Enlightening and Empowering Teacher Education Policies and Practices in and beyond the Pandemic: Global and Comparative Perspectives

A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102). This special issue belongs to the section "Teacher Education".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 19825

Special Issue Editors

Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Interests: teacher education; teacher professional development; teacher leadership; curriculum and pedagogical innovation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Learning, Teaching, Assessment and Training (ADEF) Laboratory, Aix-Marseille University, 13005 Marseille, France
Interests: teacher identity; teacher professional development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Enlightening and empowering teacher education policies and practices are no doubt a challenging yet crucial agenda. There have been more requests for quality teacher education in the face of global calls for 21st century educational reforms amid the worldwide conundrum of teacher shortage challenges in the market-based, neoliberal educational landscapes of high-stake accountability and prescribed curricular teaching (Carver-Thomas and Darling-Hammond, 2019; Williams III, Hill-Jackson, Caldwell, and Craig, 2022; Zimmerman, 2018). The complexity and multidimensionality of teacher education has been more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic (Flores, 2021). Various scholars have highlighted the roles of teacher education in developing (effective) teachers to cope with both cognitive and emotional challenges (e.g., catering to learner diversity, technology integration in teaching practice, managing complaints from parents, etc.) during the pandemic and beyond (Allen, Rowan, and Singh, 2020; Darling-Hammond and Hyler, 2020; Donitsa-Schmidt and Ramot, 2020; Flores, 2021; Heineke and Vera, 2022; Hill, Rosehart, St. Helene, and Sadhra, 2020). In such demanding, diverse, and dynamic contexts over the past two years, both policies and practices in teacher education (preservice, induction, and in-service) have played significantly important roles in preparing, supporting, and transforming teachers to carry out teaching responsibilities and emerging tasks effectively (Darling-Hammond, 2020; Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin, 2011; Goldhaber, 2019), with the literature growing in this regard. The current Special Issue aims to provide a platform for international scholars to share their works related to teacher education and, therefore, drawing implications for policy formulations and the feasibility of practices in teacher education around the world.

The aim of this Special Issue is to contribute to the current literature by highlighting the “key learnings” in teacher education policies and practices during the pandemic for preparing teachers with the following objectives:

  • To provide an extensive, comprehensive collection of international scholar perspectives and works in the field of teacher education;
  • To reflect on the ways teacher education has responded to the increasing needs in the “new normal” contexts of learning and teaching;
  • To reconsider what works (and does not work) to prepare teachers;
  • To rethink how teacher education can be strengthened and sustained to face novel challenges more strategically;
  • To reconstruct novel knowledge based on (good) practice in developing teachers.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • National, institutional, and pedagogical responses to the pandemic in teacher education policies;
  • Novel learning and teaching approaches for teacher education (preservice, induction, and in-service);
  • Innovations directed at teacher preparation and professional learning;
  • Learning–teaching scenarios in teacher education during the COVID-19 pandemic: challenges and opportunities;
  • The roles and preparedness of teacher educators/teacher education institutions to support teacher professional development in the pandemic;
  • Transition from teacher education institutions to workplaces in schools.

References

Allen, J., Rowan, L., and Singh, P. (2020). Teaching and teacher education in the time of COVID-19. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 48(3), 233-236.

Carver-Thomas, D., and Darling-Hammond, L. (2019). The trouble with teacher turnover: How teacher attrition affects students and schools. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 27(36). Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1213629.pdf.

Cochran-Smith, M., Stringer Keefe, E., and Carney, M. C. (2018). Teacher educators as reformers: Competing agendas. European Journal of Teacher Education, 41(5), 572-590.

Darling-Hammond, L. (2020). Accountability in teacher education. Action in teacher Education, 42(1), 60-71.

Darling-Hammond, L., and Hyler, M. E. (2020). Preparing educators for the time of COVID… and beyond. European Journal of Teacher Education, 43(4), 457-465.

Darling-Hammond, L., and McLaughlin, M. W. (2011). Policies that support professional development in an era of reform. Phi Delta Kappan, 92(6), 81-92.

Donitsa-Schmidt, S., and Ramot, R. (2020). Opportunities and challenges: teacher education in Israel in the Covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Education for Teaching, 46(4), 586-595.

Flores, M. A. (2021). Editorial. The multidimensionality of teacher professional learning: context, content and change. European Journal of Teacher Education, 44(4), 429-431.

Goldhaber, D. (2019). Evidence-based teacher preparation: Policy context and what we know. Journal of Teacher Education, 70(2), 90-101.

Heineke, A. J., and Vera, E. M. (2022). Beyond language and academics: Investigating teachers’ preparation to promote the social-emotional well-being of emergent bilingual learners. Journal of Teacher Education, 73(2), 145-158.

Hill, C., Rosehart, P., St. Helene, J., and Sadhra, S. (2020). What kind of educator does the world need today? Reimagining teacher education in post-pandemic Canada. Journal of Education for Teaching, 46(4), 565-575.

Williams III, J. A., Hill-Jackson, V., Caldwell, C., and Craig, C. J. (2022). Teacher Recruitment and Retention: Local Strategies, Global Inspiration. Journal of Teacher Education, 73(4), 333-337.

Zimmerman, A. S. (2018). Democratic teacher education: Preserving public education as a public good in an era of neoliberalism. The Educational Forum, 82(3), 351-368.

Dr. Sally Wai-yan Wan
Dr. Maria Antonietta Impedovo
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • teacher education
  • teacher professional development
  • initial teacher education
  • prospective teachers
  • in-service teachers
  • pedagogy
  • policy development
  • sustainable development
  • alternative programs
  • COVID-19 pandemic

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (13 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 523 KiB  
Article
Bracing Ourselves: Embracing Policy Changes through a Long-Standing University–Schools Teacher Education Partnership in England
by Nicola Warren-Lee, Lorna Smith, Janet Orchard, Lucy Kelly, Jon James and Alf Coles
Educ. Sci. 2024, 14(2), 158; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14020158 - 02 Feb 2024
Viewed by 638
Abstract
We articulate the principles behind our practices as teacher educators for an Initial Teacher Education (ITE) provider in South-West England working in partnership with local schools. We position them as ‘braces’ that enable us not only to withstand but ‘embrace’ the challenges of [...] Read more.
We articulate the principles behind our practices as teacher educators for an Initial Teacher Education (ITE) provider in South-West England working in partnership with local schools. We position them as ‘braces’ that enable us not only to withstand but ‘embrace’ the challenges of the current policy environment, which imposes braces of its own. All ITE providers in England must present their curriculum and teaching plans for approval by the Department for Education, one of many significant changes to ITE required in England over the last decade. Furthermore, for such plans to be approved they must assume a model of schooling based on knowledge acquisition in tension with not only our own motivations but also a broader (global) conversation among teacher educators critical of policy priorities for schooling and professional teacher formation that prioritise success in high-stakes tests and international league tables. The braces/principles emerge through articulating our collective understandings of and concerns with the policy braces. Our principles connect to the processes we feel confident are necessary aspects of ‘becoming’ teachers and can hold our Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) together, going forwards. The braces—becoming an informed educator; becoming an ethical actor; becoming a reflective practitioner—have a distinctive form of reflexivity at their heart and should apply to everyone across our partnership: us, as university-based teacher educators; school-based colleagues; and pre-service teachers. We offer our approach and the braces/principles we have developed to others also struggling to reconcile their own notions of good teacher education with national policy imperatives. Full article
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13 pages, 213 KiB  
Article
Course Crafting in the Pandemic: Examination of Students’ Positive Experiences
by Lakshmi Narayanan, Ramzi Nasser, Shanker Menon and Brett Wallace
Educ. Sci. 2024, 14(2), 131; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14020131 - 28 Jan 2024
Viewed by 837
Abstract
College students’ positive experiences were examined before and during COVID-19 when courses transitioned to a new format. During COVID-19, university courses at a state university in the US transitioned to a new online format. This study observed the affective experiences of students through [...] Read more.
College students’ positive experiences were examined before and during COVID-19 when courses transitioned to a new format. During COVID-19, university courses at a state university in the US transitioned to a new online format. This study observed the affective experiences of students through the instructors’ course crafting during times of crisis. The method of critical incident qualitative data collection examined what students perceived as positive experiences. Students’ perceptions were examined, and the nature and types of positive experiences were examined before and during the pandemic. This comparison provided insights into the emotions and feelings experienced between the two groups (Before COVID-19 and During COVID-19). As courses were modified and redesigned for remote learning, examination of the findings showed students’ positive experiences considering the faculty recrafting their courses, which gave a valuable insight into the dynamics of these positive experiences in the teaching and learning process. Educators crafted their courses’ changing format and provided emotional support, empathy, kindness, reassurance, and encouragement when needed. The implications of these findings and understanding how we can thrive and flourish even in very challenging times in the virtual environment is discussed. Full article
13 pages, 253 KiB  
Article
Reflections on Distance in Remote Placement Supervision: Bodies, Power, and Negative Education
by Ian Munday, Manuela Heinz and Brenda Gallagher
Educ. Sci. 2024, 14(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14010005 - 20 Dec 2023
Viewed by 539
Abstract
School placement plays a critical and complex role in the professional development of student teachers. When universities and schools shut their doors and moved all teaching activities online in March 2020, initial teacher education (ITE) providers across Ireland had to implement emergency alternative [...] Read more.
School placement plays a critical and complex role in the professional development of student teachers. When universities and schools shut their doors and moved all teaching activities online in March 2020, initial teacher education (ITE) providers across Ireland had to implement emergency alternative practicum supports in order to ensure that students could complete their ITE programmes. Many initial teacher education providers across Ireland introduced professional online conversations as an alternative approach to professional practice supervision. It is easy to view this response to the COVID-19 crisis in purely deficit terms. For obvious reasons, no sensible teacher educator would advocate for abandoning school visits and replacing them with online professional conversations. Nonetheless, emergency measures arguably brought about affordances to the delivery of teacher education, which are deserving of consideration and may help to inform future practice. In this paper, we draw on our recent experience of ITE emergency practicum supervision to explore assumptions and tensions inherent in traditional teacher education practices. We reflect on how we enacted and experienced professional student–tutor conversations without the normally preceding classroom observations and interrogate normalised assumptions about the value and purpose of classroom observation. Our reflections are infused with ideas gleaned from philosophy and sociological theory and are underpinned by a theoretical formulation which we call “negative education”. “Negative education” refers to the learning that takes place as a consequence of deprivation. In these terms, we come to examine the negotiation of power and relationships in different learning environments. We explore the benefits of “zooming out”, to disseminate power, and show how this helps to engage with the broader aspects of teaching which are so easily overlooked by both tutors and students during “normal” school visits. Full article
20 pages, 306 KiB  
Article
Challenges and Opportunities of Implementing Differentiated Instruction amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights from a Qualitative Exploration
by Suet-Ying Yuen, Zili Luo and Sally Wai-yan Wan
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(10), 989; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13100989 - 27 Sep 2023
Viewed by 3208
Abstract
Differentiated instruction (DI) has been introduced as a viable approach for accommodating the diverse learning needs of students in the same classroom. Despite the significant advantages attributed to this approach, it can still be a challenge for teachers to incorporate DI into practice. [...] Read more.
Differentiated instruction (DI) has been introduced as a viable approach for accommodating the diverse learning needs of students in the same classroom. Despite the significant advantages attributed to this approach, it can still be a challenge for teachers to incorporate DI into practice. This study examined the lived experiences and perceptions of teachers regarding the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on their differentiation practices. Purposive sampling was used, and 40 in-service primary and secondary school teachers in Hong Kong were recruited. Hybrid thematic analysis was implemented to examine data from the semi-structured interviews carried out in both face-to-face and online formats. Drawing on the five-dimensional model of differentiation as a conceptual framework, the findings were organized into five thematic areas: (1) teaching arrangements, (2) learning environment, (3) teaching methods, (4) support materials, and (5) assessment. The perceptions of teachers, both positive and negative, regarding the impact of the pandemic on DI were categorized into sub-themes. The results indicated that while the pandemic brought about considerable obstacles for educators in practicing DI, it also opened up opportunities for new approaches to meeting the diverse needs of students. Full article
24 pages, 342 KiB  
Article
Effects of Emergency Distance Education on Teacher Training Process in Turkey: Instructors’ Opinions
by Ruhan Karadag Yilmaz and Nazife Karadag
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(9), 920; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13090920 - 09 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1130
Abstract
Emerging in 2019 and then spreading throughout the world, COVID-19 has led to the application of emergency action plans in almost all areas of life. In this process, the Turkish education system also made a transition to distance education in schools of all [...] Read more.
Emerging in 2019 and then spreading throughout the world, COVID-19 has led to the application of emergency action plans in almost all areas of life. In this process, the Turkish education system also made a transition to distance education in schools of all types and levels. The main purpose of this study is to determine the views of the instructors regarding the prospective teacher education practices implemented via distance education in Turkey during the pandemic period. This study was carried out using a case study method. The data collected through an open-ended questionnaire were analyzed using content analysis. In conclusion, it was found that universities in Turkey do not have a functional distance education policy for the urgent distance education process, and a centralized policy is followed in most universities for distance education. Also, it was concluded that limited interaction, lack of equipment, and infrastructure problems negatively affect the distance education process. Moreover, it was found that distance education applications are not convenient for teacher education, there are some negative effects of conducting teaching practice through distance education, and support is needed in technical, human, and managerial issues for teacher education through distance education to be successful. Full article
18 pages, 290 KiB  
Article
Centering Teacher Expertise, Needs, and Wellbeing in In-Service Teacher Education: A Post/COVID-19 Study
by Astri Napitupulu, Jasmin Easterling, Leslie Hamm, Shea N. Kerkhoff, Diana Hammond, Tracy Brosch, Nancy Robb Singer and Katherine A. O’Daniels
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 753; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13070753 - 21 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1552
Abstract
This paper shares findings of a qualitative study on professional learning with in-service teachers during COVID-19. From 2020–2023, the authors facilitated comprehensive literacy professional learning with in-service teachers from 40 schools in the Midwest U.S. Our work aimed to center teachers as experts [...] Read more.
This paper shares findings of a qualitative study on professional learning with in-service teachers during COVID-19. From 2020–2023, the authors facilitated comprehensive literacy professional learning with in-service teachers from 40 schools in the Midwest U.S. Our work aimed to center teachers as experts and be responsive to teachers’ social, emotional, and professional needs. Drawing on framework for adaptability, we analyzed formative assessments, interview transcripts, and written reflections to understand teachers’ perspectives on professional learning and their praxis during COVID-19. Data revealed that participants perceived an increased need for professional learning on differentiation and focus on growth and joy. Against the backdrop of a neoliberal fixation on teacher accountability that increases stress among teachers on top of a traumatic global pandemic, we attempted to center teachers as experts and attend to teachers’ socioemotional needs by offering flexible pathways with online options and offering in-person sessions for cultivating community. Future research on teacher education for in-service teachers can provide greater insight into teacher perceptions of their professional learning needs post/COVID-19, as well as how we center teachers as knowledgeable professionals in order to challenge hierarchical power structures and deficit discourses in ways that promote their professional, social, and emotional wellbeing. Full article
15 pages, 319 KiB  
Article
Teacher Education beyond the Pandemic in Spain
by Josep Gallifa, Carme Flores and Mireia Montané
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 700; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13070700 - 10 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1217
Abstract
In the wake of the pandemic, there has been a clear need to understand the “new normal” contexts of teaching and learning and how they affect teacher education. In order to rethink and reimagine teacher education, a priority should be to have a [...] Read more.
In the wake of the pandemic, there has been a clear need to understand the “new normal” contexts of teaching and learning and how they affect teacher education. In order to rethink and reimagine teacher education, a priority should be to have a firm grasp on the traits that young people bring with them when they enroll in Education degree programs. In other words, we must understand their distinctive generational traits and how the various crises of recent years have affected them. This paper has three main aims, each of which is addressed in a corresponding section of the article. The first objective is to gain a better understanding of the educational needs and learning styles of this new generation of students and to examine how they are influenced by present-day realities. A second section strives to identify the most prominent challenges that are reshaping teacher education programs on a global scale. The third and final part explores the bidirectional interaction between these two previous variables by examining the educational approaches and methodologies that have been implemented recently in Spain and discussing the extent to which they have been able to meet students’ evolving needs. Given that these changes, transformations and pedagogical concerns are observable worldwide, these analyses and reflections are potentially relevant beyond the Spanish context. Full article
12 pages, 229 KiB  
Article
Pandemic Innovations in Teacher Education: Communities of Practice, Mentoring, and Technology
by Christy K. Irish, Melissa S. Wells, Janine S. Davis, Kristina Peck and Courtney Clayton
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 653; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13070653 - 27 Jun 2023
Viewed by 699
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the transformation of pre-service teaching experience due to virtual or hybrid completion during the 2020–2021 school year and to identify teaching and mentoring innovations that teacher educators should continue to promote. The research involved 14 student teachers and [...] Read more.
This study aimed to investigate the transformation of pre-service teaching experience due to virtual or hybrid completion during the 2020–2021 school year and to identify teaching and mentoring innovations that teacher educators should continue to promote. The research involved 14 student teachers and 5 mentor teachers from the United States across elementary, secondary, and pre-K–12 programs who participated in surveys, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. The results indicated that the integration of technology in student teaching and the shift to virtual or hybrid learning brought about new challenges and opportunities for both student teachers and mentor teachers. The study highlights technology that may continue to be used post-pandemic, the promotion of virtual communities of practice, and ways to quickly integrate and maximize student teachers in the classroom. Full article
18 pages, 291 KiB  
Article
Cross-Border Dialogues: A Collaborative Instructional Design Inquiry to Promote Equity and Diversity
by Zheng Zhang, Icy Lee, Helen Wan Yu Chan, Qi Guo, Angela Kuan, Jessica Sum Laam Lee, Qianhui Ma, Natalie Ching Tung Ng and Rozan Trad
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(6), 567; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13060567 - 31 May 2023
Viewed by 1078
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic complicates ingrained educational inequalities around the globe and foregrounds the pertaining challenges that teachers have encountered due to school closures and the shift to distance learning. This cross-border teacher education project intended to examine how academics and pre-service teachers in [...] Read more.
The COVID-19 pandemic complicates ingrained educational inequalities around the globe and foregrounds the pertaining challenges that teachers have encountered due to school closures and the shift to distance learning. This cross-border teacher education project intended to examine how academics and pre-service teachers in different geographic locales could collaboratively explore equitable learning opportunities for diverse learners through the use of critical media literacies to respond to interconnected global crises. In this six-week cross-border teacher education project, we recruited four Mandarin and English literacy teacher candidates in Hong Kong to interact with one another and one Canadian professor as part of the teacher preparation phase of a larger-scale cross-border research project that connects youth from Hong Kong and Canada in a social networking space. For the purposes of teacher professional development, the Hong Kong teacher candidates and Canadian researchers engaged in collective exploration of how instructional designs in literacy education could promote equitable learning opportunities for diverse learners. Findings show that the cross-border teacher education project supported teacher candidates’ development of pedagogical skills and espoused their agency in promoting educational equity and collective problem-solving through critical media literacies. Findings relate the teacher candidates’ shifted perspectives from focusing on students’ decontextualized language skills to nurturing critical media skills. Changing from a deficit-oriented view about what literacy learners could not do, the teacher candidates also adopted an asset-oriented view about the linguistic and cultural repertoires that diverse learners could bring to literacy classrooms. Full article
23 pages, 4178 KiB  
Article
Unlocking Emotional Aspects of Kindergarten Teachers’ Professional Identity through Photovoice
by Chloe Simiao Pan, Suzannie K. Y. Leung and Sally Wai-yan Wan
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(4), 342; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13040342 - 26 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1497
Abstract
The previous literature has strongly emphasized the professional aspects of teacher identity in terms of knowledge and pedagogical matters. However, teachers’ emotions have also been academically discussed in recent decades. The voices of kindergarten teachers are critical for reflecting on professional identities within [...] Read more.
The previous literature has strongly emphasized the professional aspects of teacher identity in terms of knowledge and pedagogical matters. However, teachers’ emotions have also been academically discussed in recent decades. The voices of kindergarten teachers are critical for reflecting on professional identities within the community of kindergarten teachers. Regrettably, in Hong Kong, kindergarten teachers have become an oppressed professional community due to the marketization of kindergartens in this neoliberal city. Therefore, this arts-based participatory study aimed to investigate teachers’ identities by discovering kindergarten teachers’ emotional characteristics in Hong Kong. Teachers’ voice has been collected through photo narratives. Twelve in-service kindergarten teachers participated in this study; all of them worked in local kindergartens in Hong Kong. The teachers were invited individually to take a photo of an object in their daily lives and share their own stories. Altogether 1080 min of interview data were recorded. Through a series of oral narratives by members of this marginalized professional community, this study unlocked the emotions and voices of kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong. Through a photovoice approach, the findings revealed how the teachers’ personal aspects were a neglected but important part of their teacher identity. Full article
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12 pages, 722 KiB  
Article
Web-Conferencing Systems (WCS): Individual, Group or Full-Class Teacher Education Format?
by Roman Sergeevich Nagovitsyn, Roza Alexeevna Valeeva and Liliia Agzamovna Latypova
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(2), 214; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13020214 - 18 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1146
Abstract
Web-conferencing systems (WCS) are gaining momentum in the implementation of distance learning for young people, especially during and after the spread of COVID-19. In this regard, it seems urgent to identify technologies for distance learning education that correspond to modern teacher education to [...] Read more.
Web-conferencing systems (WCS) are gaining momentum in the implementation of distance learning for young people, especially during and after the spread of COVID-19. In this regard, it seems urgent to identify technologies for distance learning education that correspond to modern teacher education to the fullest and are effective, user-friendly and convenient for all subjects of the educational process. This experiment revealed the most popular formats of communication for long-distance students in the implementation of future teachers’ professional training by means of video conferencing on the Zoom platform. The analysis of the implementation of various formats of interaction based on the questionnaire of research participants demonstrated a positive trend in the level of user expectations from educational interaction, technical preferences and students’ attitude to distance learning by means of web-conferencing. The implementation of distance learning using web-conferencing in group and full-class formats of interaction made it possible to increase social presence through the interactive cooperation of the students with each other and with the teacher in the educational and social context. These formats enhance social and cognitive interaction, thus developing key competencies in future teachers related to the ability to implement effective communication when working in a teaching team. It causes an increase in educational efficiency level and is critical, since it allows information to be obtained through interaction with each other and with the content presented on the screen. Thereby, educational distance communication with the help of web-conferencing should be considered as a new form of social and educational communication in the implementation of professional training rather than as a technical non-traditional tool for teacher education. Full article
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15 pages, 631 KiB  
Article
Teachers’ Workplace Victimization, Job Burnout, and Somatic and Posttraumatic Symptoms: A Structural Equation Modeling Examination
by Mahira Ghadban, Ruth Berkowitz and Guy Enosh
Educ. Sci. 2023, 13(2), 179; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13020179 - 08 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1672
Abstract
Teachers’ workplace victimization is a serious and concerning problem known to have numerous negative occupational and health outcomes for teachers. Surprisingly, however, the scientific literature has broadly overlooked schools as settings in which serious workplace violence occurs, and it has failed to systematically [...] Read more.
Teachers’ workplace victimization is a serious and concerning problem known to have numerous negative occupational and health outcomes for teachers. Surprisingly, however, the scientific literature has broadly overlooked schools as settings in which serious workplace violence occurs, and it has failed to systematically explore the antecedents and consequences of workplace victimization for teachers. To fill this gap, this study examined the structures of associations of teachers’ victimization via threats, verbal violence, and property violence with somatic and posttraumatic symptoms using structural equation modeling. The sample included 366 Arabic and Jewish teachers in Israel. The findings indicate that the teachers who reported victimization and symptoms experienced burnout, whereas the teachers who reported victimization and had no symptoms did not experience burnout. A significant relationship of teachers’ personal and professional characteristics with victimization, symptoms, and burnout also emerged. These findings advance our theoretical understanding of the predictors and consequences of violence against teachers in schools. Useful practices to improve teachers’ occupational and health outcomes are discussed. Full article
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22 pages, 3610 KiB  
Article
Towards Digitalization in Early Childhood Education: Pre-Service Teachers’ Acceptance of Using Digital Storytelling, Comics, and Infographics in Saudi Arabia
by Ahlam Mohammed Al-Abdullatif
Educ. Sci. 2022, 12(10), 702; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12100702 - 13 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2637
Abstract
Despite the promise of digital technology to enhance the teaching–learning process, integrating it into early childhood education remains a challenge. Recent literature shows that novice teachers do not fully utilize the potential of digital technology to promote student learning. Therefore, this study aims [...] Read more.
Despite the promise of digital technology to enhance the teaching–learning process, integrating it into early childhood education remains a challenge. Recent literature shows that novice teachers do not fully utilize the potential of digital technology to promote student learning. Therefore, this study aims to investigate early childhood pre-service teachers’ intentions to use three digital technology applications—Digital storytelling, digital comics, and digital infographics—As teaching tools, which critically contribute to their acceptance into and actual use in their future classrooms. A descriptive correlational approach was used to investigate the factors affecting the use intentions of pre-service teachers through the technological acceptance model (TAM). This research study seeks to contribute to the literature on digital technology integration in early childhood education in general and in the Saudi Arabian early childhood context in particular. The study results showed that how pre-service teachers perceived the ease of use of the three digital applications was significantly the major predictor of their attitudes toward using them. The study also found that pre-service teachers’ attitudes were significantly the major predictors of their behavioral intentions to use digital storytelling and comics in their future classrooms. However, attitude and perceived usefulness were equally valid predictors of pre-service teachers’ intentions to use infographics with young children. Important implications for training and teacher education programs were suggested by the findings. Full article
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