In the context of international systemic reforms promoting professional standards for teachers and inclusivity of diverse students in schools, this paper presents and demonstrates conceptual means by which educators can critically respond to the uncomfortable couplet of standardisation and difference. This is primarily achieved by theorising…

This study draws from theories of attachment to examine prospective teachers' reflections on the role of the parent in their childhood memories in shaping the imagination of their future selves. As part of a larger qualitative study, we collected and analyzed the memory narratives of teacher candidates and undergraduate students preparing to work…

Available evidence indicates that teacher candidates undergo shifts in beliefs throughout the process of learning to teach, and various contextual realities contribute to reshaping their general teaching beliefs. The concept of epistemic beliefs is key to understanding teacher development as cross-cultural teacher education becomes increasingly…

This research examines media accounts of teachers in Canada and the United States who were fired or forced from their Catholic schools because they identified as lesbian, highlighting the reality of discrimination in Catholic schools, particularly egregious in their contradiction of non-discrimination legislation. Caught between the religious…

Based on previous work related to pre-service teachers' self-efficacy for literacy instruction, this study examined their knowledge of literacy instruction and classroom-level contextual factors (i.e. coursework and fieldwork experiences). Pre-service teachers from two distinct contexts (Canada and USA) were given surveys ("TSELI" and…

The purpose of our study is to delve into the education gap between the United States and some countries by examining the literacy and digital problem-solving skills of American educators, and comparing their performance with that of their peers from Canada, Finland, and Japan. We use PIAAC data collected by the Organization for Economic…

As the world becomes more interconnected, educators have opportunities to collaborate across cultures. Using the theory of educational cosmopolitanism and the pedagogy of collaborative inquiry, this collective case study explores how Chinese and American teachers perceive the assets and challenges of conducting collaborative inquiry with their…

Teaching quality impacts classroom instruction. Teaching is difficult, demanding and draining work; teaching in urban environs exacerbates the difficulties, the demands and the complexities of teaching. Through the eyes of an assistant superintendent, charged with implementing a new vision for literacy teaching and learning, this manuscript…

This narrative inquiry examines how one Latina novice teacher articulates and implements a vision of teaching for social justice within the contexts of her teacher education program and her practice as a bilingual resource teacher. Informed by Latino/a critical race (LatCrit) theory, the analysis traces connections between stories of self and…

In the United States, an increasing number of new teachers are being prepared through alternative, or early entry, routes into teaching. These new forms of teacher preparation raise important questions about how and in what ways candidates are being prepared, particularly in key areas such as classroom management. To shed light upon these…

Many teacher education programs in the United States (US) face increasing demands to better prepare teachers for entry into and retention in urban schools. Through a US Department of Education grant, a university-school partnership was formed to develop a community-based model of teacher preparation that placed pre-service teachers in urban…

The increase in the number of English language learners (ELLs) in US public schools has been well documented. In just a 10 year period between 1990 and 2000, the enrollment of students with limited proficiency in English increased by 105%, compared to a 12% overall enrollment gain. This places increased pressure on teacher educators to prepare…

This paper reports on an action research project designed to explore the complexities of pre-service mathematics teacher resistance to social justice issues. Research on equity and mathematics education has indicated that such resistance seems particularly strong for mathematics teachers. Twelve pre-service mathematics teachers participated in a…

This article describes a year-long professional development project that brought together a group of high school English teachers around multicultural literature they would be teaching to their students. The teachers all taught together in a culturally and economically diverse high school context in the USA. One objective of the project was to…