Evaluating effectiveness in teacher education

Abstract

The conceptualization of teacher education as a socialization process focuses attention on the more covert aspects of professional development, such as self‐esteem and confidence, which are inextricably linked with overt teaching behavior. This suggests a novel approach to evaluation ‐ that of measuring shifts in student teacher professional self‐perception. Such was the approach used to evaluate the effectiveness of a one‐semester course on teaching taken by second‐year students in a three‐year primary teacher education program.

The Coulter/Elsworth (1977) semantic differential instrument was used to measure self‐perception and results differentiated for high, middle and low achievers. It proved valuable for monitoring course effectiveness and suggesting directions for course modification so as to strengthen professional self‐competence and meet student concern for relevancy.