Exploring quality teacher education programmes in Lebanon, Qatar, and China

ABSTRACT

The present quantitative study explored pre-service teachers’ perspectives regarding the quality of their Teacher Education Programme (TEP) in Lebanon, Qatar, and China. The sample consisted of 326 pre-service school teachers who completed a survey designed to examine their perception of the following indicators of TEP quality: (1) a shared vision of good teaching, (2) coherence, or alignment among TEP courses, and (3) opportunities for pre-service teachers to enact their own teaching practice. An exploratory factor analysis indicated the underlying factors were instead theory and vicarious experiences, reflections on authentic experiences, and programme coherence. Overall, pre-service teachers in all countries rated their TEP highest on programme coherence, while reflections on authentic experiences received the lowest ratings. Pre-service teachers in Lebanon and Qatar rated their TEPs significantly higher than did participants in China (p < .01), which could be attributed to differences in TEP structure. Practical implications and recommendations were discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher education
• comparative
• pre-service teachers
• programme coherence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maria El-Abd

Maria El-Abd, Ph.D., received her doctorate in Gifted Education from the University of Virginia. Her research interests lie in the field of gifted education, particularly with regards to instruction and curriculum development, as well as teacher education and maths education. Previously, she taught in the United States and in Lebanon, ranging from private to public settings and from rural to urban. She taught maths, English, and STEM in on-level, advanced, and gifted classroom settings spanning elementary school through high school. She has worked at various teacher education programmes in Lebanon.

Youmen Chaaban

Youmen Chaaban, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education, Azm University in Lebanon. Her research interests include technology enhanced learning, teacher professional development, project-based learning, and English language teaching and learning. Dr. Youmen has several research publications in international journals, including original research conducted in Lebanon and Qatar. She has also been actively involved in a number of teacher preparation programmes, where she held the positions of instructional coach, head of department, and curriculum coordinator.

Xiangyun Du

Xiangyun Du, Ph.D., is a professor at the Education Research Center, College of Qatar University, and a professor at Aalborg University UNESCO Centre for Problem and Project Based Learning, Denmark. Her main research interests include pedagogical development, particularly, problem-based and project-based learning methods in fields ranging from engineering, medicine and health, and foreign language education, to diverse social, cultural and educational contexts. She has also engaged with educational institutions in over 20 countries in substantial work on pedagogy development. Professor Du has over 160 relevant international publications including monographs, international journal papers, edited books and book chapters, as well as conference contributions. She has also been actively involved in a number of international academic programmes, networks, and editorial works for journals.

Li Wang

Li Wang, Ph.D. is an assistant professor at the School of Foreign Languages, Central China Normal University. Her main research interests include FL (Foreign Language) teacher education, English language teacher and learning, and comparative study.