Just add hours? An assessment of pre-service teachers’ perception of the value of professional experience in attaining teacher competencies

This study compared pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their professional competencies at two campuses of a large regional teacher education university, where one campus provided students 22% more hours of professional placement in schools and related educational settings. Students who had experienced more hours in schools and such settings were more positive about their, ability to apply their knowledge of students and how they learn, classroom management, professional knowledge and practice, and community engagement; however, when students felt well supported during professional experience, such differences diminished. Additional hours were not associated with pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their ability to apply subject content and teaching; plan, assess and report; and effective student communication. Researchers argued that this pointed to the crucial role of good classroom mentors in teacher professional experience but also the value of students’ tertiary teacher education in preparing them for classroom teaching.     

An examination of knowledge prioritisation in secondary physical education teacher education courses

A number of terms have been used to describe knowledge needed for teaching, one of which is subject knowledge. How knowledge for teaching is conceptualised in teacher education prioritises some knowledge bases over other knowledge bases. Further, knowledge prioritised by student teachers is influenced by socialisation prior to and during an initial teacher education course and priorities for student teachers as they develop as teachers. Previous research in physical education teacher education points to the pre-eminence of content knowledge above other knowledge bases. The purpose of this study was to look at what knowledge is prioritised by student teachers, school-based mentors and university tutors working on three secondary physical education initial teacher education courses in England. Results showed that content knowledge was seen as having greater importance for student teachers and mentors, but university tutors generally conceptualised subject knowledge more broadly, suggesting that it should be seen as covering a number of knowledge bases needed for teaching. These results are discussed in relation to socialisation processes in education and phases of development. Although there is a clear physical education focus to this work, it is possible that student teachers learning to teach other subjects may also focus excessively on subject content knowledge above other knowledge bases.     

The Effectiveness of an Initial Teacher Training Partnership in Preparing Students to Teach Art in the Primary School

Recent government reform of initial teacher education has increased teachers’ responsibility for training students in schools, bringing about some fundamental changes in the professional relationship between the schools, higher education institutions (HEIs), teachers and students. This paper reports on primary undergraduate student teachers’ and their class teachers’ perceptions of school-based training to teach art. Class teachers were interviewed about their preparedness to train students and questionnaires and interviews were used to gauge students’ views of the effectiveness of university-based courses and the support given to them by teachers. The findings indicate that teachers were able to support students in matters of classroom management and resources but that they were mostly unable to assist them in developing subject knowledge and understanding of art teaching and learning. This raises concerns about teachers’ subject knowledge and their confidence in training students. Our findings suggest that there is significant room for improvement in the partnership arrangements between schools and HEIs in order to better support students’ teaching of art.     

A role for practising teachers in initial teacher education

This paper discusses the problems which can arise from the location of initial teacher education in two contexts, namely higher education and schools. An attempt to reduce the resulting dissonance by deploying practising teachers on an initial teacher education programme within higher education is described and the views of those teachers are presented. It is suggested that the use of practising teachers in higher education has a number of advantages, such as the presentation to students of situated and practical knowledge of teaching and the opportunity for more consistent quality assurance of professional inputs to the programme. But questions are raised about access to the craft knowledge of the teachers and the relationship between theoretical and practical components of the course. It is concluded that bringing practising teachers into the higher education contexts could act as a basis for the development of a more effective initial teacher education and for professional development of both teachers and lecturers working on initial teacher education programmes.     

Exploring diversity through ethos in initial teacher education

This paper considers whether there is value in introducing student teachers to schools of different ethos as part of their initial teacher education. A 2-year study of undergraduate post-primary student teachers at a university college in Northern Ireland reveals that encounters with schools of different ethos can help student teachers to understand differences between schools and their visions of education, as well as correcting misunderstandings and challenging stereotypes. It is argued that as a result of experiencing diverse examples of ethos, student teachers may also be helped to understand the complexity of schools as organisations and to position themselves and their professional practice within wider debates about the aims of education and schools as communities of practice.     

The practicum experiences of English Language Major student teachers during a period of profound curriculum reform in China

This paper provides an analysis of the issues faced by Chinese student teachers and, by extension, their supervisors, when curriculum reform challenges existing practices in schools and universities. The paper draws on the experiences of 10 English Language Major student teachers as they think about, make sense of, and undertake their extended practicum in the fourth year of their teacher education program. The students, from the School of Foreign Languages at a major teacher education university in the northeast region of Mainland China are challenged by the complexity of the practicum as they attempt to negotiate the differing expectations of their school advisors and university supervisor. The analysis highlights two related issues: the difficulties faced by reform efforts in China and the disjuncture between school and university expectations for practicum students in light of these initiatives. Importantly, these results add to and prompt further development of the nascent literature on the student teacher practicum in China.     

Student performance in teacher education in Norway: the impact of student,institutional and structural factors

Many education systems face a challenge in recruiting graduates as teachers. This is also the situation in Norway and the newest estimates tell us that we will lack 9000 teachers in 2020. The situation is made even worse by the high number of dropouts and low performance rates in teacher education. There are many factors which have an impact on study performance and progress. Some factors are at student level, some at institutional or programme level and others at structural level. In the present article, we will discuss how students attending two different teacher education programmes at a university college in Norway negotiate between their studies and the need to earn money and the consequences this has for their study performance. We focus on student-level factors and how the university college organises its campus programmes. The findings are based on a quantitative study among 401 student teachers.     

Student teachers’ perceptions of reading and the teaching of reading: the implications for teacher education

This article reports on research which identified perceptions of reading and the teaching of reading held by trainee teachers and the impact on my provision as a teacher educator. It found that students’ past and present experiences of learning to read and being a reader influenced their perceptions of what reading is and of what it means to teach reading. As a teacher educator, I am not able to give students long experience of seeing children becoming readers, but I am able to give them richer experiences of reading in personally and culturally relevant contexts. This has implications for the nature of subject knowledge required by a student teacher of reading and the curriculum and practice of teacher education.     

“Before teaching this I'd do a lot of reading” preparing primary student teachers to teach science

The subject knowledge primary teachers have as a basis for their teaching of science has become a major concern in preservice and inservice education in many countries, including Australia, the UK and the USA. There are differing views among policy makers, teacher educators and student teachers about precisely what primary teachers need to know and how they are best prepared for teaching science. This article reports an investigation into the science content and pedagogic content knowledge of student teachers a university in the UK. Many students said that when approaching a real teaching situation they would be able to prepare themselves adequately by independent research using published sources. The data from this study revealed that half the group of students were able to do so with guidance although their initial background knowledge of science was weak. Implications for the preparation of primary student teachers are discussed.     

Between a hard place and a hard place: A study of ethical dilemmas experienced by student teachers while on practicum

Assisting student teachers to understand the ethical nature of their work and developing the moral vocabulary to deal with ethical dilemmas of practice are vital components of initial teacher education. The study explores ethical dilemmas experienced by 100 student teachers in their final year of their teaching degrees while on practicum. The data examined were written reflective statements of each of the 100 students’ ethical dilemmas. The study found that, while some types of ethical dilemmas seem universal, a more situated theory of initial teacher education ethics is required to understand the particular sociocultural factors that inform the nature of teacher practice in context-specific environments. Our study highlights the need for preservice teacher education focusing on student teachers finding their own authentic ethical voice, through the examination of ethical dilemmas via critical thinking and the wider examination of the political, historical and social contexts that led to the dilemma. The dilemmas faced by the students were likely to be, in part, identifiable with fellow student teachers in other countries, but we argue that dilemmas are strongly contextualised. Our study is useful for educators working with student teachers in the practicum environment to instil confidence in student teachers to follow their own moral compass.     

Negotiating White science in rural Black America: A case for navigating the landscape of teacher knowledge domains

The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of requisite teacher knowledge for teaching lower-track science students. Using video accounts, student focus groups, and teacher reflections researchers documented missteps, dead-ends, and unfruitful trajectories informed by the teacher’s incoming knowledge and compared these instances to necessary modifications informed by students’ voices and cultural artifacts. Our study revealed the shifting nature of sociocultural and pedagogical content knowledge of the teacher immersed in a context unlike that he experienced as a student. Results showed that teachers of majority backgrounds could learn to teach diverse students with at least moderate success from the perspective of their students. Implications for research and teacher education in diverse settings are discussed.     

Broadening the lens: an investigation of student teachers' changing perceptions of pedagogy following a teaching placement in a primary school in mainland Europe

This paper presents the findings of an investigation of student teachers' changing perceptions of educational practice following a teaching placement in France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Up to 900 primary languages, student teachers annually have spent a 4-week teaching placement in a partner country as an integral part of their initial teacher education programme. The aims of the bilateral experience were to improve students' subject knowledge as well as to offer opportunities to enhance their professional understanding through comparing practice in two distinct cultural settings. This study draws from both qualitative and quantitative data gathered from 122 postgraduate certificate in education student teachers who were following the primary language route at Canterbury Christ Church University and Liverpool Hope University. The findings show that through reflection and analysis of the differences and commonalties in the diverse cultural contexts, students develop a greater understanding of their professional role and a deeper insight into their own values and beliefs about pedagogy. Their acceptance of taken-for-granted norms is challenged during the bilateral placement, as they encounter new approaches to differentiated learning, teaching and learning strategies and teacher/pupil relationships, thus enhancing their levels of critical engagement with educational practice.     

Becoming a teacher of early reading: charting the knowledge and practices of pre‐service and newly qualified teachers

Education policy in England requires student teachers to demonstrate effective teaching of early reading, including systematic synthetic phonics, in order to qualify to teach. Although there is a range of literature about initial teacher education, little is documented about how pre‐service or ‘student' teachers develop specific knowledge and practices for teaching early reading and how they apply these in their first term as newly qualified teachers (NQTs). This research used a primarily qualitative longitudinal, collective case study design involving seven lower primary (3–7 years) postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) students enrolled at one university in the East Midlands of England. Semi‐structured interviews, classroom observations and documentary analysis with the students and their teacher mentors were used to gather data from entry onto the course to the participants' first term as qualified teachers. A thematic analysis was applied in conjunction with deductive observation codes developed from a previous study. Findings indicate a broad continuum of progression in student and newly qualified teacher knowledge and practice for teaching early reading which could be used to inform university organisation, mentoring and school participation. They highlight the influence of school cultures on the experiences of student and pre‐service teachers.     

Subject knowledge development by science student teachers: the role of university tutors and school‐based subject mentors

Following the introduction of a National Curriculum for Science, all secondary science teachers in England need to be prepared to teach all aspects of a broad and balanced science curriculum. This is the second paper in which we explore science student teachers’ subject knowledge development during a one‐year postgraduate teacher preparation course. In this qualitative study we explore the role of university tutors and school‐based subject mentors in science student teachers’ subject knowledge development as perceived by student teachers, school‐based subject mentors and university tutors. The findings reveal that student teachers are reluctant to use university tutors and school mentors for subject knowledge development because they are aware of their assessment roles. The role of the university tutor in subject knowledge development is perceived as one of facilitation and of developing student teachers’ sense of professionalism. School mentors perceive that they do provide support for subject knowledge development and they are largely unaware of any potential conflict arising from their assessment role. The findings of the study are discussed in terms of the nature of student teachers’ professional learning in communities of practice. The implications for mentor training programmes are considered.     

Knowledge and power: the interface between religion and education in China

Religion is becoming increasingly popular among students in post-Mao China, especially in the higher education arena. This growing interest in religion poses a potential challenge to the compulsory Marxist ideology taught in the school curriculum. Focusing on a group of university student believers from different religious traditions, this study explores how Chinese students negotiate their religious beliefs with the Marxism-based knowledge acquired from primary to tertiary educational levels. Three patterns are observed in the religious students’ accounts: (a) grounding in religious conviction; (b) negotiation through lived experience; and (c) deconstruction of Marxist thought from an academic perspective. Drawing on Young’s theoretical concept of the ‘knowledge of the powerful’, this study reveals an interplay between the different forms of knowledge that shape religious students’ beliefs and identities in China.     

Preservice teachers respond to And Tango Makes Three: deconstructing disciplinary power and the heteronormative in teacher education

This study employs Foucualdian concepts to analyse macro and micro contexts of publicly spoken and silent discourses describing ‘homosexuality,’ ‘education’ and ‘teacher’ in order to identify teacher subject positions available to preservice teachers. The macro context is analysed by tracing heteronormative discourses found in newspaper stories involving teachers and public schools that address conflicting views of homosexuality. The macro context analysis indicates two binary teacher subject positions: martyred (unemployed) teacher/silent (employed) teacher and sophisticated teacher/unsophisticated teacher. The micro context analysis is of preservice teachers' responses to And Tango Makes Three, a picture book by Richardson and Parnell. This analysis demonstrates how preservice teachers take up and negotiate teacher subject positions found in the macro analysis. Combined, the analyses allow the researchers to consider how preservice teachers' performances of teacher subjectivity open up possibilities for re-imagining new teacher subject positions and what this might mean for the practice of teacher educators.     

Student teachers’ prior experiences of history,geography and science: initial findings of an all-Ireland survey1

Research into student teachers’ perceptions, attitudes and prior experiences of learning suggests that these experiences can exert an influence on practice which can be relatively undisturbed by their initial teacher education. This article is based on the initial findings of an all-Ireland survey of all first-year students on B.Ed. courses in colleges in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland. The survey is the first stage in a longitudinal study which will follow the same cohort of students for the duration of their initial teacher education, seeking to map and track the development of their ideas about teaching and learning in primary history, geography and science. Based on an analysis of the quantitative data in the entry questionnaire, the initial findings suggest that subject knowledge remains a problematic issue in initial teacher education and that both location and gender interact with knowledge, attitudes and subject area to produce a complex and challenging context for teacher educators in history, geography and science education.     

More than canons: teacher knowledge and the literary domain of the secondary English curriculum

Background:?The matter of teacher knowledge in the curriculum subject of English is not simple. Certainly it is not easy to delineate what its ‘content knowledge’ should be and how this relates to other aspects of teacher knowledge. In the context of education policy in England, at a time of change when the nature of the subject and its pedagogy are under scrutiny, the issue acquires heightened relevance from an initial teacher preparation perspective.

Purpose:?This paper sets out to consider the following questions: how do teachers of English acquire their teacher knowledge? What is known about the nuanced process of teacher knowledge development in English? Curriculum content is one element of teacher knowledge, but in the literary domain of English it does not suffice to specify what and how much should be read. The questions are discussed from the perspective of the knowledge development of postgraduate English teachers during initial teacher preparation.

Sources of evidence:?Literature concerning the development of teacher knowledge and expertise both generally and in the curriculum subject of English is critically discussed. Within the literature, the notion of the mentor–novice dialogue is identified as an important way of developing teacher knowledge. Alongside the literature, three illustrative mentor accounts are presented, drawn from the experience of postgraduate students learning to teach English to secondary school pupils.

Main argument:?The mentor accounts suggest that the boundaries of English are not easily demarcated. They indicate that the knowledge developed is other than the ‘content’ knowledge that might be acquired through initial degree studies. It is argued that teacher education demands a conception of teaching that takes full account of this knowledge development. At the same time, specific dispositions that do not automatically follow from prior academic attainment appear to be relevant. It is suggested that how these are cultivated, and how they are distinctive to the subject discipline are important questions for initial teacher preparation.

Conclusions:?Whatever the new contexts for initial teacher preparation, understanding how teachers acquire and apply ‘teacherly’ knowledge deserves as much attention as the content of a subject or the prior attainment of entrants to the profession. Initial teacher preparation arrangements need to acknowledge the complexity of learning to teach English as a curriculum subject. Learning to teach is a nuanced process, requiring engagement with a dedicated pedagogical content knowledge. In literary English teaching, this comprises attention to micro and macro aspects concurrently, for example through attention to individual texts concurrent with consideration of conceptions of readers and reading.     

The Development of Subject Knowledge in Secondary Initial Teacher Education: A case study of physical education student teachers and their subject mentors

This article presents a case study of student teachers of secondary school physical education (PE) and their subject mentors in subject knowledge development. Grenfell's (1996) application of Bourdieu's notions of 'field' and 'habitus' in relation to initial teacher education (ITE) is applied to interview data to argue that student teachers show varying dispositions to develop subject knowledge at the field sites of university and school. Furthermore, such dispositions are suggested to be enacted by student teachers through the development and exchange of subject knowledge as 'capital'. Thus a dynamic for subject knowledge development, which is neither specific to field site or difference between field sites is conceptualised. The article concludes that student dispositions to learn, in context, should be considered to assist understanding about the development of PE student teachers' subject knowledge. It calls for a redefinition of nationally prescribed subject knowledge in relation to learning how to teach.     

Selecting Teaching Practice schools across social contexts: conceptual and policy challenges from South Africa

In a country like South Africa, as in many other countries around the world, there is an imperative to prepare student teachers for a wide variety of social contexts, as part of breaking the cycle of disadvantage for poor learners. This article explores the challenge of placing student teachers for their field experience in schools that differ greatly in terms of their social and educational conditions. Drawing on interviews with teacher educators at one university, the article argues that criteria for identifying suitable schools for Teaching Practice do not easily support placements in schools in difficult conditions. Conceptual models of teacher education are explored, with a view to developing a model that supports teacher preparation for diversity. Policy recommendations are offered to support the preparation of excellent teachers for all schooling contexts.