Changing pre-service teachers' purposes of education through existential crises

This article considers changing the purposes of education held by pre-service teachers. It argues that purposes of education are inextricably linked to life meanings and purposes. Employing an existential perspective, mainly through Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre and Morris, the fundamental beliefs that one has regarding the meaning and purpose of life are understood to serve as the basis for formulating purposes of education. An attempt to change these purposes is recommended by drawing upon the existential crisis and Kierkegaard's doctrine of 'how'. Importance is placed not so much on the object or what of purposes and understandings, but on how the individual relates to them.

Environmental attitudes of pre-service teachers : a conceptual and methodological dilemma in cross-cultural data collection

Human generated environmental problems are significant issues of global concern. Despite this, varying attitudes towards environments continue to exist across the globe, impacting on environmental decision-making and action at local, national and international levels. This paper probes some of the similarities and differences in environmental attitudes amongst pre-service teachers in Australia, Republic of Maldives and Indonesia. Data were collected using an established environmental attitude questionnaire and individual interviews. The three communities exhibited a similar range of environmental attitudes using the established questionnaire but significant differences emerged when the interview data were analysed phenomenographically. These differences reflect diversity within and across cultural groups that cannot be satisfactorily explained by the theory underpinning the established questionnaire. Consequently, a revised conceptual framework is proposed.

Problematic placement : pathways pre-service teachers’ perspectives on their infant/toddler placement

The inclusion of an infant/toddler placement in a ‘pathways’ early childhood teaching degree, where students already have qualifications and experience in working with young children, can be problematic. This pilot study investigated student teachers’ views on their infant/toddler (birth-to-two-years) placement. Sixty-six students completing their early childhood education degree at an Australian university responded to a survey seeking their perspectives on the effectiveness of the placement in developing teacher confidence, knowledge and skills, and the quality of the supervision they received. The participants had entered their degree with a two-year Diploma of Children’s Services. Responses indicated significant dissatisfaction with the quality of supervision, the absence of teacher-mentors, and the lack of opportunities to practise new approaches. Participants commented that they ‘already knew’ how to work with this age group, and that they aspired to work with older children. The results align with other findings on factors associated with positive placements, and raise questions about the effectiveness of the infant/toddler placement in its current form.

Positioning people with intellectual disabilities as the experts : enhancing pre-service teachers’ competencies in teaching for diversity

The need for graduate teachers to own their professional responsibilities to engage successfully with students with special educational needs (SENs) in mainstream classrooms has been recognised in educational policies and programmes in many countries for well over two decades. Despite wide-ranging research, questions remain as to how pre-service education courses can help beginning teachers to develop the required commitment, knowledge and pedagogies to feel confident in teaching students with disabilities. Challenges to find new ways to enhance pre-service teachers’ familiarity with special needs children, overcome resistance from some towards including SEN students in mainstream classrooms and develop a sense of efficacy in teaching are common to many programmes. In this paper, we report on a pilot study where adults with intellectual disabilities, as members of a community theatre, were positioned as the experts and explored their schooling experiences and personal biographies with soon-to-be graduate teachers in a 3 h workshop. Taking the lead and working collaboratively with the workshop participants, members of Fusion Theatre used drama activities to develop understandings of strategies that helped them to learn. By challenging the traditional power relationships between those labelled as ‘disabled’ and those who would be teachers, the workshop helped the participants to engage on many levels. Here, we report on the data, analyse the findings and discuss implications for other pre-service programmes.

First year pre-service teachers' mathematical content knowledge : methods of solution to a ratio question

In this article, pre-service teachers' mathematics content knowledge is explored through the analysis of two items about ratio from a Mathematical Competency, Skills and Knowledge Test. Pre-service teachers' thinking strategies, common errors and misconceptions in their responses are presented and discussed. Of particular interest was the range and nature of common incorrect responses for one whole-whole ratio question. Results suggested pre-service teachers had difficulty interpreting a worded multi-step, ratio (scale) question, with errors relating to ratio and/or conversion of measurement knowledge. These difficulties reveal underdeveloped knowledge of mathematical structure and mathematical connections as well as an inability to deconstruct key components of a mathematical problem. Most pre-service teachers also lacked knowledge of standard procedures and methods of solutions.

Stereotypes and self-perceptions of physical education pre-service teachers

Stereotypes and self-perceptions are important in understanding how people develop their self-knowledge and social identity, become members of groups, and view groups and their members. While we have some understanding of the stereotypical view of the physical education teacher, we currently have little knowledge of how physical education pre-service teachers (students studying a physical education degree) are stereotyped, and also if there is any relationship between these stereotypes and how physical education pre-service teachers perceive themselves. The purpose of this study was to examine the stereotypes and self-perceptions of physical education pre-service teachers. The aims were to describe how physical education pre-service teachers stereotype and perceive themselves, examine if there are differences in the stereotypes and self-perceptions between males and females, and to explore if there were relationships between what the physical education pre-service teachers believed stereotyped them and how they perceived themselves. Participants were 250 students (n=120 males, n=130 female) studying a 4-year Bachelor of Education (Physical Education) degree at a university who completed a questionnaire which contained 10 items about how they viewed physical education pre-service teachers (stereotypes), and 26 items on how they viewed male physical education pre-service teachers and female pre-service teachers (stereotypes) and 26 items on how they view themselves (self-perceptions). Factor analysis revealed 2 stereotype factors, which were labelled as Sociable (e.g., socialise, partying, drinking, loud and outgoing) and Health and Lifestyle (e.g., fit, playing sport and not smoking). The stereotype of the male physical education pre-service teacher, comprised two factors: physical, assertive and aggressive behaviour (e.g., aggressive, dominant, self-confident, and competitive) and physical and self-presentation factors (muscular, athletic, physically fit, physically coordinated, and attractive). The stereotype of female physical education pre-service teachers comprised three factors: physical appearance and ability (e.g., physically fit, athletic, able-bodied, attractive, thin, and physically coordinated), aggressive and assertive behavioural style (e.g., intimidating, unapproachable, and aggressive), and masculine behavioural style (e.g., aggressive, masculine, feminine, muscular and dominant). The self-perception of male physical education pre-service teachers comprised three factors: perceived appearance and ability (e.g., athletic, physical fit, thin, attractive, muscular and pleased with their body), aggressive and confident behaviour (e.g., intimidating, dominant, show off and aggressive) and independence and intellect (e.g., independent, ambitious, self confident and intelligent). The self-perception of female physical education pre-service teachers comprised three factors: strong willed behaviour (e.g., ambitious, and dominant), presentation and appearance (e.g., pleased with their body, attractive, thin and self confident), and aggressive and dominant behaviour (e.g., aggressive, intimidating, masculine and show off). There were significant relationships between the male physical and self-presentation stereotype factor stereotype and perceived appearance and ability self-perception factor and between the male physical, assertive and aggressive behaviour stereotype factor and the male aggressive and confident behaviours self-perception factor. For females, the aggressive and dominant behaviour stereotype was related to both the aggressive and assertive behavioural style self-perception factor and the masculine behavioural style self-perception factor. It is suggested that future studies investigate the stereotypes and self-perceptions of students in schools during the recruitment phase of socialisation, and the possible influence of the physical education teacher education programme, faculty leaders, and significant others on the physical education pre-service teachers’ self-perceptions, stereotypes and socialisation into physical education.

Misconceptions about density of decimals : insights from Indonesian pre-service teachers’ work

Extensive studies have documented various difficulties with, and misconceptions about, decimal numeration across different levels of education. This paper reports on pre-service teachers’ misconceptions about the density of decimals. Written test data from 140 Indonesian pre-service teachers, observation of group and classroom discussions provided evidence of pre-service teachers’ difficulties in grasping the density notion of decimals. This research was situated in a teacher education university in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Incorrect analogies resulting from over generalization of knowledge about whole numbers and fractions were identified. Teaching ideas to resolve these difficulties and challenges in resolving pre-service teachers’ misconceptions are discussed. Evidence from this research indicates that it is possible to remove misconceptions about density of decimals.

Growth of pre-service teachers’ knowledge and teaching ideas about decimals and fractions : The case of Vivi

This paper discussed and analysed the growth of one pre-service teachers’ knowledge about decimals and fractions during a teaching experiment. Evidence of her progress is based on responses to written test and interview questions. This case shows with probing questions and appropriate teaching ideas, it is possible for a pre-service teacher with initially weak and fragmented knowledge about decimals and fractions to develop a meaningful knowledge about decimals and fractions. The stronger conceptual base provided by use of a concrete representation of decimals enabled Vivi to move away from reliance on memorised facts and rules and towards conceptually based explanations of ideas.