Section archive - Programs & Practicum

The authors’ self-study examines their integration of concepts from the field of Disability Studies in Education (DSE) into their introductory special education and educational foundations courses in two different accredited teacher preparation programs. Using narratives and shared dialogues about their curricular deliberations, they explored the barriers and possibilities of bringing critical visions of disability into the dominant teacher education curriculum. While barriers such as their positioning as contingent faculty and graduate students hindered their adaptation of the “official” curriculum of their programs, they found that such changes afforded important possibilities for justice-oriented teacher preparation. They discuss their realization of DSE as the “null curriculum” in their programs and the need to break away from the curricular status quo in their courses. Their conclusions explore how the integration of DSE informed concepts generated unique opportunities for exploring social justice concepts with the next generation of teachers.

Emotions are significant in the process of becoming a teacher, especially during the teaching practicum. While studies have repeatedly shown that pupils impact the emotional experiences of student teachers, little is known about student teacher emotions that are triggered by social interactions with their mentor teacher and their team partner. This is the focus of the present research. The following questions are investigated: (1) which emotions are experienced in social interaction situations in the practicum, (2) which factors trigger these emotions, and (3) based on self-determination theory, how the evoked emotions are linked to the fulfilment of basic psychological needs. In order to explore these research questions, semi-structured qualitative interviews with 27 Swiss student teachers were conducted. Thematic qualitative text analysis shows that in different interaction situations, such as successful teaching-related cooperation, support, positive feedback, and goodwill of the mentor teacher, positive emotions are triggered, which are strongly connected to need fulfilment. On the contrary, situations of failed communication, negative feedback, and lack of support are related to need threat and evoke negative emotions. This study shows the importance of emotions in interaction situations during practica and the need to focus more strongly on emotional dimensions of becoming a teacher in teacher education.

A teacher should arguably know about learning theories (LTs) in order to make daily pedagogical decisions. However, little literature exists on the role of LTs in teacher education. Eight Dutch teacher educators were interviewed on LTs in their curriculum. LTs were unanimously considered important but huge variation was found in what and how LTs are taught. Several functions of LTs were mentioned, with underpinning of pedagogical decisions using LT considered to be the essence of higher education. However, respondents doubted whether this is ever achieved. This suggests an additional paradigm – reality gap in teacher education.

Teacher education involves encountering ethical dilemmas connected to teaching. Student teachers’ ethical dilemmas sometimes occur when ideals clash with experiences. The current study focuses on the challenges experienced by student teachers during work placement education. The aim of the study was to investigate ethical dilemmas student teachers experienced during work placement education, using the sensitising concept of the notion of care. The data consist of semi-structured interviews from 22 student teachers and were analysed using a constructivist grounded theory framework. The findings show that the ethical dilemmas reported by the student teachers regarded two influential agents in work placement education: pupils and teachers. Concerning pupils, the dilemmas involved encountering pupils living in poor circumstances as well as experiencing aggression from and among pupils. When it comes to teachers, dilemmatic experiences stemmed from teachers who were disillusioned and derogatory talk in the teacher lounge.