Portfolios are widely used as instruments for assessment in initial teacher education courses. They are claimed to present a comprehensive picture of student teachers' knowledge and performance. But what type of evidence is needed to safely say that an aspiring teacher has not only grasped essential notions and concepts from the teacher education…

This article examines a collaborative study group's discussions about "revoicing," an idea from linguistics that has been identified as an important discourse strategy in the teaching of mathematics as well as other content areas. This group, made up of eight middle grades (grades 6-10) mathematics teacher-researchers (TRs), one university…

Teacher education and development takes place within an encompassing local system of education and ongoing forms of school improvement. Critical to successful teacher development when Western ideas are being adopted in other cultures is narratively linking development programmes to this local education system, such as in China, and to its…

A study using both quantitative and qualitative methods was conducted in the final year of a Bachelor of Education programme to examine the student-teachers' epistemological beliefs and conceptions of teaching. The results show that most of the student-teachers (i) strongly believed that learning effort was more important than innate ability, (ii)…

This article presents findings from a qualitative case study of a public Montessori magnet school in the United States. It focuses on two teachers' experiences, identifying how their teaching is situated in school scripts, that is; ways of speaking about teaching and learning within particular school micro-cultures. The focal teachers utilized…

This study follows one individual student teacher during a period of one single school year in which she was supported in developing "presence" while teaching. The notion of "presence" was formulated by the teacher herself, and coincides with the growing interest in this aspect in psychology, and in theories about becoming a teacher. In her…

The study of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) that is presented in this paper aims to obtain an impression of teachers' knowledge and beliefs concerning teaching evolutionary theory. The starting point of this project was the development of the Educational Reconstruction for Teacher Education model (ERTE). The PCK-study shows that teachers'…

A supportive school environment is crucial to the enhancement of student teaching experiences. This study assesses student teachers' perceptions of secondary school environments, and then relates the perceptions to their satisfaction with school experiences and teaching commitment. The results show that considerable disparities between student…

This study is an examination of syllabi from multicultural teacher education (MTE) courses taught across the United States. Using qualitative content analysis and drawing on existing typologies for multicultural education, I analyzed the theories and philosophies underlying MTE course designs. The analysis revealed that most of the courses were…

New teachers are often required to go through an induction program in order to become fully certified. Induction programs are varied and the overall picture regarding their implementation is uneven. The present paper addresses the gap between program policy and implementation regarding various aspects of the Israeli teacher induction program. Data…

Reading achievement and academic challenges of Sudanese children were investigated. Sudanese parents, and their children, and English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers were interviewed. Parents' and children's interviews were transcribed and four themes were generated from the data: Cultural Differences/Practices; Parent roles and expectations;…

This paper reports on the Video Viewing Task (VVT), an assessment designed to measure teachers' developing understanding of two reading comprehension instruction approaches: Reciprocal Teaching (Palincsar, A. S. & Brown, A. L. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring activities. "Cognition and…

In a time of high demand for qualified nurses, mass education has become the norm. This is a necessary constraint within which we have to learn to function. However, the need to educate large numbers of nurses may lead to a one-sided unimaginative reliance on the traditional lecture method, creating a learning environment that inadvertently limits…

This article discusses a teaching and research initiative in which 12 third-year undergraduate students and a lecturer worked as volunteers at a local drop-in centre for homeless men and women, and subsequently conducted 49 life history interviews there. Students were asked to keep a diary, recording field observations and reflections on stories…

This paper evaluates a case-study work-based learning (WBL) programme for final year health studies undergraduates, analysing key characteristics, and reporting benefits and tensions that result. It triangulates evidence from learners, community agencies and teachers. Cross-fertilisation of ideas between the academy and community agencies, and the…