Preparing teachers to teach in complex settings: opportunities for professional learning and development

The preparation of prospective teachers to work in complex settings and the need to provide in-service teachers with relevant professional development opportunities are key themes in educational research, particularly in the European Journal of Teacher Education. These are more than ever two crucial topics as we face the current COVID-19 global pandemic. In times of a global lockdown, with the closure of schools and universities, the need to rapidly move from face-to-face teaching to online teaching entailed challenges for teachers, teacher educators and professional development providers as well as for policy makers. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our everyday life in many ways and, in particular, the education sector. The implications and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in education are yet to be known. However, the current situation makes evident and even exacerbates inequalities in access to education but it also entails opportunities to reshape education, teacher education and educational institutions. The ‘new normal’ has been announced and has already started in some contexts, but it also brings with it a number of challenges particularly as far as education and teacher education are concerned. Thus, a Special Issue in EJTE will be devoted to the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for teacher education worldwide. It is expected that such Special Issue will be published in 2020.

Meanwhile, the papers include in this issue focus on empirical studies on how to educate prospective teachers to teach in complex settings and how to enhance opportunities for professional learning during teacher education preparation, including practicum, but they also address conceptual frameworks for teacher professional development.

This issue starts with a paper entitled ‘Teacher preparation for urban teaching: a multiple case study of three primary teacher education programmes’, by Lisa Gaikhorst, Jeffrey Post, Virginie März and Inti Soeterikd. It focuses on how student teachers are prepared to teach in urban environments and to respond to the multiple challenges which are associated with such contexts. The authors report on findings from a study which combined the analysis of curriculum documents and interviews with programme directors, teacher educators, and student teachers in three primary teacher education programmes in the Netherlands. They conclude that some of the dimensions of urban teaching (e.g. considering social differences between children, (in)equality and collaboration with parents from diverse backgrounds) were not addressed or were addressed only to a limited degree in teacher education programmes. In addition, they also found that the teacher education programmes prepared teachers for urban teaching in different ways, including (compulsory) internships at urban schools or special assignments around urban themes. As internships were seen as a valuable experience for teaching in urban settings, the authors argue for the need to provide student teachers with opportunities to do an urban internship as part of their teacher education programmes.

In the second paper, ‘Beginning teachers’ narratives, coping with social justice’, Nurit Dvir and Orna Schatz-Oppenheimer, from Israel, address issues of social justice as experienced and perceived by new teachers. Two narratives written by two Israeli beginning teachers were analysed. The authors state that two prominent themes in cases of social injustice emerged from the participants’ accounts: critical reflection on inclusion and exclusion, and action for social justice. The paper ends with implications for teacher education.

In the third paper, ‘Teacher training and learning to teach: an analysis of tasks in the practicum’, Eduardo-José Fuentes-Abeledo, Mercedes González-Sanmamed, Pablo-César Muñoz-Carril and Emilio-Joaquín Veiga-Rio, from Spain, report on a quantitative study with 248 student teachers in their final year of the teacher education programme. The authors found that student teachers did not have the chance to perform a broad range of teaching tasks, limiting, therefore, their view of teaching and reducing the potential of practicum in terms of professional learning. Fuentes-Abeledo et al. argue for the need to clearly establish the obligations of institutions collaborating in the practicum, to define the participants’ roles and to ensure that the experience of practicum encourages appropriate professional learning.

The fourth paper, ‘Stimulating teachers’ inquiring attitude in academic and professional teacher education programmes’, by Jan Baan, Lisa Gaikhorst and Monique Volman, from the Netherlands, also focuses on student teacher preparation. The authors looked at differences between the inquiring attitudes of student teachers who followed an academic programme and those who followed a professional programme in teacher education. Data were collected through a survey (n = 260) and interviews (n = 9) with student teachers. The curriculum of both programmes was also analysed. Baan et al. found that student teachers doing an academic programme appeared to have a more inquiring attitude than those enrolled in a professional programme. The authors argue that the former held a more critical attitude towards classroom situations and a higher motivation to use and perform research. Baan et al. also concluded that teacher research was integrated in the curricula of both academic and professional programmes, but the academic programme included a larger variety of forms of research and the focus on research was more consistent in the former than in the latter.

The learning experiences of student teachers are also examined in the fifth paper, ‘Experiences of preservice teachers exposed to project-based learning’, by Dina Tsybulsky, Michal Gatenio-Kalush, Musa Abu Ganem and Etty Grobgeld, from Israel. It reports on a qualitative study examining Jewish and Bedouin student teachers’ experiences in a project-based learning framework, in which they participated as part of their pedagogical coursework. Data were collected through 38 in-depth interviews and 152 reflective reports. The authors discuss the findings according to two dimensions: the quality of the experience and the content of the experience. They end their paper by discussing the implications of the findings for teacher education, particularly in regard to project-based learning.

The sixth paper, ‘Professional agency and its features in supporting teachers’ learning during an in-service education programme’, by Merja Kauppinen, Johanna Kainulainen, Päivi Hökkä and Katja Vähäsantanen, from Finland, looks at teachers’ professional agency in the context of in-service teacher education. The authors investigated primary school teachers’ professional agency during an in-service teacher education. Kauppinen et al. claim that teachers enacted professional agency regarding their professional identity and work in various ways and that they found pedagogical hands-on practice with colleagues’ support especially meaningful. In addition, the authors state that transferring learning to classroom practices is dependent on teachers’ professional agency in identity renegotiation and they argue for the need for continuous, practice-based scaffolding that supports teachers’ agency and, thus, professional learning, if in-service teacher education is to be enhanced.

The last two papers focus on conceptual models for teacher professional development. The seventh paper, ‘Towards a comprehensive and dynamic conceptual framework to research and enact professional learning communities in the context of secondary education’, by Pierre Van Meeuwen, Fred Huijboom, Ellen Rusman, Marjan Vermeulen and Jeroen Imants, from the Netherlands, presents a conceptual framework arising from a literature search on professional learning communities (PCL). The authors describe the construction of a framework for research on PLC in complex school contexts. The framework consists of 11 characteristics, grouped into three clusters, three steering factors and two context-related factors. Van Meeuwen et al. argue that the framework is comprehensive and feasible for undertaking research on professional learning communities.

The last paper included in this issue, ‘An integrative review of the models for teacher expertise and career development’, by Nur Atiqah Raduan and Seung-Il Na, from South Korea, deals with teacher development from a conceptual point of view. The authors review the key conceptual models used in research on teacher development, particularly the strengths and limitations of expertise and career development models. The authors claim that conventional teacher development models have been conceptualised as a linear progression, but they also identify the emergence of non-linear models, with concepts that could improve understanding of teacher development. They conclude that there is a lack of models connecting expertise and career development of teachers and they discuss an integrative perspective that would enhance further research on teacher development in a more meaningful direction.

Overall, the papers included in this issue point to the importance of understanding the experiences of (student) teachers in terms of professional learning and development as well as the characteristics, tasks and strategies used in both initial and in-service teacher education programmes. They highlight, in one way or another, the need to consider the context as well as the role and characteristics of the (student) teachers if relevant professional learning opportunities are to be enhanced. Transforming teacher education needs, therefore, to consider that ‘Teachers should be able to develop and maintain a mindset and a practical approach which are based on reflection and inquiry, and focused on ongoing professional development’ (European Commission 2015, 3). As such, understanding the nature and effects of opportunities for professional learning entails not only the need to consider the political, social and cultural context (Flores 2016) but also prevailing definitions of teacher professionalism in (initial and in-service) teacher education programmes.