This article provides a critical exploration of the textbook-based character of Finnish educational culture. The opening section points to the need to recognize and better understand the role of textbooks in Finnish education. The next section outlines how and why textbooks have become a characterizing feature of Finnish educational culture before…

In the United States, educator preparation is regulated at the state level. Accordingly, each state education system, and even individual districts, responded uniquely to the COVID-19 pandemic. Western Governors University (WGU) compiled a list of each state regulators' response to COVID, many of which included relaxation of student teaching…

This paper explores the potential of video capture to generate a collaborative space for teacher preparation; a space in which traditional hierarchies and boundaries between actors (student teacher, school mentor and university tutor) and knowledge (academic, professional and practical) are disrupted. The study, based in a teacher education…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which a school--university mentorship programme promotes a range of growth experiences, both negative and positive, for the participating mentor teachers. The paper presents a brief description of a school--university partnership, discusses the ways in which this partnership operates, summarises…

This article contains important messages for all those with an interest in enhancing the effectiveness of professional development supported by websites. It is informed by the findings of a Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) funded evaluation of the use and effectiveness of three websites whose development the TDA had supported.…

This article investigates the learning opportunities in school subject departments for student teachers when participating in a postgraduate certificate of education (PGCE) course in England. The paper draws upon data gathered from a year-long ethnographic study to explain why learning opportunities were different for student teachers in separate…

This study focuses on critical incident analysis in initial teacher education and the part played by the professional learning conversation. A reflection framework was used to identify changes in levels of reflective practice. Conversational skills of the supervising teacher in recognising the "person" in the student teacher, and their…

Liberal studies is a new subject in the new senior secondary curriculum in Hong Kong. This study attempted to identify factors that shape liberal studies student teachers' decisions in lesson planning. Based on interview data and lesson plans developed by the student teachers, this article maintains that four factors interacted with the subject…

This paper examines the extent to which student teachers' attitudes towards inclusion change over the course of a four-year Bachelor of Education programme in Scotland. Using a mixed methods design, the study employed a quantitative survey, a qualitative interview and survey to obtain data from two cohorts of student teachers. Results indicate…

This case study worked with 80 lecturers drawn from Israeli teachers' colleges who reported that they face relatively few discipline problems; most appeared to be related to low motivation and/or dishonest behaviour. They treated each case in an ad hoc way, responded mildly and avoided imposing sanctions. It is argued that the student teachers'…

This paper introduces a study of an experimental training methodology for promoting lesson analysis skills in student teachers. This methodology is based on the idea that the quality of lesson analysis skills depends mainly on teachers' perception of relevant instructional events and on their understanding of these events. The experimental…

This article contributes to a body of work that addresses the process of "becoming a teacher" and focuses on the relationship of the higher education (HE) (theoretical) component of the teaching qualification to the (practical) placement experience that student teachers undertake. This study approaches the data through the concept of…

The diversity and complexity of the post-modern era places new and important challenges on teacher education. The crucial role that personal dispositions have for professional learning needs to be better understood and acknowledged. Teacher training programmes need to focus more on objectives such as promoting conflict literacy, self-awareness,…

Northern Ireland has invested heavily in the use of technology enhanced learning at all levels of education. Alongside this, radical changes to the school curriculum and the planned move away from academic selection towards a more inclusive system are challenging those involved in Initial Teacher Education to find ways to improve teaching and…

A group of postgraduate (secondary school) student teachers attending a teacher training course in York (England) and Stavanger (Norway) completed a questionnaire at the start (N = 174) and at the end (N = 128) of their course which explored their views regarding the factors accounting for pupil misbehavior, the frequency of pupil misbehavior, the…