Equity-Focused Teacher Candidate Preparation

PurposeThe purpose of this conceptual paper is to define and explore the roles of mentors, the responsibilities and even misconceptions of their position in partnership schools, the characteristics of effective mentors, the gaps that exist in current mentor training and the need for updated and forward-thinking flexible and accessible mentor training as it relates to improvements in University Teacher Preparation Programs and their partnership schools.Design/methodology/approachThe authors detail the process of interviewing a diverse population of mentors and teacher candidates (TCs) who have participated in our professional development (partnership) schools. See Appendices A and B for parallel questions posed during each interview process. Following the interviews, data were gathered in both text and video-based formats to create mentor training video modules to improve the current state of mentor training in our program. Themes were identified following an analysis of both interview intakes, and modules were created to align with these themes.FindingsFollowing the first rounds of implementation, the authors have reflected and noted that a need for an even more diverse population of both mentors and interns to be interviewed is necessary moving forward. The authors do note an appreciation by mentors and university partners in the quality, flexibility and accessibility that this new video module-based mentor training program provides.Practical implicationsThe video-based mentor training modules that the authors detail honor the needs of both new and returning mentors. Via the interviews with teacher candidates, mentors are able to empathize and understand how to be better mentors to their future TCs. Via the scenarios and questions that follow each thematically driven module, mentors are able to independently reflect on their current practices and ways to improve their roles. At any point in the internship year, mentors can return to the video training modules to review and thus improve their practice.Social implicationsMentors, university supervisors, teacher candidates and site coordinators (those individuals who identify mentors in their buildings) note improvement in their ability to communicate effectively as a result of being presented with video modules and reflections about the role of mentors from both mentors and TCs.Originality/valueThe authors were called on by leadership in the College of Education at the University to create this original mentor training video module. It is unique to the College of Education at the University. Great value exists in its accessibility, adaptability (we can upload new videos at any time) and representation of both the mentor and TC perceptions, suggestions and experiences in our program.

Social responsibility is one of the most critical issues expected to be included in education programs today, as the need for socially responsible individuals is ever-increasing. Education is vital in transferring values to students that align with societal ideals. Teachers are the most essential component of values education and transmission, since teachers are the ones who represent and lead values education. It is stated that values education programs carried out through social activities significantly affect the social skills of individuals. In this context, teachers who attach importance to and model social skills will contribute positively to their students’ social skills. Students are considered to learn more through extracurricular educational experiences than through experiences in the traditional classroom. This also applies to teacher candidates. In this regard, the university is critical in terms of the effectiveness of institutions that train teacher candidates, who will in turn impact the future by teaching new generations. The teacher candidates cannot learn these abilities solely through formal schooling. Hence, individual effort and research, participation in group activities, and getting support from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are now essential to learn the skills. This study, which was prepared based on this approach, is based on the findings of several social responsibility exercises for future teachers as part of the “Teachers of the Future Project”. Social responsibility activities implemented within the scope of the project that has been carried out can be summed up as teacher candidates engaging in educational activities for the underprivileged, marking down the positive experiences that experienced teachers have had throughout their careers, meeting with secondary and high school students during social activities and informing them about the universities and departments they are currently enrolled in. The social responsibility activities in this project aim to increase teacher candidates' sense of responsibility. This research aims to reveal the effect of this project, which teacher candidates participated in, on their acquisition of values. Accordingly, the study aims to investigate the impact of the social responsibility activities that teacher candidates participate in within the project’s scope on gaining the necessary skills for values education and the social responsibility activities they will implement while teaching. The study used an experimental methodology and involved 174 teacher candidates enrolled in several university departments in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 2021. The research used two scales and a semi-structured interview form to reveal the effect of social and cultural activities on the acquisition of values. The research’s findings showed that the teacher candidates’ participation in social responsibility projects led to considerable improvements in their values, which are believed to be associated with social responsibility. These values are honesty, responsibility, patience, respect, helpfulness, unity, patriotism, and the importance of family. The increase in these values shows that the collaborative and project-based training and practices organized within the scope of values education are effective. One of the most important results of the research is that education, activity and project-based practices applied beyond the courses in the faculty increase the acquisition of values of teacher candidates. In addition, it has been revealed that values acquisition is more effective and higher for teacher candidates who have participated in similar practices and training before. The reason for this is a reflection of previous positive experiences. In the interviews, pre-service teachers said that the social responsibility activities they participated in within the project’s scope led to an awareness of values education and positively affected the acquisition of values. Another result that emerged from the interviews was the statement that it was beneficial for them to see model applications. In addition, if they are still university students, they also said that participating in activities with secondary school students gave them an empathetic perspective. Pre-service teachers emphasized that thanks to the project, they developed both personally and professionally, and could better understand students and find the correct methods. It may be suggested that in addition to their formal education at the university, teacher candidates take part in unofficial training, social responsibility initiatives, and values-based activities. In addition, it is recommended that university teacher training departments carry out more joint projects with other educational institutions and NGOs that provide education-related services and even include these activities in their training programs.

With the global rise of inclusive educational practices, it is important to understand teacher candidates’ perceptions of disability and inclusion. The purpose of this one group experimental research design study is to examine the impact of a graduate-level course on perceptions of individuals with disabilities and professional identity. Eighty-three teacher candidates in the United States enrolled in a graduate-level introduction to special education course completed a series of reflections about disability and inclusion. Researchers found that perceived reflective ability significantly predicted teacher candidates’ perceptions towards individuals with disabilities. Regardless of general or special education career paths, teacher candidates significantly changed the way they perceived individuals with disabilities. Specifically, at the end of the semester, teacher candidates viewed individuals with disabilities as more different than individuals without disabilities. Implications surrounding the importance of reflective practice in domestic and international teacher education practice and research will be addressed.

This chapter discusses the findings of a self-study of teacher education practices (S-STEP) conducted to investigate the ways the author supported teacher candidates, and first year teachers who were teaching emergent bilinguals in planning reading and writing activities around authentic texts. The purpose of the study was to determine in what ways the researcher supported the candidates’ planning, in what ways the teacher candidates implemented the activities, and how the self-study informed the researcher as a teacher educator. The study looked at how the teacher candidates and first year teachers implemented the activities with their own students. Teacher candidates were supported by the researcher through a methodology class, class observations, informal meetings, and emails and text messaging. The teacher candidates and first year teachers reported that all of the activities and strategies that they learned from the researcher and then implemented with their own students were effective. Both the teacher candidates and the first year teachers modified many of the strategies in order to meet the needs of their emergent bilingual students. Through this self-study investigation of how students used and modified the strategies and activities, the researcher gained valuable information that will inform work with future students. She will introduce fewer strategies and activities and explain how each one can be used to teach different content. In further study, the researcher will provide student teachers with a rubric to evaluate the effectiveness of each strategy or activity with different types of students.

Science teacher educators use examples of practice to support teacher candidates (TCs) learning to engage in new forms of science teaching. However, interpretation of these examples assumes a level of expertise about practice TCs lack. This article describes a study designed to determine some of the differences between expert teachers' and TCs' professional pedagogical vision for science teaching. Specifically, the study examines what each group attends to (highlights) in examples of science teaching and how they interpret the events they attend to (codes). Both groups were asked to analyze video of classroom science teaching. Differences were found between TCs and expert teachers in terms of both highlighting and coding of science teaching practice. Four key areas of difference are described in detail: actor focus, questions, grain size, and enactment. The implications for science teacher education are discussed, in particular a set of tools and teacher education practices to support acculturating TCs into more a sophisticated professional pedagogical vision for science teaching.This article features a Research to Practice Companion Article. Please click on the supporting information link below to access.

Physical educators have been identified as ideal school champions to lead comprehensive school physical activity program (CSPAP) efforts within their schools. As such, they should be adequately prepared to take on this role. Faculty from three physical and health education teacher education programs have collaboratively developed the Adopt-a-School program to address this need. This problem-based service-learning program aids inservice professionals as they implement CSPAPs while simultaneously developing the skills, knowledge and confidence of future physical activity leaders. Through mutually beneficial partnerships, teacher candidate teams and local elementary school champions use the Active Schools and Alliance for a Healthier Generation's Healthy Schools Program websites to support and assess each school's current CSPAP, design and activate an action plan, and celebrate each school's success. Because each school and its needs are unique, teacher candidates have created and completed a variety of school physical activity initiatives over the past six years. An overview of service-learning is provided, followed by an in-depth description of the Adopt-a-School program and perceived stakeholder benefits.

This chapter describes and discusses Illinois State University’s middle level teacher education program and the school partnerships that form the clinical experiences for our teacher candidates. As a well-established middle level teacher preparation program, Illinois State University has a long history of sustainable partnerships with local middle level schools and districts. Teacher candidates participate in a variety of clinical experiences throughout their undergraduate teacher education. In addition to classroom observations, teacher candidates are actively involved in a variety of classroom-based experiences, including coplanning, instruction, and assessment. Clinical experiences also include a variety of other components such as community-based observations, volunteering, and tutoring. During the first semester of their senior year, teacher candidates participate in an intensive, full-time, 4-week clinical experience in a local middle level school. The culminating experience is the 16-week student teaching semester where teacher candidates are expected to plan, implement, and coordinate curriculum, instruction, and assessment that is developmentally responsive to the unique needs of young adolescents.

This qualitative study delved into the perceptions of “bilingualism” among 60 students in a teacher education program, drawing on survey responses at the outset of their training. Informed by the translanguaging framework, we analyzed teacher candidates’ responses to identify a range of views spanning from minimalist to maximalist and from monoglossic to heteroglossic perspectives of bilingualism. Our analysis revealed many teacher candidates had a strict and narrow definition of bilingualism based on minimalist and monoglossic standards, especially when considering their own bilingual identities, legitimizing only speakers with native-like proficiency in all language domains in two languages as true bilinguals. Interestingly, their conceptions of bilingualism, as future educators, tended to be more maximalist and heteroglossic when they considered the bilingual potential of their future students. These findings will contribute and challenge the discourses that favor and idealize perfect balanced bilingualism. Implications for research and practice for teachers and teacher educators in bilingual settings are discussed.

Mathematics teacher educators can use video clips of children solving mathematics problems to help teacher candidates attend to nuanced aspects of teaching and learning mathematics. However, the process of selecting and using video clips to support teacher candidates’ learning to teach mathematics is underexplored as are the ways in which mathematics teacher educators can use self-study to examine these processes. In this article, we present the Playlist Process – a method we developed, using the metaphor of a playlist, to examine our practice – and the three insights that emerged during our multi-year, multi-institutional collaborative self-study: (1) use explicit scaffolds to support the development of teacher candidates’ awareness; (2) incorporate Torres’ Rights of the Learner as a tool for supporting teacher candidates’ learning about equitable practices; and (3) increase attention to grain size and progressions of children’s solution strategies. The article concludes by considering how the Playlist Process can support other teacher educators as they engage in self-studies of their practice and collaborate across institutions. Implications for future practice and research are included.

ABSTRACTIf the practicum is the most valued element of a teacher education program, how good is each teacher candidate’s learning and how well is it supported by the university supervisor? While most self-studies of teacher education practices focus on practices in the university classroom, this article reports an analysis of a supervisor’s practices, with special attention to underlying assumptions of the supervisor. Data permitted identification of patterns in the supervisor’s pedagogy and in teacher candidates’ responses to that pedagogy. The supervisor’s underlying assumptions and the contribution of conversations with a critical friend were identified. A table was constructed to contrast the assumptions in two stances toward supervision, one characterized as transmission and the other as interpretation. Conclusions emphasize the importance of listening to each candidate’s voice and including a metacognitive element in a supervisory conversation after a lesson observation.

Teacher candidates rely on mentors working in their college-based teacher education programs and mentors working in the college’s partner schools to support their development as future teachers as well as their Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) preparations. This study describes a semester-long collaboration between a clinical professor, teacher candidates from her college, and teachers from the college’s partner schools, as they engage in shared readings and study group sessions focused on the topic of academic language, a topic that is central to national learning standards, the edTPA, and teaching in an urban context. The main goal of this collaboration was to provide teacher candidates an opportunity to study a relevant topic in depth with inservice professionals to enrich their clinical experiences. The objective of the study was to determine the ways in which inservice and preservice teachers’ conceptualize the topic of academic language and connect this thinking to their attempts to address the Common Core Learning Standards.

A component of student teaching that has long been debated is how to assess the effectiveness of teacher candidates' practice. One assessment that has gained attention is the educative teacher performance assessment, or edTPA. Introduced in 2013 by Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE), edTPA has become a principal focus of the TESOL practicum and its companion seminar in schools of education that prepare teachers for state certification in the United States. EdTPA has been hailed by its supporters as an effective, authentic assessment, but TESOL teacher educators' current perspectives about the edTPA in English as an additional language (EAL) have thus far been largely unexamined. Since its inception, has edTPA changed the TESOL practicum in concrete ways, and if so, how? In this chapter, the perspectives of six teacher educators are shared to shed light on current thought about the role and value of edTPA in English as an Additional Language (EAL) certification programs. Areas of inquiry were (1) changes in TESOL teacher preparation programs, (2) teacher candidates' success or failure in completing edTPA, (3) the educational value of edTPA in teacher education, (4) the effect of edTPA on the practice of teacher educators, and (5) waiving edTPA in times of COVID-19.

Teacher Candidates’ Relationships to Knowledge and to Their Practices for Critical and Activist STSE Education

As we enter the twenty-first century, the outcomes, consequences, and results of teacher education have become critical topics in nearly all of the state and national policy debates about teacher preparation and licensure as well as in the development of many of the privately and publicly funded research agendas related to teacher and student learning. In this article, I argue that teacher education reform over the last fifty years has been driven by a series of questions about policy and practice. The question that is currently driving reform and policy in teacher education is what I refer to as "the outcomes question." This question asks how we should conceptualize and define the outcomes of teacher education for teacher learning, professional practice, and student learning, as well as how, by whom, and for what purposes these outcomes should be documented, demonstrated, and/or measured. In this article, I suggest that the outcomes question in teacher education is being conceptualized and constructed in quite different ways depending on the policy, research, and practice contexts in which the question is posed as well as on the political and professional motives of the posers. The article begins with an overview of the policy context, including those reforms and initiatives that have most influenced how outcomes are currently being constructed, debated, and enacted in teacher education. Then I identify and analyze three major "takes" on the outcomes question in teacher education—outcomes as the long-term or general impacts of teacher education, outcomes as teacher candidates' scores on high stakes teacher tests, and outcomes as the professional performances of teacher candidates, particularly their demonstrated ability to influence student learning. For each of these approaches to outcomes, I examine underlying assumptions about teaching and schooling, the evidence and criteria used for evaluation, units of analysis, and consequences for the profession. I point out that how we construct outcomes in teacher education (including how we make the case that some outcomes matter more than others) legitimizes but also undermines particular points of view about the purposes of schooling, the nature of teaching and learning, and the role of teacher education in educational reform. In the second half of the article, I offer critique across the three constructions of outcomes, exploring the possibilities as well as the pitfalls involved in the outcomes debate. In this section, I focus on the tensions between professional consensus and critique, problems with the inputs-outputs metaphor, the need to get social justice onto the outcomes agenda, problems with the characterization of teachers as either saviors or culprits, and the connection of outcomes to educational reform strategies that are either democratic or market-driven.

There is increasing concern over disengagement of teacher candidates during on‐campus periods of pre‐service programs due to the perceived disconnect between educational theory and practice. In response, teacher education has been called to engage candidates in praxis through authentic learning. In this paper, we bring together the fields of teacher education, authentic learning, and arts‐based learning to articulate a means of enhancing pre‐service programs. Specifically, this paper documents and analyzes the process of engaging teacher candidates in an authentic learning experience of a musical theatre production. Data collected from 30 teacher candidates through rehearsal observations, a post‐production questionnaire, and focus group interviews indicated that participation created a sense of community and belonging, as well as developed skills necessary to carry forward art‐based learning activities into their teaching careers.