scholarly journals Spirituality and Mindfulness Practices of Early Childhood and Elementary Preservice Teachers: A Snapshot

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-221
Author(s):  
Kelsey L. Evans-Amalu ◽  
Thomas A. Lucey ◽  
Miranda Lin

This paper describes the results of a research survey that interpreted the patterns of mindfulness and spirituality within a convenience sample of preservice teachers at a Midwest teacher education institution.  Mindfulness and spiritualty represent topics of developing interest in teacher education that serve to increase candidate focus and revision of practice.  Respondents completed a survey as part of a semester’s project that interpreted the results of a semester-long mindfulness intervention on student mindfulness and spiritual attitudes and practices. The findings determined that participants had senses of mindfulness and self the emphasized themselves, and their external worlds, let weak connection with a higher spiritual entity.  Significant differences were observed between early childhood and elementary majors.

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Chong

Purpose – Quality assurance and management is vital for the continuous improvement of the content, delivery and development of teacher education programmes. This paper seeks to explore theoretical issues and ideas in assessing the quality preparation of teachers in the Singapore context. Design/methodology/approach – An academic quality framework provides an architectural approach to optimizing quality processes, transitioning from a disjointed set of quality processes to an integrated workflow based upon established best practices. Findings – The architectural framework provided a systematic focus to develop and sustain the academic quality of the teacher development programmes. Quality change and developments occur through collaboration and learning. The emphasis is on quality management as a process-oriented strategy. Originality/value – There is a shift in paradigm from traditional models of programme evaluation to a systems approach that incorporate multi-dimensional models to impact administration, teaching and research in a teacher education institution. Thus Singapore's teacher education quality management should be considered beyond a set of measurement tools towards a systematic, scheduled and focused examination as a whole, as a process-oriented strategy.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mr. Parmanand Barodiya ◽  
Mr. Saurveer Singh ◽  
Mrs. Anupam Choudhary

Professional development to incorporate ICTs into teaching and learning is an ongoing process. Teacher education curriculum needs to update this knowledge and skills as the school curriculum change. The teachers need to learn to teach with digital technologies, even though many of them have not been taught to do so. The aim of teacher training in this regard can be either teacher education in ICTs or teacher education through ICTs. A teacher‘s professional development is central to the overall change process in education. In planning the integration of technology in Teacher education it is important for teacher education, Institution to understand the knowledge and skills necessary for teachers to effectively use ICT in their instructions. Teachers need technical assistance to use and maintain technology. In this paper discuses to study of Teacher education, to know the Significance of ICT in teacher education and to provide the some Suggestions of teacher education.


2017 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Uzma Parveen Et al.,

Teacher education is a professionally oriented activity in the sense that the skills, attitudes, and knowledge provided herein, have a direct bearing on the teaching assignment of teachers. The criticism of recent years on existing teacher education program is adequate testimony that we have so far not fully succeeded to bring available research findings to bear upon the education of the teachers. It was a survey type of study which required the collection of data from the prospective teachers, who had gone through the practicum experience. The data comprised of the views of prospective teachers about practicum. A convenient sample of 400 prospective teachers, from the institution of three universities, having practicum experience was selected. It includes 200 prospective teachers of B.Ed. and 200 of M.A Education program with equal numbers from both genders. M.A Education prospective teachers were from AIOU and Punjab University, whereas B.Ed. were from AIOU and the University of Education. The prospective teachers viewed that less cooperation and mutual understanding exist among faculty members and cooperative teachers. The teacher education institution and its faculty should develop a good understanding and proper liaison with the staff of the cooperative schools for proper planning conduct and evaluation activities of practicum programs.


Author(s):  
Herma Jonker ◽  
Virginie März ◽  
Joke Voogt

This study offers insights into the processes that play a role in realising curriculum flexibility. Curriculum flexibility is conceptualised in terms of adaptability and accessibility of the curriculum to students’ needs and capabilities. To realise curriculum flexibility, the teacher education institution in this study designed a blended curriculum with face-to-face and online components. This flexible curriculum aimed at increasing student enrolment and allowing for variety in students’ graduation portfolios. Through semi-structured interviews with 10 teacher educators, conditions that could foster or hinder the realisation of flexibility were investigated. Results indicate that different contextual, teacher-, and student-related conditions were perceived to affect (further) curriculum flexibility. Furthermore, teacher educators identified several challenges related to these influential conditions, which were recognised as tensions. Based on a discussion of these findings, recommendations for research and practice are given.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Cristina Miralles-Cardona ◽  
Esther Chiner ◽  
María Cristina Cardona-Moltó​

Western European countries have made impressive gender equality (GE) progress in education during the last few decades. Unfortunately, the implementation of gender mainstreaming (GM) in higher education has not been satisfactory. This paper describes a survey-based research study designed to explore student teachers’ perceptions of training for GE in teacher education (TE) using the Sensitive Assessment for Gender Equality (SAGE) index. The study firstly aims to analyse the factor invariance across degree of the SAGE and secondly tries to describe the status of GM implementation in teacher education programmes from students’ perspectives. Data were collected from 398 student teachers (84% female) aged 21.44, enrolled on two TE programmes from a public higher education institution in the Autonomous Region of Valencia (Spain). Using single and multi-group CFA the study revealed that the proposed three-factor structure of the SAGE fitted well to early childhood and elementary school student teachers’ data, thus suggesting equivalence between its components in both samples. Early childhood students scored significantly higher than elementary school student teachers in their reported perceptions of gender equality training and awareness of gender inequalities. Results will be displayed in terms of identifying institutional and curricular needs for GE education practices as findings reveal a clear demand for change.


2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elson Szeto ◽  
Annie Yan Ni Cheng

This case study examines preservice teachers’ integration of technology in teaching various subject domains. It aims to gain in-depth understandings of preservice teachers’ pedagogical patterns for teaching through the theoretical lens of technological pedagogical and content knowledge. Multiple data sources were collected in a teacher education institution in Hong Kong. The teachers’ pedagogical patterns vary depending on their instructional decisions affected by individual preferences, various subject cultures, and individual school settings. The patterns reflected various forms of technological pedagogical and content knowledge development in teaching different subjects. Implications for preparation of preservice teachers’ pedagogy, teacher preparation, and development are also discussed.


Author(s):  
Elizabeth Ann Ethridge ◽  
Vickie E. Lake ◽  
Amber H. Beisly

Research has indicated that teachers typically do not view themselves as advocates for many reasons such as fear of personal and professional risk (Peters & Reid, 2009). Participants include both preservice teachers and graduates of an early childhood teacher education program. This chapter addresses how the program utilized intentional assignments and group and individual scaffolding as preservice teachers moved from experiencing service learning to pure advocacy. Through a mixed methods study, preservice teachers began to see themselves as agents of change with increased confidence and sense of power. These transformations continued as graduates of the program reported they were still engaging in advocacy.


Author(s):  
Debra R. Sprague ◽  
Maria Katradis

This mixed-method study explored a cohort of 18 preservice elementary teachers' perceptions of technology and their abilities to integrate technology in their teaching. Data sources included blog postings, a confidence survey, lessons plans and observations. Results showed a disconnect between the blog postings and confidence survey (their perceptions) and their lessons plans and observations (their abilities). Five case studies were examined, using the TPACK framework, to determine where the disconnect was occurring. Although Technical Knowledge seemed to be an issue for some, the majority of the preservice teachers struggled with Pedagogical Knowledge. Suggestions for how to address this issue are included. Implications for teacher education are discussed.


Author(s):  
Sandra Browning

Research has demonstrated an interest in the relationship between teachers’ questioning strategies and children’s ability to reason and learn (Baroody & Ginsburg, 1990; Buschman, 2001; Fennema, Franke, Carpenter & Carey, 1993). Helping preservice teachers develop effective questioning strategies is an important component of a teacher education program. This session describes an exploration designed to determine if EC-6 preservice teachers can (a) recognize effective questioning strategies when observing inservice teachers and (b) use Hess’s Cognitive Rigor Matrix to analyze the level and effectiveness of their own questioning strategies during field experiences.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document