Preparing Teachers: Expectations and Existing Situation at Faculties of Education

Year 2013, Volume: 4 Issue: 4, 39 - 54, 01.04.2013

Tuba Gökmenoğlu

Abstract

In-depth interviews were conducted to research the expectations of teacher educators from the prospective teachers and their opinions on the existing facilities provided by the faculty of education. Content analysis, performed on the data collected from a sample of eight teacher educators from different departments in one of the faculties of education, suggested that the expectations from teacher candidates had seven dimensions: content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, country specific realities, communication skills, teacher characteristics, scientific knowledge and research skills, and professional development. Regarding the results, implications for teacher education programs were discussed, and suggestions for further research were made

Keywords

Teacher education, teacher education programs, prospective teachers

References

• Akyeampong, K., & Stephens, D. (2002). Exploring the backgrounds and shaping of beginning student teachers in Ghana: Toward greater contextualisation of teacher education. International Journal of Educational Development, 22, 261–274.
• Ananiadou, K., & Claro, M. (2009). 21st century skills and competences for new millennium learners in OECD countries. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 41. OECD Publishing.
• Beck, C., & Kosnik, C. (2001). From cohort to community in a preservice teacher education program. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(8), 925-948.
• Bogdan, R.C., & Biklen, S.K. (1998). Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theory and methods. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
• Bronzaft, A.L. (1981). The effect of a noise abatement program on reading ability. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 1(3), 215-222.
• Cakiroglu, E., & Cakiroglu, J. (2003). Reflections on teacher education in Turkey. European Journal of Teacher Education, 26(2), 253-264.
• Cheng, Y.C., & Tam, W.M. (1997). Multi-models of quality in education. Quality assurance in education, 5(1), 22-31.
• Clark, C.M. (1988). Asking the right questions about teacher preparation: Contributions of research on teaching thinking. Educational Researcher, 17, 5-12.
• Clark, C.M., & Peterson, P.L. (1986). Teachers’ thought processes. In: Wittrock, M.C. (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Teaching. (3rded, pp. 255–296). Macmillan, New York.
• Cochran-Smith, M., & Zeichner, K.M. (2005). Studying teacher education: The report of the AERA panel on research and teacher education. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ
• Coolahan, J. (2002). Teacher education and the teaching career in an era of lifelong learning. OECD Education Working Papers, 2, 1-39.
• Creswell, J.W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. California: Sage.
• Cruickshank, D.R. (1996). Preparing America’s teachers. Bloomington: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.
• Cruickshank, D.R., Jenkins, D.B., & Metcalf, K.K. (2009). The act of teaching. Boston: McGraw Hill.
• Darling-Hammond, L. (2006). Constructing 21st-century teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 57(3), 300-314.
• Ducharme, E. R. (1993). The lives of teacher educators. New York: Teachers College Press.
• Earthman, G.I. (2002). School facility conditions and student academic achievement. Williams Watch Series: Investigating the Claims of Williams V. State of California, UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access, UCLA
• Eret, E. (2013). An assessment of pre-service teacher education in terms of preparing teacher candidates for teaching. (Unpublished PhD Dissertation) Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.
• Eret, E. & Ok, A. (2012). Who are becoming teachers? The characteristics of the prospective teachers. Presented at the 15th International Conference on Educational Reform in 21st Century, Bucharest.
• European Commission. (2010). Strategic framework for education and training. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learningpolicy/doc28_en.htm.
• Finsterwald, M., Wagner, P., Schober, B., & Lüftenegger, M. (2013). Fostering lifelong learning – Evaluation of a teacher education program for professional teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 29, 144-155.
• Gallagher, T., Griffin, S., Parker, D. C., Kitchen, J., & Figg, C. (2011). Establishing and sustaining teacher educator professional development in a self-study community of practice: Pre-tenure teacher educators developing professionally. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 880-890.
• Jarvis, S., & Algozzine, B. (2006). Everything I need to know about teaching: They forgot to tell me California, Corwin Press: Thousands Oaks.
• Korthagen, F.A.J. (2004). In search of the essence of a good teacher: Towards a more holistic approach in teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20, 77-97.
• Koster, B., Korthagen, F.A.J., Wubbels, Th., & Hoornweg, J. (1996). Roles, competencies and training of teacher educators: A new challenge. In E. Befring (Ed.), Teacher education for quality. (pp.397-411). LoboGrafisk:Oslo.
• Kurasaki, K.S. (2000). Intercoder reliability for validating conclusions drawn from open-ended interview data. Field Methods, 12(3), 179-194.
• Lackney, J.A. (1994). Educational facilities: The impact and role of the physical environment of the school and teaching, learning and educational outcomes. School of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. UMI Dissertation Services No. 9717142.
• Lackney J.A., & Jacobs P.J. (2002). Teachers as placemakers: Investigating teachers’ use of physical
• learning environment in instructional design. US Department of Education, Educational
• Resources Information Centre. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No: ED463645).
• Leavy, A.M., McSorley, F.A., & Boté, L.A. (2007). An examination of what metaphor construction reveals
• about the evolution of preservice teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning. Teaching and
• Teacher Education, 23, 1217-1233.
• Lemasters, L.K. (1997). A synthesis of studies pertaining to facilities, student achievement, and student
• behavior. Blacksburg, VA: Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
• Lindgren, U. (2005). Experiences of beginning teachers in a school-based mentoring program in
• Sweden. Educational Studies, 31(3), 251-263.
• Locke, E.A. (1983). Job satisfaction and role clarity among university and college faculty.Review of
• Higher Education, 6(4), 343-365.
• Lunenberg, M., Korthagen, F., & Swennen, A. (2007). Teacher educator as a role model. Teaching and
• Teacher Education, 23, 586-601.
• McGuffey, C.W. (1982). Facilities. In H. Walberg (Ed.), Improving educational standards and
• productivity. Berkley: McCutchan Publishing Corp.
• McLaughlin, M.W. (1997). Rebuilding teacher professionalism in the United States. In A. Hargreaves,
• Evans, R. (Eds.), Beyond educational reform. Bringing teachers back in, Buckingham: Open
• University Press, 77-93.
• Miles, M.B., & Huberman, A.M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
• Moore, G.T., & Lackney, J.A. (1993). School design: Crisis, educational performance and design applications. Children’s Environments 10(2), 1-22.
• OECD (2005). Attracting, developing and retaining effective teachers–Final report: Teachers matter. OECD Publishing.
• Ok, A. & Onkol, P. (2007). The profile of prospective teachers in teacher education programs. Education and Science, 32(143), 13 -26.
• O’Sullivan, M. (2010). Educating the teacher educator—A Ugandan case study. International Journal of Educational Development, 30, 377–387.
• Russell, T. (2010). Self-study by teacher educators. In P. Peterson, Baker, E. & McGaw, B. (Eds), International encyclopedia of education. (pp. 689-694). Oxford.
• Saban, A. (2003). A Turkish profile of prospective elementary school teachers and their views of teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 829-846.
• Sandholtz, J.H. (2001). Inservice training or professional development contrasting opportunities in a school/university partnership. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18(7), 815-830.
• Smedley, L. (2001). Impediments to partnership-a literature review of school–university links. Teachers and Teaching, 7(2), 189-211.
• Smith, K. (2005). Teacher educators’ expertise: what do novice teachers and teacher educators say? Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 177-192.
• Tishman, S., Perkins, D.N., & Jay, E. (1995). The thinking classroom; learning and teaching in a culture of thinking. MA: Allyn and Bacon
• Wideen, M.F., Mayer-Smith, J., & Moon, B. (1998). A critical analysis of the research on learning to teach: Making the case for an ecological perspective on inquiry. Review of Educational Research, 68(2), 130-178.
• Wilson, S.M. (2006). Finding a canon and core: Meditations on the preparation of teacher educator- researchers. Journal of Teacher Education, 57, 315-325.
• Zeichner, K. (2005). Becoming a teacher educator: A personal perspective. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 117-124.
• Zeichner, K., & Gore, J. (1990). Teacher socialization. In W. R. Houston (Ed.), Handbook of research on teacher education (pp. 329-348). New York: Macmillan.