE), consensus remains elusive. Harvey highlights how, in higher education, there is confusion between quality, standards and quality assurance. Examination of the quality indicators in ITE reveals an over-emphasis on standards rather than its transformative potential. Original research into the ITE practice of five universities in different international settings analyses the quality discourses evident in stakeholder interviews, observations and documentation on the practice of teacher education; two examples are used as illustrative accounts. The analysis reveals how teacher educators adjust their practice to the different quality discourses. The discourses emerging from both universities and accountability mechanisms focus on measures of quality assurance, standards, or value for money, and underplay the transformational dimension of ITE. This presents a quality conundrum: indicators aimed at making ITE better actually make transformation more challenging. Without recognition of its transformative and educative potential, the contribution of university-based teacher education will likely remain under-recognised, under-valued and poorly understood.

Positive teacher-student relationships

This study examined methods used to promote positive teacher student relationships among student teachers in the university based teacher education in Tanzania. Guided by conceptual change theory, the study argued that proper methods are vital for student teachers to develop positive teacher-student relationships ability alongside other teaching skills. A sample of 355 student teachers and teacher educators was sampled from different subject specialisations. The study employed indepth interviews and questionnaires. The University of Dar es Salaam, with the most diversified specialisations was selected as a typical case for the study. Findings of the study revealed that faculties have always employed role modelling, educational courses, teaching practice, and subjects’ didactics courses their bottlenecks notwithstanding. Teacher educators have shown varying and contradicting positions regarding the nature of positive teacher-student relationships. These implied that there are inconsistencies in the meaning and value attached to positive teacher student relationships in teacher education. The study recommends for the reorientation and redefinition of teacher-student relationships as an entry point for maintaining consistency and mainstreaming its importance.

Building Teacher Identity in Environmental and Sustainability Education: The Perspectives of Preservice Secondary School Geography Teachers

Geography teachers have an important role within environmental education and, in England, are developing their professional identities at a time when environmental education is contested. This study considers the experiences of five trainee secondary school geography teachers who are all part of a university-based teacher education programme rooted in an environmental justice approach. Data is drawn from three interviews with each of five individuals over the course of their training (15 interviews in total) and participants’ written reflections. Findings include (1) teachers draw on a range of approaches to implement Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE), (2) teachers share and value their own and their students’ stories of and personal connections with the environment and (3) teachers seek to enable young people to bring about change to their lives and communities. The contested nature of foregrounding ESE in the geography classroom is noted, as are the tensions and emotional load that teachers experience when seeking to develop their professional identity. Reflections are shared regarding the ways in which PGCE programmes provide teachers with opportunities to build ESE identities, in particular the role of semi-structured, reflexive interviews in providing an important space for identity work that could be usefully considered within the broader context of the newly implemented Early Career Teacher framework for England.

Analysis before action: A framework for examining communities as texts

In recent decades, diverse field experiences have proliferated in university-based teacher education programs in the United States. In particular, community-based experiences where teacher candidat...

Preparing School-Based Teacher Educators: Mentor Teachers’ Perceptions of Mentoring and Mentor Training

ABSTRACT Teacher education is in the midst of a national shift toward clinically centered teacher preparation, answering recent calls from professional associations, scholarly and policy reports, and accreditation agencies. This model of educator preparation centers efforts in clinical or school-based settings—rather than in university-based contexts—while also purposefully intersecting teacher candidates’ opportunities for academic learning and professional applications of pedagogical skills. It is within this context that the roles school-based teacher educators play in clinical teacher preparation are gaining increased attention. As the key link between learning theory and implementation of pedagogical strategies, mentor teachers are recognized by university-based teacher educators as “experts of practice.” Yet the roles of the mentor teacher in teacher education endeavors—and specifically their preparation for such essential and valued roles—are largely unexplored. In this article, the authors outline the first year of their now three-year effort to respond to these traditions and assumptions by codesigning a cost-effective and sustainable approach to training PK–12 mentor teachers to serve as boundary-spanning, school-based teacher educators. They also describe participants’ developing perspectives on mentoring and their assessments of the impacts of the training based on an examination of the first-year implementation. They conclude with a consideration of the implications of these initial training efforts for their own contexts, others’ settings, and the broader field of educator preparation.

Supporting evidence-based practice through teacher education: A profile analysis of teacher educators’ perceived challenges and possible solutions

Higher education-based teacher education has been tasked with addressing the gap between research and teaching and to promote their closer alignment in terms of evidence-based practice. University-based teacher educators are seen as central agents in supporting evidence-based practice among future teachers. To better understand and design appropriate support for this diverse group of professionals, research needs to examine the relevant characteristics of teacher educators concerning the support of evidence-based practice. An online survey study with 484 university-based teacher educators was conducted to examine attitudes and perceived challenges regarding evidence-based practice. Latent profile analysis revealed five significantly different subgroups: high-challenges, no-challenges, knowledge- & resource-challenges, resource-challenges, and skeptical profile. Importantly, profiles partly differed in their reported use of evidence in their teaching. Moreover, whether a service platform for evidence-based teacher education meets reported challenges of teacher educators was also explored. The selected platform appeared to provide effective support for all profiles investigated.

Professionalism in teaching and the role of teacher education

ABSTRACT In this article, I discuss the status of teaching as a profession using Gardner and Shulman’s framework emerging from their empirical examination of the professions in America and use Bernstein’s sociology of knowledge to help explain how recontextualizing agents struggle to dominate the construction and interpretation of professionalism in teaching. I use data from a major cross-national study of university-based teacher education to illustrate efforts to define the professional knowledge needed for teaching and the wide degree of variability in the opportunities provided to teachers to learn such knowledge. The essential role of teacher education in sustaining the teaching profession emerges very clearly from these analyses. I conclude that the education field needs to develop the capacity to ensure teachers’ professional learning and that these efforts need to be informed by use-inspired research and an inquiry culture in university-based teacher education programmes.

Teaching for the future professional partnership: the university perspective

This article is the second case study from an Australian professional experience project implemented in a regional secondary school. A strengths approach to professional experience underpinned the project. University-based teacher educators played a key role in designing the project, preparing and supporting teacher education students and facilitating an extended project partnership with school-based teacher educators. Following on from the first case study, which examined the project from the students' perspectives, this case study focuses on the project through the lens of the university educators and the implications for enhancing teacher preparation. The data reveals three main points, firstly the importance of the partnership model, secondly the importance of including understanding of school cultural practices in initial teacher education courses and thirdly the overwhelming importance for university educators of developing and maintaining professional relationships in teacher education and the opportunity to do this through professional experience.

White Supremacy and Teacher Education: Balancing Pedagogical Tensions When Teaching about Race

Context University-based teacher education programs are increasingly committed to teaching about race and racism, but programs continue to face challenges in preparing justice-oriented educators. Critical scholarship on teaching about race and racism has identified some core concepts that teachers should learn, including an understanding of systemic racism. A deeper understanding of the structure and function of White supremacy as a system, specifically as it operates within teacher education as a social institution, can provide insight about the challenges faced by teacher educators (TEs) who teach about race and racism. Drawing from articulations of the characteristics of White supremacy, the author identifies operant mechanisms of White supremacy in teacher education. Purpose This article offers a framework for the logic of White supremacy as consisting of three core concepts: (1) the logic of racialized distribution of power; (2) the logic of intentional White ignorance and historical erasure; and (3) the logic of dehumanization of people of color through violence and White cultural hegemony. The study examined the tensions that emerge for teacher educators who aim to teach teachers to disrupt White supremacy but are working from within White supremacist institutions. Research Design The theoretical framework was used to examine emerging tensions experienced by TEs in a cross-institutional qualitative study that used phenomenological methods. Data were collected from teacher educators across multiple institutions and included interviews, classroom artifacts, and focus groups. Findings Findings aligned to the White supremacy framework. Tensions related to the racial distribution of power focused on differentiated support for teacher candidates (TCs) of color and navigating moments of racial tension. Tensions related to White ignorance and erasure centered on responding to White students’ resistance decentering Whiteness. Finally, tensions related to dehumanization of people of color focused on challenging deficit ideologies. Recommendations The findings suggest that being open to and conscious of these tensions through critical reflection can be productive for teacher educators. More research is needed that considers the distinct needs of TCs of color and White TCs when learning about race and racism. In addition, further research can apply the logic of White supremacy in cross-institutional studies and continue to engage TEs as participants to explore linkages between interpersonal and institutional effects of White supremacy in other contexts.

The affordances and limitations of collaborative research in the TESOL classroom


 
 
 The diversity of learning needs within the TESOL field creates inherent tensions between the need for targeted professional learning for TESOL teachers, the more generalist nature of tertiary TESOL courses, and the varied research interests of teacher educators. This article describes a collaborative research project between university-based teacher educators and TESOL teachers working in an adult education centre. With a range of aims amongst the research participants, this article reports on the ‘fluid’ and ‘messy’ process of collaborative research (Burns & Edwards, 2014, p. 67) as we investigate the use of identity texts (Cummins & Early, 2011) as a mediating tool for professional learning. In acknowledging the practice of teaching as highly situated, the data presented focuses on the individual experience of each teacher, voiced through an action research frame, before we discuss the achievements and challenges which emerged through this collaborative research process. In the findings, we argue for the importance of championing the case for the messy processes of collaborative research within the broader research academy.