Section archive - Preservice Teachers

This study aims to investigate how well student teachers identify common local species, their interest in and ideas about species identification, and their perceptions of the importance of species identification and biodiversity for sustainable development. The Nordic–Baltic students’ level of identification of species was tested using high quality photos of very common species. The student teachers’ ability to identify very common species was low. The authors also found that majority of students suggested that the most efficient teaching, studying and learning method is outdoor experiential learning, where learning is activated by experiences and the use of all senses in authentic environments with living plants and animals.

The aim of this study was to inquire into the professional development of French secondary- trainee teachers. The results first showed that learning in the workplace is a multifaceted process including mentoring, learning with experienced colleagues and learning by oneself from classroom teaching. Because trainee teachers tended to cite colleagues more often than mentors, it appears that workplace learning cannot be curtailed to mentoring. The authors argue that the findings of this research have allowed them to claim that there is a relationship between learning modes used for the competencies to be acquired and the content of these competencies.

In this article, the authors examined how well the final year of teacher preparation program (TPP) enables preservice teachers (PSTs) to develop a stance toward inquiry. The findings suggest that the PSTs demonstrated increased confidence related to a stance toward inquiry during their final, master’s year in of teacher preparation program (TPP). There were moderate increases in confidence in all three subscales of the PEBD survey. In addition, the findings suggest that while the TPP experiences prior to the completion of the inquiry project supported a beginning stance toward inquiry, there was value added to that stance from the inquiry project and associated master’s year experiences. The results suggest a shift from a more limited, student-oriented, immediate view of inquiry to a more holistic, professional, future-oriented view of inquiry.

This study examines special education intern teachers’ perceived levels of teaching efficacy and the important roles of teaching resources, teachers’ backgrounds, and support from school districts, teacher preparation programs, and pupils’ parents. The findings reveal that the relationship between the quality of support and the level of personal teaching efficacy (PTE) was statistically significant for intern teachers. The authors explain that teaching context in the form of lack of support from school districts, lack of resources, and heavy workloads present grave perils to teachers’ self-efficacy and can weaken the ultimate success of special education teachers. Low levels of self-efficacy combined with increased stress brought about by the emphasis on test scores can contribute to teacher burnout and high rates of attrition for special education intern teachers.