scholarly journals Cultivating Agentic Teacher Identities in the Field of a Teacher Education Program

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Anne Block ◽  
Paul Betts

Teacher candidates’ individual and collaborative inquiry occurs within multiple and layered contexts of learning. The layered contexts support a strong connection between the practicum and the university and the emergent teaching identities. Our understanding of teacher identity is as situated and socially constructed, yet fluid and agentic. This paper explores how agentic teaching identities emerge within the layered contexts of our teacher education program as examined in five narratives of teacher candidates’ experience. These narratives involve tension, inquiry, successes and risks, as teacher candidates negotiate what is means to learn how to teach, to teach and to critically reflect on knowledge needed to teach. We conclude that navigating teacher identity is a teacher candidate capacity that could be explicitly cultivated by teacher education programs.

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 134
Author(s):  
Munir Ahmed ◽  
Muhammad Azeem ◽  
Professor Dr. Ibrahim Khalid ◽  
Professor Dr. Irshad Ahmad Farrukh ◽  
Dr. Fazal Ahmed ◽  
...  

The objective of the study was to evaluate the present Pre-service Elementary Teacher Education Programs (B. Ed & equivalents) of SAARC Countries to reveal innovative ideas, which may be adopted and adapted in other countries including Pakistan. Reference books, journals, research papers, Encyclopedias of education, yearbooks, national educational policies, internet and such other resources were consulted to have an insight of these nations, their system of education and to retrieve salient features of a good Pre-service Elementary Teacher education program. Questionnaire named as “Questionnaire for Elementary Teacher Education program evaluation” was prepared, preened after pilot study at provincial capitals of Pakistan and presented to a team of local and foreign experts. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to increase the quality and quantity of responses. In the light of high majority opinions criterion component were finalized. These components in the form of question were sent to the SAARC countries through the relevant Embassies, graduate facilitators, who on my behalf collected data. Collected data was sorted out and matched with the already developed criteria. Result revealed that Indian system of Teacher Education matches the criteria most. Pakistan has many mismatches but Elementary Teacher Education Program offered by the University of Education, Lahore and its associated colleges is bridging this gap successfully. Bhutan, Bangladesh and Maldives are showing improvements. The experiments of Sri Lanka & Nepal have many lessons to learn.


in education ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-90
Author(s):  
Melanie D. Janzen

Teacher education programs in Canada—by the nature of their geographic locations and composition of their faculty and students—remain largely urban centric in their values and programs. Yet, teacher education programs are responsible for preparing teachers for rural, remote, and northern teaching experiences. In this study, I explore the experiences of teacher candidates who participated in a northern practicum option developed at a Western Canadian teacher education program. The purpose of this research is to examine teacher candidates’ experiences of the northern practicum option in order to inform our northern practicum option, as well as to contribute to the development of other northern practicum offerings in Canadian teacher education programs. Drawing on place-conscious theorizing, I explore the ways in which the northern practicum experiences have the potential to disrupt settler-colonial narratives, to develop understandings of place-based curriculum and pedagogies, and to support democratic and ethical approaches to education.     Keywords: Northern Canada; practicum; teacher education; qualitative research; place-consciousness


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-37
Author(s):  
Chin-Wen Chien

Teachers should adjust their curriculum and instructional practice to meet the needs of individual learners, because one size does not fit all (Kaplan, Rogers, &Webster, 2008; Tomlinson, 2003). This study focuses on the implementation of differentiated instruction in products, “tiered assignments,” in a Children’s English class in a teacher education program in Taiwan. The study concludes that 52 college students held a positive attitude toward these tiered assignments and that they learned theories and instructional strategies not only from lectures and tasks in the university classes but also from completing different choices. Another important finding is that participants’ choice of completing these assignments is based on the level of easy of the assignments. Two suggestions are made to effectively implement differentiated instruction in products in teacher education programs in terms of explicitly modeling and explaining differentiated instruction in products and designing tiered assignments based on the levels of challenge as well as learners’ readiness, interests and profiles.


2016 ◽  
pp. 1424-1437
Author(s):  
Nwachukwu Prince Ololube ◽  
Nanighe Baldwin Major ◽  
Peter James Kpolovie

In this chapter we highlighted the impact of the current economic and political dispensation in Nigeria and its impact on teacher education programs and the means of enhancing teacher education in the Niger Delta region. This paper is a conceptual and methodological breakthrough in Nigeria's academic landscape where qualitative and quantitative experiences highlight issues that are pertinent to teacher education program in the Niger Delta. The chapter proposed that the Niger Delta region's and the entire Nigeria's teacher education programs would be advanced if the component parts of the current economic and political disposition are resolved. This chapter contends that the Niger Delta region has the potential to address the challenges currently faced in the region such as social disruption (violence threat), poverty, hunger, disease, conflict, marginalization, and the achievement and improvement for effective teacher education programs. This chapter is of the immense judgment that successfully addressing the challenges currently faced in the Niger Delta region, teacher education programs will greatly improve qualitatively and quantitatively.


2011 ◽  
pp. 2272-2287
Author(s):  
Hilary Wilder

This case study explores the use of online distance learning technology to bring an international component to a teacher education program. By converting a course in the program into a fully online offering, the author was able include students from Namibian teacher education programs in the class along with her own students from New Jersey. The objective was to give all students a chance to interact with peers that they would not otherwise have the chance to meet, and to explore differences and commonalities in their respective education systems. This case study describes the pitfalls and successes in meeting that objective.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gina M. Doepker

AbstractThere has been considerable attention to multicultural education and how to effectively integrate it into teacher education programs so that it helps teachers to be attentive to and effective for the economically, culturally, and racially diverse student populace. This article will focus on my personal journey with multicultural teacher education and literacy education. There will be a discussion of multicultural or diverse-oriented teacher education with a focus on the challenges as well as the potentials that face these teacher preparation programs. In addition, there will be a discussion of current educational trends in schools as evidence that demands the need for stronger multicultural teacher education programs. Finally, an existing teacher education program will be presented that has an emphasis on multicultural teacher training, as well as suggest approaches for building a research-based multicultural teacher education program.


Author(s):  
Nwachukwu Prince Ololube ◽  
Nanighe Baldwin Major ◽  
Peter James Kpolovie

In this chapter we highlighted the impact of the current economic and political dispensation in Nigeria and its impact on teacher education programs and the means of enhancing teacher education in the Niger Delta region. This paper is a conceptual and methodological breakthrough in Nigeria's academic landscape where qualitative and quantitative experiences highlight issues that are pertinent to teacher education program in the Niger Delta. The chapter proposed that the Niger Delta region's and the entire Nigeria's teacher education programs would be advanced if the component parts of the current economic and political disposition are resolved. This chapter contends that the Niger Delta region has the potential to address the challenges currently faced in the region such as social disruption (violence threat), poverty, hunger, disease, conflict, marginalization, and the achievement and improvement for effective teacher education programs. This chapter is of the immense judgment that successfully addressing the challenges currently faced in the Niger Delta region, teacher education programs will greatly improve qualitatively and quantitatively.


in education ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy Sanford ◽  
Lorna Williams ◽  
Tim Hopper ◽  
Catherine McGregor

Although teacher education programs across the country are currently under significant review and reform, little attention is paid to the importance of Indigenous principles that could inform or transform them. Attention to Indigenous principles such as those presented in this paper can, we believe, serve to decolonize teacher education, offering programs that enable greater success for a wider array of diverse students, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, and address their needs and interests. The intent of this paper is to draw attention to the ways Indigenous principles offered by Lil’wat scholar Lorna Williams have influenced one teacher education program, and to share some of the ways that these principles have been enacted within the program. We offer our perspectives as narrative accounts of what we have done in our courses and in our teacher education program that reflect the principles explained in the paper. We do not feel we can express this perspective any different other than to recount shifts made and our observations as educators. These could be expressed as case studies but this would only be paying lip service to claiming a methodology that was not really followed. We offer this paper more as a sharing of narratives drawn to the indigenous principles. Authenticity comes from our common perceptions from different perspectives in the program.Keywords: Indigenous Knowledge; Teacher Education; Decolonization


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-154
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Karimi ◽  
Ebrahim Fakhri Alamdari ◽  
Mehrshad Ahmadian

The present study attempted to give insight into the features of an effective English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher education program by exploring student teachers’ beliefs, ideas, and the challenges they encounter during their teacher education program. The data were collected through several semi-structured focus group interview sessions with a total number of forty-one BA, MA, and PhD students studying teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) at university. The qualitative grounded theory design was used to analyze the data, and the findings of the study were corroborated with interpretations obtained from the informal observation of several university classes in a TEFL teacher education program in Iran. The inductive analysis of the data resulted in developing the following categories: the challenge of developing the ability to move back and forth from theory to practice,  the struggle to establish a professional identity, the quest for the ‘self’, less-practiced reflective practice, and the missing connection between teacher education programs and schools. The discussion concerning the challenges and issues culminated in implications for EFL teacher education programs through which they can take the issues that student teachers normally experience into account and help them pave the way for an effective EFL teacher education program.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-56
Author(s):  
Tonje Molyneux

A quality education for all children and youth is required for the continued advancement of modern civilization. But this outcome is threatened by a growing international teacher shortage. Increased rates of teacher attrition and reduced rates of enrollment in teacher education programs are driving this shortage; however, research suggests that teacher candidates’ lack of preparation for the emotional labour of teaching is another important contributing factor, one which can be addressed in teacher education programs. The aim of this paper is to explore this problem and surface potential solutions. First, the social historical context of teaching is explored as an entry point to inquiry into this topic. Next, through discussion of the emotional nature of teaching, the thesis that teacher candidates must be prepared to handle the emotional labour of teaching during their teacher education program is advanced. Then, a review of the literature surfaces three key content areas which if addressed during teacher preparation can help prepare teacher candidates to handle the emotional labour of teaching: identity development, emotions and teaching, and social-emotional competence. Finally, these components are included in a theory of change for a new program that could be integrated into existing teacher education programs.


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