Pre-service and beginning teachers’ professional identity and its relation to dropping out of the profession

Professional identity creation: examining the development of beginning preservice teachers¿ understanding of their work as teachers

With the increasing concern about the high attrition rate among beginning teachers, it is essential that we come to a better understanding of why teachers leave the profession. This study explored differences between leavers and stayers in terms of the process of their resilience responses. Major psychological factors such as value, self-efficacy, beliefs and emotions were foregrounded to understand how leavers and stayers are similar or different in negotiating and interpreting external environments. This study employed semi-structured interviews for seven leavers and seven stayers who had teaching experiences of less than five years. The findings of this study showed that both leavers and stayers had intrinsic interests in working as a teacher. Also, both groups identified similar challenges of working as a teacher, such as classroom management and effective delivery of lessons. However, leavers showed weaker self-efficacy beliefs than stayers, who tended to get more support and help from school adminis...

Why do some beginning teachers leave the school, and others stay? Understanding teacher resilience through psychological lenses

Educational Renewal: Better Teachers, Better Schools.

This article describes the development, validation process, and construction of an instrument to assess a teacher’s level of reflection. It discusses the need for a commonly shared language to categorize the various levels involved in becoming a critically reflective teacher. The research design for the creation of the Survey of reflective practice: A tool for assessing development as a reflective practitioner initially called for identifying individuals who had conducted research on the development of reflective practice and then soliciting their expert judgment in establishing specific descriptors to define levels of reflective practice utilizing an online interactive format. The aim of this assessment tool is to provide a way to gauge how a prospective or practicing teacher is progressing as a reflective practitioner to serve as a vehicle for facilitating the development of structures to mediate higher order reflection.

Development of a tool to assess teachers’ level of reflective practice

Models of learning to teach recognize the important relationship between university and school settings. The roles that educators in each setting play in the development of effective beginning teachers are not discrete. Rather they complement and support one another. Building upon existing literature, and utilizing recent data, this paper challenges teacher educators to consider how pre-service teacher core beliefs and perceptions affect the dynamics of learning to teach and the establishment of a teacher identity. To facilitate these, it is argued that a consultative mentoring model that acknowledges individuality is more effective in the growth of teacher identity than the more traditional supervision model that focuses mainly on socialization. Reflective practice is promoted as crucial and its development is the responsibility of all teacher educators— both at university and in the schools.

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Becoming a Teacher: Encouraging Development of Teacher Identity through Reflective Practice.

The success of professional experience for preschool preservice teacher learning is valued and based very much on the relationship developed between all stakeholders. What motivates the preschool-b...

Mentoring preservice teachers in the preschool setting: perceptions of the role

A constant dilemma for teacher education in Australia and overseas is the difficulty of finding sufficient numbers of placements for preservice teachers to complete the professional experience/student teaching component of their course. Statements related to quantity of placements gain both public and professional attention while less attention is given to the quality of learning. Investigations as to why experienced teachers are reluctant to participate demonstrate that there are more complex issues than the superficial focus on numbers. They demand attention by those involved in university–school relationships. This paper proposes that by viewing the partnership from a wider perspective, concerns related to professional experience can be addressed, at the same time offering expanded opportunities for teacher professional development. Reflecting upon observations of current practices and the analysis of perspectives articulated in educational literature, the paper further proposes that a committ...

Improving Partnerships between Schools and Universities: Professional Learning with Benefits beyond Preservice Teacher Education.

The composition of today’s school classrooms is now more diverse in a world of greater global mobility and communication. For teachers, this adds further complexity to the task of ensuring each child has the most appropriate opportunity to learn. This paper posits that future teachers are more able to cater for cultural diversity by developing broader cultural perspectives than just a local one and are therefore better prepared both personally and professionally. This study investigates the engagement of undergraduate preservice teachers in an experience where they are not only required to explicitly focus upon the aspects of their professional practice, but are also challenged to reflect upon their personal development through exposure to a linguistically and culturally different professional setting. They are challenged to think differently. The analysis of the preservice teachers’ perceptions demonstrates that an overseas professional placement has a significant and meaningful impact upon their...

Enhancing multicultural perspectives in the formation of preservice teachers through immersion in a culturally different context

Welcome to this special edition of Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education. Professional experience (or practicum, or field experience) is universally accepted in the teaching profession as integ...

Jackie Walkington

Papers

Becoming a Teacher: Encouraging Development of Teacher Identity through Reflective Practice.

Mentoring preservice teachers in the preschool setting: perceptions of the role

Improving Partnerships between Schools and Universities: Professional Learning with Benefits beyond Preservice Teacher Education.

Enhancing multicultural perspectives in the formation of preservice teachers through immersion in a culturally different context

Teacher educators: the leaders in work-integrated learning