Understanding the meaning of teacher education: the voice of the stakeholders

Preparing high-quality teachers to work in schools and classrooms is a key issue in discussing the goals and outcomes of initial teacher education. However, there are different views of what is relevant and necessary in teacher education. There are, therefore, variations in the structure, organisation and curriculum of initial teacher education as I have discussed in my last editorial (Flores 2022). A systemic view is needed in order to fully understand initial teacher education rationale, curriculum and goals, encompassing, amongst others, the nature and goals of school curriculum itself, the conception of the teacher as a professional and his/her role in curriculum development, teachers’ professional status and issues of recruitment, selection and retention, the view of education that is advocated, the political, economic, social and cultural context in which it is embedded – clearly a complex and highly inter-related set of factors.

In a recent paper, Menter (2022) argues for the need to look at the macro and meso levels of policy and practice and also at the micro level, considering the quality of the participants in the provision and experience of teacher education. Issues such as policy development, definitions of teacher professionalism, the nature of teacher education providers and the role of research have to be taken into account in discussions around the purpose of teacher education. The views and experiences of the stakeholders are also key in the analysis of the meaning of teacher education. In contexts of reform, the voice of the stakeholders, particularly teacher educators and student teachers, is often missing. If high-quality teachers depend on the quality of their education, then there is a need to invest in initial teacher education and to build on existing consolidated knowledge in the field considering the experience of those who are directly involved in research and practice. As such, it is imperative to provide teacher educators and student teachers, as well as mentors and supervisors, with opportunities to explore their experiences in ways that are relevant and meaningful.

The papers included in this issue address a variety of topics, for example motivation, agency and collaboration, and focus on the views and experiences of those directly involved in teacher education, particularly student teachers and teacher educators. The first paper, ‘Interest in teacher education: exploring the relation between student teacher interest and ambitions in teacher education’, by Sigve Høgheim and Roger André Federici, from Norway, looks at issues of motivation for entering teaching. It focuses on the concept of ‘student teacher interest’ in relation to teaching ambitions and dropout thoughts. Drawing on survey data from Norwegian student teachers, the authors conclude that student teacher interest encompasses four concepts: pedagogic, didactic, subject and research interest. Høgheim and Federici found that research interest did not influence students’ ambitions and that didactic interest is related to students’ ambitions to teach. They also state that pedagogic, didactic and subject interest were negatively related to dropout thoughts.

In a similar vein, Äli Leijen, Margus Pedaste and Aleksandar Baucal, in their paper ‘Assessing student teachers’ agency and using it for predicting commitment to teaching’, present the psychometric properties of a questionnaire on student teacher agency drawing on data collected in one Estonian university (n = 168). Based on the ecological model of agency, the authors focus on three dimensions: planning of teaching and learning activities, teaching diverse ability students in the same class and using ICT in teaching. Leijen, Pedaste and Baucal concluded that student-teacher agency could be described through three dimensions (iterational, projective and practical-evaluative) in all studied domains. They also found that agency in three domains predicted commitment to teaching in different degrees, while agency in one area did not predict commitment to teaching at all.

In the third paper, ‘Promoting practical wisdom in teacher education: a qualitative descriptive study’, Katariina Stenberg and Katriina Maaranen, from Finland, report on a study involving interviews with 15 primary school student teachers. The authors explore the participants’ experiences in terms of their personal practical theories during practicum. They argue for the need to support the development of practical wisdom in teacher education, particularly in what concerns student teachers’ pedagogical beliefs.

The study of teacher collaboration patterns in teacher education is the focus of the fourth paper, ‘Promoting professionalism through preservice teachers’ collaboration’, by Inmaculada García-Martínez, José Luis Ubago-Jiménez, José María Fernández-Batanero & Ramón Chacón-Cuberos, from Spain. The authors focus on the psychometric properties of a questionnaire aimed at investigating issues of collaboration and shared professional learning, two dimensions that are considered to be important in teacher professionalism. Data were collected with 293 pre-school and primary school student teachers in a Spanish university. García-Martínez et al. identified four factors, namely assertiveness and personal willingness to work together; group cohesion; leadership capacity; and group awareness, and they discuss the implications of the findings for teacher collaboration and professional development.

With the aim to explore how pre-service Finnish subject teachers see themselves as teachers, Maarit Arvaja, Anneli Sarja and Paula Rönnberg conducted interviews with five student teachers after completing their year-long pedagogical studies. In their paper ‘Pre-service subject teachers’ personal teacher characterisations after the pedagogical studies’, the authors state that students shared a social representation of a past teacher characterised by wide power and emotional distance between pupils and the teacher. Arvaja, Sarja and Rönnberg also highlight that the participants positioned themselves as interactive and caring educators identifying with their own ideal teachers as well as meaningful learning experiences developed during their pedagogical studies.

In turn, the sixth paper, ‘Analysing CLIL Teacher Competences in Pre-service Preschool Education. A Case Study at the University of Granada’, by Beatriz Cortina-Pérez and Ana Maria Pino Rodríguez, from Spain, focuses on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) competences as perceived by preschool pre-service teachers (n = 105). Based on data from an online questionnaire, the authors found that the participants’ self-perception of their CLIL teacher competences is positive, especially considering that little attention is paid to this topic in the official curriculum. The authors also suggest that overall pre-service teachers do not yet feel prepared to become preschool CLIL practitioners, and they argue that there is a need to explicitly increase CLIL competences in teacher education programmes.

In the seventh paper, Sonja Lutovac and Raimo Kaasila, from Finland, also examine preservice teachers’ experiences focusing on their experiences of failure in mathematics. In their paper ‘Towards conceptualising failure in mathematics as an autobiographical experience’, they discuss the findings arising from 59 pre-service teachers’ written experiences of failure that were produced as a part of the coursework in initial teacher education for both the purpose of data collection and for pedagogical purposes. Lutovac and Kaasila suggest that the failure experiences seem to be less relational than anticipated, and they argue for the importance to conceptually explore such experiences in teacher education as an autobiographical endeavour.

The eighth paper also addresses student teachers’ experience. Anita Backhouse, from the UK, in her paper ‘Stepping on the teacher’s toes’: student teachers’ experience of a one-year postgraduate teacher training programme’, examines the findings arising from individual interviews with eight participants during their initial teacher education including practicum. Based on the concept of community of practice as a theoretical lens, the author suggests that student teachers’ goals of becoming a teacher can be impacted by the quality of relationships, opportunities to teach and different priorities within the school settings. She argues that attention paid to student teachers’ individual circumstances might better contribute to their self-efficacy and subsequent motivation to enter the teaching profession as well as to the role and training of the mentors. In particular, Backhouse discusses the importance of regular feedback opportunities to enhance relevant spaces for student teachers to reflect on their experiences in initial teacher education.

In the final paper, ‘Student teachers’ classroom management during the school internship’, Tom Adams, Bob Koster and Perry Den Brok, from the Netherlands focus on classroom management as a core competence for future teachers. They analyse curricular documents to explore how classroom management is stated in the written curriculum of initial teacher education, but they also look at the views of teacher educators, by means of an interview. Adams, Koster and Den Brok argue that, despite the variety of topics emerging from the literature, limited and implicit attention to classroom management was found in the written curriculum. In addition, teacher educators recognised the importance of classroom management as a key dimension in teacher education, particularly in relation to student teachers’ relationship with pupils. In general, the findings point to a mismatch between what is known from literature, and how this relates to the written curriculum and also between teacher educators’ views of classroom management and the theoretical definition and content of it.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.