Riding on a speeding train? How teacher educators perceive teacher education

Abstract

This study investigates through structured questionnaires how teacher educators perceive current teacher education practices in Israel and at their colleges. An open‐ended question provides their metaphorical viewpoint. The findings indicate that teacher educators believe teacher education in the country is at a high level. They perceive teacher education within the nurture‐professional and the reflective‐adaptive models, and attribute an importance to academic excellence and lifelong learning. Their metaphors point at the discrepancy between teacher education aspirations and the reality of the training. On the explicit level they relate to the existing models of training, while on the implicit level a personal pessimistic view surfaces. The metaphors reveal a view of growth and development, but also a sense of frustration, which stems from the teachers’ view that even though they invest in the profession and in raising the level of the field, the outcome of their investment is not as expected.

Keywords:

• teacher educators’ perceptions
• mixed‐method study
• metaphors
• explicit viewpoint
• implicit viewpoint