Section archive - Theories & Approaches

Stemming from a problem of practice in the author’s justice-oriented social foundations course, this article investigates the relationship between pre-service teachers learning critical conceptual tools about justice and equity, and the ‘problem of enactment’ of leveraging that learning in their practice. Drawing on a theoretical framework linking Social Justice Teacher Education (SJTE) and Practice-based teacher education (PBTE), this study employed practitioner research methodologies and critical qualitative research methods to explore how pre-service teachers themselves negotiated the intersection of justice and practice. Three inductive findings emerged: they conceptualized professional visions oriented toward the ‘bigger picture’; the complexities of teaching complicated living these visions in practice; and their status as novice practitioners mediated their readiness to integrate justice and practice. The article concludes with a discussion of lessons learned for connecting justice and practice in social foundations specifically, and possibilities for convergence between SJTE and PBTE more broadly.

The purpose of this study was to examine what effective strategies for managing student behavior meant to the teachers through their classroom experiences. The findings revealed that the participants commonly used eight strategies to manage student misbehavior, of which seven were perceived to be effective, i.e., rules-setting, hinting, directive statements, punishment, after class talks, relationship building, and instructional engagement.

This study aims to examine the effects of expectations of future work environment, perceptions of satisfaction, self-efficacy, and emotional intelligence on preservice teacher (PSTs) commitment to the profession. The findings reveal that preservice teachers’ personal and environmental expectations play an important role in their motivation to continue in the teacher education program and enter the teaching profession. The results also show that when PSTs perceived higher levels of collaboration with colleagues and higher levels of autonomy in the classroom, they also exhibited increased levels of satisfaction. However, when PSTs perceived their future work environment as less than ideal they exhibited lower levels of satisfaction.

The authors designed a lab-based pilot and classroom-based feasibility study to examine an effective way to introduce mindfulness meditation. The authors conclude that the findings of these two studies of the guided mindfulness meditation — one a pilot and the other comparative trial — suggest that mindfulness meditation is feasible to introduce to early childhood education students with some modifications.