Section archive - Teacher Educators

There is limited research investigating models of partnering between University and Schools in initial teacher education (ITE). This project investigated, over a 10 year period, how student teachers in an English University on a one year course, draw on theoretical models, introduced in university sessions, when planning for a ‘creative week’ placement in schools. Working within an interpretivist paradigm drawing on data from 52 student teachers, 10 teachers and 50 children this case study explored a model of teacher education provision. Findings illuminated factors that inhibited student teachers from planning engaging lessons, which challenged their learners, including poor relationships between stakeholders, misunderstandings of the purpose of the placement and under developed knowledge and understandings of how to successfully draw on theoretical models to enhance learning, together with the challenges of limited time during a one year course. Findings also uncovered the extent to which student teachers were ‘allowed’ by some teachers, but not by others, to take risks in their practice, and the impact this has on student teachers’ sense of autonomy and confidence. Implications of the research demonstrate how findings can impact on ITE course design and partnering models between University and schools.

edTPA (Educative Teacher Performance Assessment) is designed to strengthen teacher professionalization and provide a framework for program redesign. However, using a national assessment to shift the content of local programs is challenging because of their inherent organizational complexity. In this article, the authors focus on this complexity, using a systems lens to analyze edTPA implementation at a large, public university. Employing a mixed-methods case study design, they survey 250 teacher educators and candidates to understand how they interpret the demands of edTPA and how their varied perspectives impact each other. They interview a stratified, purposive subset of participants to explore mechanisms underlying quantitative findings. They find substantial internal variation in edTPA implementation that translates into differential support for candidates. This variation could not be explained by duration of implementation of edTPA. Varied perspectives may stem from distinct perceptions of teacher educators’ professional roles and the role they see edTPA playing in teacher professionalization.

Grounded in the Self-Determination Theory, this study examines the relations between teacher educators’ experienced work pressure and opportunities for professional growth, their work related basic needs satisfaction (i.e. autonomy, competence and relatedness) and their researcherly disposition (i.e. being a smart consumer of research, being able to conduct research, conducting research and valuing research). A large-scale survey study was conducted, involving 944 teacher educators working within teaching-intensive teacher education institutions. The results of structural equation modelling (SEM)-analyses show that teacher educators’ opportunities for growth as well as the experienced work pressure are significantly related to the satisfaction of teacher educators’ basic psychological needs at work. In turn, positive relations were identified between the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs and teacher educators’ researcherly disposition.

Teacher educators have three main paths for career development: teaching, research and institutional leadership. These may be mutually supportive, but also, sources of tension. Recent national and institutional policies encourage teacher educators to increase their research activities. This study aims to describe Israeli teacher educators’ perceptions of the three paths, and their interrelationships, as influenced by their work contexts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 experienced, research-orientated teacher educators who work in various teacher education colleges in Israel. The results indicate that although research promotes their teaching and institutional leadership, they struggle to strike a balance between the three paths. Colleges do not provide support for career planning, and view teacher educators’ professional development as personal rather than as a collective institutional endeavour.