The fast pace of technological change within education has made it challenging for Faculty of Education professors to keep current with the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into teaching. This study focuses on an Ontario university Faculty of Education’s ubiquitous laptop program. Diffusion of innovation theory was used as a conceptual framework to examine how Faculty of Education professors perceive they are learning and integrating ICT into the preservice program despite a lack of formal ICT standards in the education system of Ontario. In 2007, data were gathered through interviews with faculty, administration, technical assistants and recent B.Ed. graduates. The faculty participated in an online survey to determine what ICT was being used and integrated within the B.Ed. program. In the analyses, data were organized into five themes based on Rogers (2003) diffusion of innovations theory: innovations used by faculty, adoption of innovations, organizational support of the adoption, unexpected consequences of the innovation, and increasing the rate of adoption. The findings from the faculty survey and interviews indicate that while many professors often integrated technology in their teaching, there existed a wide range of skills, confidence levels, and amount of ICT integrated into teaching among faculty. Issues influencing the adoption of effective technology integration that arose from the study include: lack of faculty development, off task behavior of preservice teachers, lack of time to learn ICT, technical difficulties, technical support concerns, wide range of ICT skills of preservice teachers, and the high cost of the laptops themselves. The lack of provincial ICT standards may have further contributed to the varied degrees of ICT integration at the university as well as that within schools in the practicum setting. Recommendations were made that have the potential to improve the effectiveness of ICT integration into the Bachelor of Education program and also provide direction for future faculty development initiatives, including faculty development. Findings from this study may be beneficial to researchers who are studying the faculty experience in ubiquitous laptop Faculty of Educations or other educational institutions considering ICT integration.

Research evidence suggests that quality teacher preparation sets beginning teachers on the right track for effectively teaching literacy. Given that most of the research has been conducted in the United States, there is a shortage of knowledge of the impact of teacher preparation for elementary literacy instruction in Canada. Similarly, little is known about the effect of program length and structure on graduates’ knowledge and skills. This thesis contains two studies aimed at addressing these gaps in the literature in the Ontario context. The majority of teacher preparation programs in Ontario are completed in one year, with the exception of 2 two-year teacher preparation programs. Study 1 is an exploratory investigation comparing the survey responses of 38 graduates from two-year programs with the responses of a matched sample of graduates from one-year programs on items related to their preparation for elementary literacy instruction. Paired-sample t-tests revealed that graduates from two-year programs reported spending significantly more time discussing literacy-related issues, had better knowledge of key literacy terms, felt better prepared for literacy instruction and were more likely to include evidence-based components as part of their literacy program. Study 2 is a qualitative investigation of two-year teacher preparation programs with a focus on literacy instruction. Thirty-eight graduates from both two-year programs in Ontario completed a survey. Ten of these graduates also completed an interview. Following a modified Grounded Theory approach, Study 2 presents a detailed analysis of two-year programs in Ontario including: a) the range of content regarding literacy instruction; b) the correspondence between the content and the evidence-based knowledge of effective literacy instruction; c) graduates’ knowledge base and skills for literacy instruction; and d) their feelings of preparedness. From a socio-cultural perspective, Study 2 also explored the processes and contexts that influence graduates’ formation as literacy instructors. The findings served as the basis for proposing a model for teacher preparation that encompasses the processes and contexts that mediate pre-service teachers’ development as literacy instructors. The proposed model outlines the necessary components to effectively prepare prospective teachers, based on scientific evidence, to ensure that all children learn to read and write.

In a mixed method study, teacher efficacy and contributing theoretical constructs of teacher concerns and teacher orientation with preservice teacher candidates were examined. Intermediate/Senior mathematics preservice teacher candidates from two major Ontario Universities’ Faculties of Education participated in this study. Data sources included a web-based survey containing two teacher efficacy scales and short answer questions, interviews with the preservice teacher candidates, and Intermediate/Senior mathematics course and program information collected from course instructors. Complexity theory provides support for the mixed methods methodology and the integrated and complex nature of teacher efficacy and its contributing factors. The literature on teacher efficacy rarely ventures into the secondary school mathematics preservice teacher level of teacher professional development. The study more clearly identifies teacher efficacy with preservice mathematics teachers and how teacher efficacy relates to teacher concerns and teacher orientation. The findings deepen the understanding of the connections between the constructs of teacher efficacy, teacher concern, and teacher orientation. Following from these findings, changes and considerations for preservice teacher preparation programs in order to more fully prepare secondary school mathematics teachers are described.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Kristy Archuleta / This study explored the factors that affect the capacity of teachers to teach personal finances in the public and private school systems in Puerto Rico. Three hundred sixteen teachers from grades six to 12 completed the on-line survey that included an assessment of demographic variables, socioeconomic variables, teaching variables and personal finance administration variables. To guide this study, the Personal Finance Education Efficacy Model was created using Social Cognitive Theory. Within this model, three research questions were addressed including what are the determinants of: (a) objective financial knowledge, (b) subjective financial knowledge, and (c) high personal finance teaching efficacy. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to test the determinants of both objective and subjective financial knowledge. Results indicated that both models were significant (ρ < .001), in which the model accounted for 10% of the variance of objective financial knowledge and 44% of the variance of subjective financial knowledge. A hierarchical binary logistic regression analysis was used to test the determinants of high level of personal finance teaching efficacy beliefs. Results showed the model was accurate approximately 83% of the time. Additionally, results from Principal Component Analyses indicated the Spanish translated versions of the Teacher Efficacy Scale (TES), the Financial Self-Efficacy Scale (FSES), and the Personal Finance Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (PFTEBI) demonstrated similar levels of reliability as previously published in the literature. These findings infer that scales may be used in other cultures and be translated into other languages like Spanish. The PFTEBI was created for this study based on the Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (MTEBI) to measure the level of teaching efficacy beliefs of the respondents. PFTEBI was found to be composed of three sub-scales and showed good reliability.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Michael Perl / The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) standards adopted in 2000 mandated the assessment of teacher dispositions. However, the lack of specificity of the construct has led to an environment where many institutions struggle to develop high-quality disposition assessments. The result is a hodgepodge of constructs and systems; some that work, some that do not. This quantitative study used a modified version of the Teacher Disposition Index (TDI) to identify the extent to which first-year teachers’ self-reported exhibiting the dispositions and whether they perceived they were taught the dispositions by the teacher education programs from which they graduated. Responses to the TDI were compared based on type of college or university from which they graduated, gender and age. The TDI, a 45 item, Likert-type survey, is aligned with the INTASC standards. Data were analyzed using frequency distributions, analysis of variance, and chi square tests. An aggregate review of all 45 dispositions shows 93.6% of responses were positive for “agree” or “strongly agree” that they exhibit the identified dispositions and 88.51% of responses were positive for perceiving they were taught the dispositions. Overall, there was no significant difference identified between any groups (by school type, gender, or age) except for in exhibited dispositions compared by gender (p< .05). When drilling down to specific dispositions, an occasional significant difference was identified. In general, the respondents in this state report they exhibit the identified dispositions at a high rate and they report the teacher education programs are teaching these dispositions. The following recommendations are made based on the results of this study. First, colleges and universities can teach more interpersonal communications skills as part of the required curriculum. More overt instruction of dispositions, especially at smaller institutions, is needed. Teacher education programs could place more emphasis on the development of dispositions of male teacher education candidates. Novice teachers could benefit from more instruction of informal assessment skills and flexibility in instruction.

The extensive educational reforms currently being implemented in Jamaica, in addition to my personal curiosity as a teacher educator, provide the rationale for this research. A better awareness and understanding of who enrols to learn to teach may be critical to the viability and success of the current reforms taking place in the Jamaican education system, and teacher education in particular. This study explores why Jamaican student teachers, who were not aspiring to learn to be teachers or teach, entered and completed a three-year teacher education programme. The study was guided by two essential research questions: (i) What accounts for Jamaican students, who indicate that teacher education and teaching are not their educational or occupational aspirations, entering and completing teacher education? (ii) What do these Jamaican students experience within the teacher education program that contributes to their belief that such a program is of benefit to their educational and occupational aspirations? Postcolonial theory (Ashcroft, Griffith & Tiffen, 1989) and theory of occupational choice (Ginzberg, 1963, 1972) serve as analytical frameworks to assist in better understanding the Jamaican student teacher experience. Qualitative methodology provided the means to including the essential “voices” of eight Jamaican student teachers; and, grounded theory the means to collecting and analysing what they had to say about entering and completing teacher education. The findings raise the notion of “youthfulness”, and how this may influence aspirations and decisions in an economic and academic environment of limited options and opportunities. They suggest that teacher education may serve as a “stepping-stone” to more desirable educational or occupational goals. The findings also reveal what these student teachers believed were significant aspects of the teacher education experience, and how this experience may contribute to their future educational or occupational plans and aspirations. Finally, this study supports the movement to reform teacher education in Jamaica; however, not at the expense of reducing the opportunities for higher education within the wider Jamaican populace. Suggestions are presented regarding possible reforms to secondary and post-secondary education in general; therefore, reforms which may support or enhance existing teacher education programmes.

This study is an exploration of the lived experiences of three secondary teachers who have developed innovative approaches to English education in response to the needs of diverse, multi-literate urban students. The research marries multiliteracies pedagogy with narrative inquiry, and explores themes and discourses in the teachers’ narrations of their practices. From the new perspective developed from this pairing emerge two significant findings. First, the study contributes to teacher development by synthesizing concepts of design in multiliteracies pedagogy and personal practical knowledge in narrative inquiry. From this synthesis arises the notion of the intentional design of personal practical knowledge occurring through self-directed professional learning that leads to innovation in teaching. Second, the study develops the concepts of interacting narratives and professional knowledge landscape, offering a method of analyzing the multifaceted interactions of Self and Other narratives in the context of a professional knowledge ecosystem. This method provides a specific framework for contextualizing interacting narratives and provides a new clarity of focus in narrative research texts.

This study is an exploration of the lived experiences of three secondary teachers who have developed innovative approaches to English education in response to the needs of diverse, multi-literate urban students. The research marries multiliteracies pedagogy with narrative inquiry, and explores themes and discourses in the teachers’ narrations of their practices. From the new perspective developed from this pairing emerge two significant findings. First, the study contributes to teacher development by synthesizing concepts of design in multiliteracies pedagogy and personal practical knowledge in narrative inquiry. From this synthesis arises the notion of the intentional design of personal practical knowledge occurring through self-directed professional learning that leads to innovation in teaching. Second, the study develops the concepts of interacting narratives and professional knowledge landscape, offering a method of analyzing the multifaceted interactions of Self and Other narratives in the context of a professional knowledge ecosystem. This method provides a specific framework for contextualizing interacting narratives and provides a new clarity of focus in narrative research texts.

University-based initial teacher education aims at instilling in teacher candidates the idea of the interconnectedness of content, pedagogical and educational research knowledge by allowing meaningful interaction between teacher candidates and teacher educators. The theory-practice divide is presented in the literature as barrier to achieving this goal. This mixed methods research study re-conceptualizes the theory-practice divide from a problem into an opportunity. Secondary school teacher candidates can use contradictions and tensions, surrounding the theory-practice divide, for synthesizing diverse perspectives on content, pedagogical and educational research knowledge. They can integrate this perspective in their practice teaching. The study examined secondary school teacher candidates’ perspectives on the interaction of their content, pedagogical and educational research knowledge in practice teaching as well as factors contributing to these perspectives. The study found that participants’ different perspectives on their research pedagogical and content knowledge (RPACK) were associated with the different levels of their reform-mindedness in mathematics education as measured by a survey. The low, medium and high reform minded participants placed as the first priority pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge and educational research knowledge, respectively.

University-based initial teacher education aims at instilling in teacher candidates the idea of the interconnectedness of content, pedagogical and educational research knowledge by allowing meaningful interaction between teacher candidates and teacher educators. The theory-practice divide is presented in the literature as barrier to achieving this goal. This mixed methods research study re-conceptualizes the theory-practice divide from a problem into an opportunity. Secondary school teacher candidates can use contradictions and tensions, surrounding the theory-practice divide, for synthesizing diverse perspectives on content, pedagogical and educational research knowledge. They can integrate this perspective in their practice teaching. The study examined secondary school teacher candidates’ perspectives on the interaction of their content, pedagogical and educational research knowledge in practice teaching as well as factors contributing to these perspectives. The study found that participants’ different perspectives on their research pedagogical and content knowledge (RPACK) were associated with the different levels of their reform-mindedness in mathematics education as measured by a survey. The low, medium and high reform minded participants placed as the first priority pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge and educational research knowledge, respectively.