Section archive - Preservice Teachers

This article examines the development of reflectiveness and research skills in eight pre-service teachers, through their participation in a funded research project to develop the handwriting of children with literacy problems. The authors argue that this project is an example of evidence-based practice, which identified that it is the creation of the evidence which is important and the shared professional involvement with compelling outcomes for pupils which develops teachers as thinkers, not simply technicians. The experience of reflection and discussion about a shared topic has the potential to develop pedagogical thinking and a profound concern for the results and impact of research.

The goal of this study was to examine how pre-service teachers with learning disabilities (LD) perceive their professional training during their first years of Teacher College and whether perception will change during the course of the first term of their undergraduate studies. The findings reveal that the pre-service teachers with learning disabilities had unique perceptions and needs as well as common perceptions of pre-service teachers during their training practice.

The study focused on the insights preservice teachers gained from working closely beside one emergent writer. The authors report on six focus cases and identify five cross-case themes—describing preservice teachers who (a) approached young children’s efforts to compose texts with deep appreciation regardless of the child’s level of development; (b) deeply valued the time spent near a young writer and described their own learning as emanating both from the writer and the writing; (c) gained an understanding of how literacy emerges/develops, and made efforts to take up the discourse of literacy teachers; (d) talked sensitively about the importance of their teaching moves—the “just right” invitations or steps that enabled children to take risks; and (e) valued the purposeful writing that emanated from children’s interests and lives and motivated them to write.

The purpose of the study was to understand how practice in multigrade classrooms in villages located in rural areas in Turkey might influence preservice elementary teachers’ identity. The results indicated a positive change in teachers’ willingness to engage in the profession. The practicum is very important in providing preservice teachers with experience in this type of classroom, as well as in developing a set of role expectations and positive attitudes towards multigrade teaching. The results indicated that these experiences helped students to recognise new institutional roles and modify their expectations, as well as creating positive attitudes towards multigrade schooling and the realities of rural life.