Search results for: Attitudes of teachers

The purpose of this article is to describe a case study explored how a hybrid community of practice comprised of four pre-K mentors and a university program coordinator supported the development of new understandings about how to effectively supervise preservice teachers. The mentor discovered that participating in a community of practice contributed to changes in their thinking not only about their current mentoring situations, but also about guiding novice teachers as a professional calling. Furthermore, they began this study with preconceived notions of what it meant to be mentors that were somewhat black and white. However, they left feeling overwhelmed by the knowledge that mentoring is a complex act characterized by dual responsibilities of being teacher educators and early childhood teachers.

This study examined the influence of technology-based internships on teachers’ instructional decision-making during their first year in the classroom. The findings indicated that the technology internship exposed participants to such realities as time and classroom management, adaptation to available technology resources, and introducing new tools to students.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the efficacy of using ePortfolios to enhance career skills for newly qualified teachers. Specifically, this paper focuses on a new area of ePortfolio-related research in teacher education; the transition from university into employment. The findings indicate a changing purpose of the ePortfolio from training to the workplace, an increasing strength of ownership as part of the transition, and empowerment in becoming a teacher. Secondary findings demonstrate an increasing acceptance amongst head teachers regarding the usefulness of the ePortfolio in pre-service teacher education and in the continuing professional development of qualified teachers.

This paper examined tensions encountered by 182 beginning teachers during their professional identity development. The article also explored the feelings that accompanied these tensions and the ways they tried to cope with these. The findings reveal that tensions that are often mentioned by beginning teachers concerned conflicts between what they desire and what is possible in reality. Female teachers reported more tensions than their male colleagues, while final-year student teachers did not differ from first-year in-practice teachers in the number of tensions they experienced. Tensions were often accompanied by feelings of helplessness, anger or an awareness of shortcomings.