Identity Development, Moral Authority and the Teacher Educator

Research has suggested that teacher educators’ profession and the process of identity formation are poorly understood. Moreover, attempts to clarify the terminology are rare. While research has addressed teacher educators’ professional identities holistically, discussion on teacher educators’ teacher identities is very rare, even though these specific sub-identities are at the core of their work. In this study we apply meta-ethnography to provide an interpretive synthesis of 30 studies on teacher educators’ identities conducted in the past decade. Our findings display how teacher educators’ teacher identities are understood in the current literature suggesting teacher identity to be a hidden term in research on teacher educators. Moreover, we provide a critique, challenging prevalent understandings of teacher educators’ identities, particularly focusing on the terminology used in the studies and definitions of teacher educators’ teacher identities and conclude with future directions for the research in this domain.

ABSTRACTThis study uses teacher identity as an analytic lens to explore how pre-service teachers’ professional identity developed during teacher education and to examine what aspects of teacher education promote the development of teacher identity. Guided by the teacher’s personal interpretative framework and utilizing a narrative inquiry with a cross-sectional research design, this study employed interviews to elicit data from 50 English-majored pre-service teachers at a five-year teacher education program in Thailand. The findings revealed that multiple dimensions of teacher identity were changed at different points of time. Two patterns of identity changes were found: sudden and gradual changes. Additionally, the roles of teacher education in promoting teacher identity development are passive and fragmented, relying on the pre-service teachers to connect the dots of their own identity. This study serves as a springboard for teacher educators to reconsider the teacher education curriculum and redefine practices in teacher education.

Reforming the teacher education system has been a key government policy towards improving school education in India. While recent curriculum and governance reforms articulate a new vision of teacher education that underscores a symbiotic relationship between teacher education and school education, it fails to engage enough with the most important participant of the teacher education system—the teacher educator. Changes to curriculum and governance process in the absence of a pro-active engagement of teacher educators with the reforms can do little to influence the teacher education processes and outcomes. The work of pre-service teacher educators is complex because their responsibilities relate to both school and higher education. The distinctiveness of their work, identity and professional development has always been marginalized in educational discourse. This article analyses select educational documents to examine the construction of work and identity of higher education-based teacher educators. It proposes the development of a professional framework of practice through a collective process, which would help understand the work of teacher educators and offer various possibilities for their professional development.

“It just made me look at language in a different way:” ESOL teacher candidates’ identity negotiation through teacher education coursework

Background/Context The nationwide preoccupation with accountability continues to grow, with teacher credentialing programs facing growing scrutiny through state-mandated accountability systems. In response to Senate Bill 2042 passed by the California state legislature in 1998, the California Commission for Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) established new standards to which all credentialing institutions in the state must comply. Implementing credential programs aligned to the new standards could have an enormous impact on teacher education in California. The way we use language in particular contexts not only represents perspectives, but creates them as well. Therefore, California's new teacher education standards, replete with their highly prescriptive language, could conceivably result in a new standardization of the way teacher educators conceptualize and implement programs throughout the state. Focus of Study The authors examine the impact of California's state-mandated revision of teacher education programs on their department's—as well as on individual faculty members'— approach to teacher education. They explore the extent to which faculty were able to uphold their department's ideals of a progressive, learner-centered teacher education program—in spite of the state's stringent new requirements. Setting The research took place in the secondary teacher education department at a California State University. Participants The participants were all ten full-time faculty members in the department at the time of the program revision. Research Design In this qualitative self-study, the authors conducted and analyzed interviews with department members, and analyzed discussions in department meetings, program documents, and conversations (formal and informal) among the authors themselves. Drawing from critical discourse theory, the authors investigate the ways that the discursive practices in state regulations governing teacher education variously positioned members of the department, making particular teacher educator subjectivities available, and examine how faculty members both adopted and resisted these subjectivities as the department developed and implemented the new state-required program. Findings In spite of claims by faculty that the standardization process had little impact on their approach to teaching, the authors’ analysis of interview and conversational data and documents suggests otherwise. Faculty members’ increased use of technocratic language and terminology reflecting compliance with the new state standards reveals a substantive shift in the ways they think about what they do. Conclusions The authors argue that no one should assume he or she is immune to the effects of top-down standardization; but they note that this type of self-study process can enable faculty to realign their actions with their beliefs, to regain control of their discourse and of their identities as teacher educators.

Different aspects of identity have been investigated across various educational fields. Although many studies have been done to investigate different aspects of EFL teachers’ identity development, there is a paucity of research on identity-oriented EFL teacher education programs. Hence, the purpose of the current study was to investigate EFL teacher educators’ and EFL teachers’ perspectives about identity-oriented EFL teacher education programs to probe where the commonality of perspectives lies between the two groups in order to see how to run identity-oriented teacher education programs. To that end, three EFL teacher educators and five EFL teachers who were recruited based on convenience sampling were interviewed. Each participant was interviewed two times. The interviews were analyzed using grounded theory. The findings revealed that both EFL teacher educators and EFL teachers believed that an EFL teacher education program would be an identity-oriented one when 1) addressing reflective pedagogy, 2) bridging the gap between theory and practice, 3) involving EFL teachers in action research, 4) emphasizing sociocultural aspects of EFL teacher education, and 5) developing EFL teacher awareness about the varieties. Thus, it can be concluded that through including the mentioned features in the teacher education program, teacher educators can achieve identity-oriented teacher education programs.

During his lifetime, William C. Bagley (1874–1946) was America’s most influential philosopher of teacher education. Although he has become known as the father of “Essentialism,” his central focus throughout this career wras the education of teachers and, more specifically, curriculum for the education of teachers. During his nearly fifty year career, Bagley wrote numerous books and articles on topics such as teacher education, curriculum, educational philosophy and psychology, higher education, and secondary education. Bagley was born in Detroit, Michigan on March 15, 1874. After graduating from Michigan Agricultural College in 1895, he taught in a rural, one-room school in upstate Michigan. He attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) and Cornell University. After completing his Ph.D. degree in psychology at Cornell in 1900, Bagley chose to dedicate his life to the education of teachers for public school service. He taught for four years at Montana State Normal School in Dillon, Montana, and then for two more years at Oswego State Normal School in Oswego, New7 York. In 1908, he accepted a position as Professor of Education at the University of Illinois. At Illinois, Bagley established the University of Illinois' School of Education. After serving as the School’s Inaugural Dean, he departed Illinois for Teachers College, Columbia University. At Teachers College, he served as chair of Teachers College’s department of teacher education. He taught at Teachers College from 1917 to 1939, when he retired at the age of 65. During his Teachers College tenure, Bagiey wrote numerous books and hundreds of articles and editorials, all of which related directly to the discipline of teacher education. Late in his career, Bagiey became critical of extremism within educational thought, specifically the ideas of William Heard Kilpatrick. Bagiey believed that Kilpatrick and others had misinterpreted the complex work of John Dewey. During the 1930s, Bagiey joined with numerous others to found Essentialism, an educational philosophy that sought to retain the valuable aspects of Progressive education while at the same time emphasizing a unique philosophy of professional education. Bagiey’s philosophy of professional education always sought to integrate the subject-matter disciplines, the technique of teaching, and the critically important question of purpose. —JWN

Teacher education has become the subject of increasing scrutiny and general reviews often recommend change. This article reports the author's perceptions of and reflection on an evolving secondary teacher education programme. It outlines the reasons for change, some difficulties encountered and some steps taken to address these. The case to change the secondary teacher education programme considers how general criticisms of teacher education are influencing an ostensibly successful programme. Despite its success and attractiveness, the programme appeared to have a key problem: a perceived lack of relevance according to beginning teachers, though not to current teacher education students. Specific modifications to the programme are presented which set out, primarily, to increase the relevance of the teacher education experience. The reflection on the programme change, as it occurred, reports how university culture and development of partnership between school and university present a challenge to the proposed development of the teacher education course.

The quality of pre-service secondary teacher education is critically dependent on the adequacy of infrastructural facilities, human resources, and learning resources available in training institutions. This study was undertaken to (i) analyze the infrastructure facilities in pre-service secondary teacher education programs in Rajasthan in relation to the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) Regulation 2014, and (ii) examine the availability of human and learning resources within these programs against the same regulatory framework. Adopting a mixed-method approach, data were collected from a sample of 60 teacher educators and 250 student teachers drawn from 11 teacher education institutions affiliated with four universities in Rajasthan. Structured questionnaires designed for teacher educators and student teachers formed the primary tools of data collection. The findings reveal several critical gaps. A significant shortage of qualified teaching and non-teaching staff was observed, leading to high pupil–teacher ratios and inadequate academic support. Nearly one-third of faculty members were perceived as lacking in subject mastery, language proficiency, and pedagogical clarity, with a notable absence of method teachers for languages, vocational subjects, arts, and physical education. Learning resources were found to be insufficient, with libraries poorly stocked with updated reference materials and journals, while information and communication technology (ICT), education technology (ET), and language labs were either non-functional or missing. Infrastructural facilities such as smart classrooms, hostels, playgrounds, and common rooms were either inadequate or below prescribed standards. Furthermore, institutional linkages with state-level educational bodies like Cluster Resource Center, Block Resource Centers, and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan were minimal, restricting practice-oriented exposure for student teachers. The study concludes that pre-service secondary teacher education institutions in Rajasthan fall short of the NCTE (2014) requirements in infrastructure, human, and learning resources. Strengthening these dimensions is imperative for ensuring quality teacher preparation aligned with contemporary policy expectations.

Uspostavljanje modela filmske edukacije u srednjoj školi

Transitioning from a K-12 teacher to a teacher educator involves a significant transformation in professional identity, characterized by intellectual, pedagogical, and cultural challenges. This self-study explores the first author’s journey as an international graduate student transitioning from teacher to mathematics teacher educator in the United States. In this study, I investigate how my identity developed through reflective experiences, challenges, and tensions during the transition from traditional to inquiry-based teaching environments. Drawing on a staged perspective of identity development and a framework emphasizing competence, performance, and recognition, the findings highlight the dynamic and ongoing nature of teacher educator identity formation. Findings suggest that professional identity development involves periods of advancement and hesitation, influenced by external recognition, social participation, and the ongoing negotiation of past and new identities. The implications highlight the necessity for targeted support, including induction programs, mentoring, and communities of practice to foster the growth of novice teacher educators, especially international students navigating dual transitions. This study emphasizes the importance of continuous reflection and adaptation in professional growth as a teacher educator.

Being a teacher and teacher educator: The antecedents of teacher educator identity among mentor teachers

What is quality in teacher education, why is it so elusive, and what are the major challenges? We begin with issues that illustrate the sheer complexity of the concept of quality when considered in the context of initial teacher education. Three fundamental challenges to achieving quality in teacher education are examined: the problem of the apprenticeship of observation, the problem of enactment and the problem of complexity. We then identify three additional challenges: dissonance and drift, resistance as a barrier to quality, and cultural barriers to achieving quality. The argument continues with a focus on quality as it may be perceived by the four major players: teacher candidate, mentor teacher, faculty supervisor and teacher educator. Each plays a significant and significantly different role in a program of teacher education. The four different roles lead to at least four different interpretations of the meaning of quality in initial teacher education. We continue our argument by presenting the voices of a number of individuals who have spoken directly to the issue of quality or excellence in programs of teacher education. Finally, we explore perspectives that could help to achieve greater quality in programs of teacher education: listening to those learning to teach, searching for quality learning, fostering metacognition and learning from experience, promoting knowledge integration, and connecting epistemology to the challenge of quality.

This paper reports on research that explored the experiences of secondary Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) professionals' simultaneous negotiation and implementation of the new Curriculum for Wales (CfW) Health and Well‐Being (HWB) Area of Learning and Experience (AoLE) and policies focused on the transformation of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Wales. The study was an exploratory case study of PETE professionals working within one university's ITE programme. Data were generated through documentary analysis of PETE and ITE programme materials and semi‐structured interviews with staff involved in programme management and delivery. Data analysis employed Ball and colleagues' conceptualisation of policy actors and contexts to critically examine the varied policy positions that PETE professionals adopt in navigating and negotiating enactment of the HWB AoLE within their ITE provision. Attention is drawn to the significance of historical and culturally situated dimensions of secondary physical education and PETE in Wales, and significant changes to the professional culture of ITE, in shaping PETE educators' engagement with the HWB AoLE. The paper concludes by contending that ITE institutions in Wales need to further consider how PETE (and other) educators can be actively supported to engage in sophisticated policy work within their institutions and across policy and professional networks.

The theme of accountability currently permeates conversations about education at every level, including teacher education and professional development. In our Call for Manuscripts for this theme issue, we invited empirical or conceptual manuscripts addressing assessment and accountability in teacher education that would move the community forward in considering the topics both more precisely and with greater complexity. The range of suggested subtopics and questions within assessment and accountability in teacher education was broad to elicit a wide range of responses. In general, we asked, Who is to be held accountable? For what? And by whom? As we reviewed the many excellent submissions, one predominant response to these questions centered on value-added modeling (VAM) approaches to accountability. Although this is only one of several answers to the questions we asked, it is one that has important intended and unintended consequences for various stakeholders in teacher education, including beginning teachers, mentor teachers, administrators, teacher educators, higher education institutions, and policy makers. Emergence of Value-Added Models for Teacher Education The rise of interest in VAM for teacher education is related to the search for the definition of teacher quality that has emerged as a primary factor in determination of K-12 student performance, probably as a confluence of a number of events (see Knight, 2011). The Tennessee study (Sanders & Horn, 1998), a landmark study using random assignment of teachers and students to classrooms, firmly established the advantage for students of having a high-quality teacher over a number of years. For many years, educators had struggled with the seemingly intractable socioeconomic factors related to poor student performance. The notion of teacher quality appeared to be manipulable and constituted a viable approach for closing student achievement gaps. Not only do teachers make a difference but their effectiveness can potentially be assessed, rewarded, and improved through recruitment, incentives, and/or professional development. No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top funding and legislation served to popularize the VAM approach for determination of teacher quality. Given the emphasis on teacher professional development as a contributor to teacher quality, the application of VAM approaches for teacher education accountability may have appeared to be an obvious connection to policy makers (see Floden, 2012 [this issue]). Despite the rather limited evidence of the impacts of teacher preparation programs on student achievement (Duckworth, Quinn, & Seligman, 2009), many policy makers concluded that the quality of teacher education preparation, as with individual teachers, can potentially be assessed, rewarded, and improved--or removed if necessary. However, just as VAM applied to determination of individual teacher quality resulted in a number of methodological, ethical, and other concerns, VAM used to determine the quality of teacher education programs carries similar concerns as well as others specific to teacher education. Possibilities and Limitations of VAM for Teacher Education In February 2012, Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) sponsored a Major Forum at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) Annual Meeting in Chicago that featured research using VAM for assessment of the quality of teacher education programs in several states and commentaries that focused participants on both the possibilities as well as the limitations of this approach. Participants agreed that the framing of VAM as a policy issue is important and that much is at stake as we consider the education of teachers and the education of young people in this country. Federal and state governments are investing a great deal of money in value-added assessment systems, and the consequences of policy implementation are complex and significant. …