Teacher knowledge for teaching statistics through investigations

This paper proposes a collaborative partnership between practicing and pre-service teachers as a model for implementing science teacher education and professional development. This model provides a structure within which partnerships will work collaboratively to plan, implement and reflect on a series of Science lessons in cycles of action-reflection adapted from Korthagen’s (2001) ALACT model. Issues within Science education, teacher professional development and teacher education are considered in the development of the model which attempts to deepen constructivist approaches to teachers’ professional learning. It attempts to address issues with teacher professional development in the science area and improve professional experience practice for pre-service teachers. The nexus between theory and practice is the focus of the model which hopes to inform both teacher education and professional development for science teachers in the primary sector.

The topic of standards-based instruction is currently at the forefront of conversations about education at every level, including teacher education and professional development. The proliferation of state curriculum standards over the past decade and the recent development of the Common Core State (CCSS) for English/Language Arts and Mathematics as well as the release of the second draft of the Next Generation Science (NGSS) in January 2013 have fueled this conversation. Standards-based curriculum and assessment, and the accompanying accountability associated with their implementation, place considerable pressure on preservice and inservice teacher educators to enable teachers to effectively incorporate the standards into instruction. The more recent content standards emphasize student depth of knowledge, higher order thinking, and adaptive application that places great demands on the kind of teaching skills that few teachers currently possess (Lampert, this issue) and will require particular attention to the type of professional development needed for both preservice and inservice teachers (Moon, Michaels, & Reiser, 2012). In our Call for Manuscripts for this theme issue, we invited empirical or conceptual manuscripts addressing teacher professional development in the context of reforms such as CCSS. Our intent was to move the community forward in understanding and studying the nature and impact of professional development focused on recent standards-based curricular reforms. Three articles emerged which addressed the topic either directly through (a) design of professional development programs for CCSS (Marrongelle, this issue) or indirectly through (b) examination of the relationship between teacher education and the alignment of instruction with standards (Polikoff, this issue) and (c) examination of teacher education strategies to develop the kind of teaching practices associated with rigorous curricular reforms (Lampert, this issue). Overview of Features and Articles This issue is divided conceptually into three parts. The first part represents the theme of standards-based instruction discussed previously and features three articles. The first article, Scaling up Professional Development in an Era of Common State Standards by Karen Marrongelle, Paola Sztajn, and Margaret Smith, describes the process and outcomes of a project to generate design recommendations for professional development programs to support CCSS in mathematics (CCSSM). While the focus is mathematics, the authors argue that the process and many of the elements are applicable to other content areas. The project involved the collaboration of practitioners and researchers representing a mixture of expertise (math, math education, assessment, policy, equity, and systems-thinking) and resulted in a set of recommendations for large-scale, systems-level professional development aligned with CCSSM. The second article, Education, Experience, and the Practice of Aligned Instruction by Morgan Polikoff uses a large-scale survey approach to examine the relationship between teacher education and experiences and teacher reports of their content coverage in comparison with content analyses of state standards. The author found that more experienced teachers, beyond the 1st year and up to 11 years of experience, with more content area courses exhibited more aligned instruction. However, the effects were small and the author suggests that other factors such as work environment and student characteristics and consideration of more precise measures of teacher education may be needed. The findings indicate that more professional development support for standards implementation may be needed for preservice and 1st-year teachers as well as more experienced teachers. The last theme article, Keeping It Complex: Using Rehearsals to Support Novice Teacher Learning of Ambitious Teaching by Lampert, Franke, Kazemi, Ghousseini, Turrou, Beasly, Cunard, and Crowe, provides a very different approach to standards-based instruction. …

The transformative vision of NEP 2020 in developing critical thinking, creativity, innovative pedagogies, and professional development of teachers is very closely aligned with the philosophy of reflective learning. Reflective learning involves the process of thinking and analysing one’s own learning experience for continuous improvement in the future. Reflective learning moves beyond rote or procedural engagement, fostering an adaptive mindset that is responsive to dynamic classroom realities and diverse learner needs. It equips teachers with the ability to question their own pedagogical choices, integrate feedback constructively, and adapt to evolving educational contexts. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are: i) To explore the influence of reflective learning practices on critical thinking, self-awareness, and professional growth among pre-service teachers focussing on Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle, and ii) To analyse the role of post-teaching reflection in developing reflective thinking and professional competencies in pre-service teacher education. It is a qualitative research where the case study research design has been followed, and data has been collected qualitatively from 125 pre-service B.Ed students for in-depth analysis, for which written reflections, classroom discussions, and observational records have been analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The findings show that structured reflective learning has significantly enhanced critical self-examination, empathy, creativity, professional awareness, and life skills such as problem-solving, decision-making, and resilience among the pre-service teachers. Aligned with the vision of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the study recommends that reflective learning should be an integral part of teacher education because it is vital pedagogical tool for cultivating reflective, adaptive, and professionally competent teachers. Key words: Critical thinking, Creativity, Reflective learning, Professional development

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. …

The Training Programme for Teachers’ Professional Development on Problem Solving is an interdisciplinary endeavour settled in a cross segment of three disciplines: educational science, psychology, and management science. Scientific inquiry on educational science provides the suitable theoretical background for teaching and teachers’ competencies; teachers’ thinking; teacher education and professional development.

Introduction: Although there is ambiguity about the elements of teacher knowledge, all researchers accept that being able to anticipate what errors can be made, the reasons for and the strategies to overcome these errors, in short, the knowledge of students is important for student achievement. In this study, knowledge of students refers to being aware of students’ possible errors and underlying reasons for these errors and knowing how to overcome these errors. Based on this consideration, the purpose of this study is to investigate pre-service elementary teachers’ knowledge of students on the subtraction topic. Methods: Considering the purpose, the data were collected from 118 pre-service elementary teachers who were enrolled in a four-year Elementary Teacher Education program via a task-based questionnaire related to the topic of subtraction and semi-structured interviews following the questionnaire. The task-based questionnaire included three completed incorrect subtraction tasks and was prepared considering the related literature and the elementary school mathematics curriculum of Turkey. Each task in the questionnaire contained a different type of error. The pre-service elementary teachers’ answers to the task-based questionnaire were categorized as correct, partially correct, wrong, or no answer by means of categorical analysis. The pre-service elementary teachers who gave correct and partially correct answers to the tasks were asked to participate in the second part of the study to learn their possible strategies to overcome the errors made in the tasks. Results: As a result of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the pre-service elementary teachers’ responses, it was found that their knowledge of students for subtraction is limited. Specifically, although the pre-service elementary teachers were partially able to identify the errors in the first and second task, they were not able to identify the error in the third task. Furthermore, they were better able to determine a more commonly occurring subtraction error compared to the uncommon ones. The pre-service elementary teachers could not identify the underlying reasons that led the students to the errors. They could not explain what conceptual knowledge related to the topic of subtraction the student lacked that resulted in the errors. As the pre-service teachers did not attain these reasons, they were not able to provide strategies to overcome these errors different than restating the rules or procedures to overcome students’ errors. Discussion: Only being able to identify the errors is not enough to make the instruction effective. Teachers also need to know and provide a rationale for why the errors happen and how to overcome them (Even & Tirosh, 1995). Contrary to this statement, the pre-service elementary teachers in this study could not attempt to understand the students’ thinking or could not explain the reasons behind students’ errors with the notion of subtraction. Son (2013) emphasizes that pre-service teachers tend to explain the reasons for students’ errors as procedural. Similar to this emphasis, the pre-service teachers identified the errors as resulting from not applying procedures carefully or not enough knowing algorithms to find correct solutions. However, without addressing the reasons or focusing on procedures does not promote students’ understanding of the related topic (An, Kulm, & Wu, 2004). The pre-service teachers’ difficulties in identifying the possible conceptual reasons may result from deficits in knowledge of students (Fennema & Franke, 1992; Ball et al., 2008). Limitations: The findings were limited with the responses of the pre-service elementary teachers participating in this study. Moreover, the pre-service elementary teachers’ knowledge of students was investigated within the scope of subtraction. Conclusions: Although the pre-service elementary teachers could identify students’ errors on subtraction, they had difficulty in identifying the reasons and suggesting strategies to overcome the errors. Therefore, it can be concluded that the pre-service teachers’ knowledge of students for the topic of subtraction is limited. An implication of this is that teacher educators need to include error-analysis tasks to help pre-service teachers be aware of the importance of their knowledge of students.

Wikipedia as a teaching tool for technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) development in pre-service history teacher education

The technological era has significantly impacted the quality of mathematics education. In reality, the frequency of technology usage in the classroom is minimal, and teachers continue to face challenges when utilizing learning management systems (LMS). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the impact of LMS on the development of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) and digital skills of pre-service mathematics teachers. This mixed-methods study, employing an exploratory approach, involved 76 pre-service mathematics teachers (22 males, 54 females). Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews and subsequently compiled using Microsoft Excel and saved in CSV format. The data were then analyzed using Jamovi software version 2.4.8.0. Findings show that digital skills significantly influence TPACK development (β = 0.63, p < 0.001), more so than LMS usage (β = 0.49, p < 0.001), with a combined explanatory power of 65% (R² = 0.65). Higher digital skills improve pre-service teachers' ability to integrate technology into pedagogy and content. Additionally, final-year pre-service teachers show greater competencies. Male pre-service teachers generally exhibit higher digital skills than females (p < 0.001), influencing their capacity to effectively use digital tools in teaching. The strong correlation between digital skills and LMS usage (Spearman’s ρ = 0.86) underscores the need for structured digital competency development in teacher education. These findings emphasize the importance of fostering digital literacy and technology-integrated practicum experiences in mathematics instruction. Universities and school administrators should implement targeted training programs to enhance LMS utilization and help pre-service teachers develop strong TPACK competencies.

This paper focuses on the professional and academic development of mid-career teacher educators from two universities in England. The objectives of the study were to analyse and compare the career experiences of teacher educators; in particular, to identify stages of development, landmark events and contextual factors affecting professional learning and academic identities. In-depth biographical interviews were carried out with 12 teacher educators, together with living graphs of their career paths. Clear landmarks were identified in both contexts, with development in teaching seen as largely positive, while research development was much more varied. Teacher educators who were further on in their careers saw research development as transformative personally as well as academically. In analysing the findings within a sociocultural learning framework, the authors draw in particular on Swennen et al.’s model of teacher educators’ sub-identities, Akerlind’s categorisation of an academic identity and Eraut’s contextual and learning factors.

This article focuses on a learning objective, as part of a teacher education course at a Swedish university, where student teachers should be able to discuss their own professional development and identify further development needs. Since both research and policy documents highlight professional development as an important part of teacher education, it is important to study professional development from the perspective of student teachers. The theoretical starting point is Communities of Practice (CoP), and the study focuses on knowledge and learning within a social community. Ten subject teacher students and six vocational teacher students are interviewed about their descriptions of what the professional development for teachers in teacher education means for them, which results in six prominent themes: 1) the developmentof identity formation, 2) the development of subject specific and vocational knowledge, 3) the development of leadership, 4) the development of relationship-building, 5) the development of knowledge about policy documents, laws, rules and regulations, 6) the development in relation to changes in the society. Despite common denominators in the students’ descriptions of professional development, there are also nuanced differences that can be understood by positioning actors about the (vocational) teacher education community. The vocational teacher students frequently connect their professional knowledge to industry and working life, whereas the subject teacher students often connect their subject knowledge to university courses and research. Both the vocational teacher students and the subject teacher students in the study describe that they need to stay up-to-date and continue developing their competence in pedagogy. However, the vocational teacher students specifically highlight the need for pedagogical knowledge within the school environment, rather than in the context of working life and workshop settings. This may be because some vocational teacher students are accustomed to training and teaching interns in these environments as part of their professional practice.

In Britain, numerous policies have attempted to strengthen the subject knowledge of primary teachers. This paper assesses the evidence base for applying research on subject knowledge to teachers in primary schools. It concludes by suggesting that researchers and policy-makers would do well to reconsider the current emphasis on subject knowledge in initial teacher education and professional development; and, instead, give a higher priority to developing our understanding of the relationship between tacit and formal knowledge, and of how teachers learn.

This narrative inquiry uses pedagogic discourse theory and organization theory to frame pre-service teacher education and in-service professional development initiatives in a school district facing tensions related to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Implications for similar future initiatives are considered.

Within Wales, teacher training has been placed under considerable scrutiny (Estyn, 2012, 2013, 2015). The focus for future development in the sector has largely emphasised systems, models and structures. Within this article I will suggest why, in my own experience, ensuring high quality professional development opportunities for teacher educators is so important. For the purpose of this article, I will take the view that teacher educators are 'all those who actively facilitate the (formal) learning of student teachers and teachers' (European Commission, 2013: 8). The paper identifies some of the challenges facing teacher educators wishing to undertake professional development, such as practical issues, teacher educators' professional identity and the perceived value of different types of professional knowledge. It also considers the benefits of teacher educators undertaking research activity, and why these opportunities may contribute to the 'research-rich' educational systems that are highlighted as best practice (e.g. Leat et al., 2014). It aims to indicate why professional development in teacher education must not be the 'missing link' in educational reform. This article puts these challenges and benefits into context through reflection on the experiences I had during my doctoral studies. It therefore takes a retrospective narrative approach – I will provide 'rememberings, retrospections and constructions' (Freeman, 1984: 4) of my personal experiences of professional development as evidence.

Designing successful professional development requires an understanding of perceived obstacles to integrating robotics in classroom; however, there are currently few validated assessment instruments and analyses of subgroup differences across educator career stages. This study looked at how pre-service teachers (PSTs) and teacher educators perceive barriers differently and validated a Perceived Implementation Barriers Composite (PIBC). From robotics education modules in African teacher education institutions, 109 educators in all (50 teacher educators and 59 PSTs) were enlisted. While a 2 × 2 × 2 Bayesian factorial regression with regional fixed effects looked at heterogeneity across position, gender, and training subgroups, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with WLSMV estimation and polychoric reliability assessment was used to evaluate the PIBC. Although single-factor CFA results showed limited model fit, the PIBC showed strong reliability (polychoric α = 0.882 ). Multigroup CFA suggested caution in mean comparisons by supporting configural and metric invariance but not full scalar invariance. Compared to PSTs, teacher educators reported fewer obstacles ( effect = − 0.223 , 95 % CrI : [ − 0.421 , − 0.025 ] ). Although credible intervals overlapped, interaction analyses suggested potential differences by gender and prior training. The results highlight the need for tailored, context-sensitive professional development in robotics education by indicating that career stage may moderate the impact of gender and training on barrier perceptions.

Despite the growing interest in researching English language teacher educators' (ELTEs) pedagogy, knowledge base, beliefs, and identity development, there is a lack of comprehensive frameworks that encompass these aspects holistically. This study attempts to develop a professional development profile for English language teacher educators by investigating how they define their profession, what professional characteristics and personality traits they possess, what roles and responsibilities they assume, and what constitutes the domains of a knowledge base. Additionally, it explores how they perceive their identities as educators and engage in professional development. The participants were 84 English language teacher educators from across Türkiye. Data were collected via face‐to‐face semi‐structured interviews and analysed thematically. At the end of this study, an integrated professional profile of English language teacher educators is provided, which includes insights into their professional identities. The profile has implications beyond Türkiye and might contribute to the broader understanding and enhancement of professional development for language teacher educators globally. As the study addresses a gap in the field, its outcomes are expected to contribute to the ongoing discussions and efforts to support teacher educators in their continuous learning and development.