This paper reports on an ongoing research programme designed to investigate the opportunities for, and barriers to, pre-service teachers' growth as practitioners of developmentally appropriate practice for children aged 5-11. The analysis is framed by a Vygotskian cultural-historical perspective and points to personal, cultural and structural…

Mentors play a key role in developing preservice teachers for their chosen careers, and providing feedback appears as a significant relational interaction between the mentor and mentee that assists in guiding the mentee's practices. But what are mentors' perspectives on providing feedback to their mentees? In this case study, eight…

In an era of recurring teacher shortages, Flanders struggles with a considerable proportion of teacher education graduates who do not enter the teaching profession. This study identifies the predictors of teacher education graduates' choice on job entry (teaching profession or not). A prospective research design with two data collection…

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the efficacy of using ePortfolios to enhance career skills for newly qualified teachers (NQTs). The context is the final phase of a longitudinal action research project investigating whether an ePortfolio, created as a pre-service teacher to evidence a digital story of developing professional identity, could…

This study examined the effect of microteaching on pre-service teachers' sense of self-efficacy in teaching using a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design. The sample of the study consisted of 70 pre-service teachers on a special education teacher preparation programme. The pre-service teachers in the experimental group were exposed to…

Universities in Germany show an increasing need for specific information on professional demands encountered and addressed by graduates training to become teachers. To provide information on demands and abilities in teaching graduates, a specialised teacher module was developed in the framework of the German Cooperation Project for Graduate Tracer…

This study investigates the sources of mentors' knowledge about teaching. A mixed-method research design combining quantitative and qualitative data collection methods was used to examine this area. The findings of the study suggest that: mentors' knowledge about teaching is practice orientated and emerges from their professional…

This research focuses on experienced Estonian teachers' pre-service school practice. Each one of the 19 teachers interviewed in this study had over 25?years of professional experience. We were interested in their recollections of their pre-service school practice and the impact that their experience had on them professionally. The results…

Literature shows that feedback that is specific, immediate and goal-oriented is effective on (pre-service) teachers' performance. Synchronous coaching gives this kind of feedback. Due to immediateness of feedback, pre-service teachers can suffer from cognitive load. We propose a set of standardised keywords through which this performance…

There is much current debate about the purpose and usefulness of educational research and the perceived communication gap between teaching professionals and academic researchers. UK government intervention into initial teacher education has in recent decades contributed to this divide by favouring school-based training. The most common route into…

The purpose of this research was to explore trainer questioning strategies which aimed to scaffold development and learning in teacher training feedback sessions. Research was conducted with a group of Turkish pre-service English teacher trainees at an English-medium university in Turkey. Findings include a categorisation of different question…

A group of students studying to become mathematics teachers were asked to comment on the tutor feedback they received during teaching practice (TP) and to offer suggestions aimed at improving this feedback. Analysis of the written data--which was collected through emails--suggests the need for: (i) all TP tutors to provide good quality feedback;…

This paper examines the influence of life histories and apprenticeship of observation on the formation of student teachers' idealised identities. The life histories of 15 student teachers are decoded. Through eliciting from the student teachers the teacher they wish to be, the paper focuses on the interplay between the personal histories and ideal…

The incorporation of self- and peer-assessment and feedback has significant potential as a pedagogical strategy to promote deep learning in project based coursework. This study examined the impact of a deeper approach to learning on pre-service teachers' critical thinking and metacognitive skills. It also examined the impact on student learning…

Despite preliminary findings that preparing teachers for rural positions is of great importance in Turkey's conditions, little has been reported regarding the measures that need to be addressed in order to effectively prepare teachers for remote areas. In response to this gap, the present study aimed to provide some preliminary views about the…