Assessing Teacher Candidates' Professional Competence for Evaluating Teacher Education Programs

Author(s):  
Urban Fraefel ◽  
Kerstin Bäuerlein ◽  
Antje Barabasch

The conception of teacher preparation programs in German-speaking countries usually rests on a largely normative set of professional competencies to be acquired by teacher candidates. The fact that this cluster of competencies is quite complex entails the considerable challenge of finding adequate procedures for the assessment at the end of the training. Valid and reliable information on professional competencies of teacher candidates can only be obtained by analyzing their actual teaching performance in the classroom. This chapter discusses theoretical assumptions of current assessment practices, a variety of methodological approaches, current developments, and implications for teacher education programs. A special focus is on the use of video portfolios as an assessment tool in the final stage of teacher preparation programs. The results of such assessments can provide a solid base for answering the question of whether the training program has managed to achieve its major objective, namely to qualify the candidates to teach successfully.

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angus Shiva Mungal

This qualitative study describes the development of hybrid teacher preparation programs that emerged as a result of a “forced” partnership between university-based and alternative teacher preparation programs in New York City. This hybrid experiment was a short-lived, yet innovative by-product of a somewhat pragmatic arrangement between Teach for America, NYC Teaching Fellows and various universities to meet state requirements for credentialization. The institutions benefited from the arrangement but noteworthy here is the documentation of how the teacher education programs informed each other and potentially created a richer educational experience for teacher candidates than either of the programs had alone. With the development of Relay, a stand-alone, alternate graduate school, the partnership, despite its early promise, was ended. With all of its challenges, this forced partnership was characterized by creative and competitive tensions, rather than what ultimately became two parallel teacher education systems largely isolated and in competition with each other. 


Author(s):  
Josh Harrower ◽  
Cathi Draper Rodríguez

Student teacher supervision has been an important part of teacher preparation almost since the inception of teacher education programs. The goal of this type of supervision is to strengthen the skills of the pre-service teacher. Providing this type of observation can be difficult for teacher preparation programs and university faculty. Many factors, including large numbers of students in teacher education programs and student placements in remote schools, contribute to this. In order to make the most effective use of faculty and pre-service teacher time, other options for providing this support need to be explored. The rapidly developing field of mobile technology (e.g., iPads, iPhones, Smart Phones) can be used to facilitate student teaching observations. This chapter discusses how teacher preparation programs can implement candidate field supervision using video conferencing via mobile technology to increase the ability to conduct observations in schools and in a more efficient manner. It also explores the security of video conferencing applications and the issues related to using video conferencing in special education classrooms, where student confidentiality is heightened.


Author(s):  
Jarrett D. Moore

This chapter advocates for the (re)framing of critical thinking from a skill to a disposition and proposes a framework whereby teacher education programs can create space for pre-service teachers to develop a critical disposition. By studying the context of American education and schooling and their corporate interest, pre-service teachers along with teacher educators can start to unravel the discourse and power inherent in American education. Understanding how these concepts lead to hegemony can begin the process of creating a counterhegemonic movement among American educators that includes the reclaiming of the purpose of education, raising pertinent epistemological question, and practicing critical self-reflection. The final part of the new framework for developing critical dispositions is a reintroduction of broader theoretical concerns into teacher preparation programs.


2016 ◽  
pp. 726-739
Author(s):  
Josh Harrower ◽  
Cathi Draper Rodríguez

Student teacher supervision has been an important part of teacher preparation almost since the inception of teacher education programs. The goal of this type of supervision is to strengthen the skills of the pre-service teacher. Providing this type of observation can be difficult for teacher preparation programs and university faculty. Many factors, including large numbers of students in teacher education programs and student placements in remote schools, contribute to this. In order to make the most effective use of faculty and pre-service teacher time, other options for providing this support need to be explored. The rapidly developing field of mobile technology (e.g., iPads, iPhones, Smart Phones) can be used to facilitate student teaching observations. This chapter discusses how teacher preparation programs can implement candidate field supervision using video conferencing via mobile technology to increase the ability to conduct observations in schools and in a more efficient manner. It also explores the security of video conferencing applications and the issues related to using video conferencing in special education classrooms, where student confidentiality is heightened.


2020 ◽  
Vol 102 (3) ◽  
pp. 60-61
Author(s):  
Joshua P. Starr

Enrollment in teacher education programs has been in decline, and school districts are receiving fewer applications for open teaching positions. PDK CEO Josh Starr considers how to stem this decline by presenting teaching as just one part of a pathway into changing the world through education. Although many students enter teacher preparation programs because they envision themselves making a career in the classroom, others tend to be activists who are looking for a way to serve their community. Teacher preparation programs might be able to draw more of these activist students into the profession by treating the classroom as one step in a larger education profession.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-87
Author(s):  
Andrew D. Colgan

Many symposia and special journal issues over the last several decades have been devoted to concerns over the decline of philosophy in teacher education programs. I pursued an answer for my doctoral project and found institutional explanations are rarely invoked in the “decline literature.” I have sketched here the theory, and have shown it to be equally applicable to the last several decades of this literature. I argue that institutional organizational theory (IOT) shows how teacher education institutions have changed over time in a way that ultimately rendered the environment less and less hospitable to philosophy of education curriculum and faculty. Particular attention is paid to the educational context of Ontario, Canada, but I also include the wider American and British decline literature. In the final pages I offer de-institutionalizing solutions that, if realized, could provide a new soil in which philosophy and other humanities fields could take root again in teacher preparation programs.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marla S. Sanders ◽  
Kathryn Haselden ◽  
Randi M. Moss

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to promote discussion of how teacher education programs can better prepare teacher candidates to teach for social justice in ethnically and culturally diverse schools. The authors suggest that teacher education programs must develop teacher candidates’ capacity to teach for social justice through preparation programs that encourage critical reflection and awareness of one’s beliefs, perceptions, and professional practice. The authors ask the following questions: How can teacher educators provide structures in professional preparation programs that will produce reflective practitioners? How might we prepare teacher candidates who are constantly thinking about how they perceive their students and their families and how those perceptions affect the way they relate to students? Through a discussion of five case scenarios, the authors discuss prior research on preparing teachers for culturally diverse schools and offer suggestions for improving professional education programs.


Author(s):  
James Falco ◽  
Meredith Riddle ◽  
Gregory Duffy ◽  
Tracy Mulvaney ◽  
Lauren Niecz

The primary responsibility for training pre-service teachers previously fell solely on the shoulders of university teacher-preparation programs, with a short field experience component in partner P-12 districts. As research continues to support the value of increased clinical practice in P-12 schools when training pre-service teachers, the responsibility is becoming shared equally between university teacher education programs and P-12 school districts. This chapter describes three innovative programs implemented by P-12 schools through strong partnerships with Monmouth University's teacher education and Provisional Teacher Preparation program. These strong partnerships afford students the opportunity to receive direct instruction in P-12 settings with the support of curriculum, mentors and professional development. The partnership with Lafayette Mills School (the last of three initiatives discussed) was also awarded, along with the university's other PDSs, the National Association of Professional Development Schools Distinguished Partnership award in 2017.


Author(s):  
Carolyn Haviland Obel-Omia

Teacher education programs are increasingly responsible for preparing teachers who use technology fluently across curricula. Future teachers must define literacy more broadly than they have in the past to include digital modes of reading and writing. Experience with digital tools in literacy methodology courses provides opportunities for teacher candidates to reflect critically on these tools, preparing teachers to use technology to its advantage in elementary school classrooms. This chapter describes four digital practices designed to engage teacher candidates in participating in and reflecting on authentic reading and writing to develop next-generation literacy teachers. These practices include examples of activities that can be adapted to both teacher preparation and elementary education classrooms.


Author(s):  
Patricia Dickenson ◽  
Cynthia Sistek-Chandler

Teacher Education programs worldwide are engaging in a digital conversation around best practices for supporting and teaching teacher candidates in the creation of digital content for a 21st century blended classroom. This chapter examines the status of teacher preparation in technology and explores current trends for instructors of the NextGen educator. Further the authors share how 21 Century Skills and global competencies among pre-service teachers can be applied in an online learning environment in teacher education programs.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document