Students with disabilities need properly trained educators. The capacity of teachers to affect student learning is contingent upon the preparation they receive. Attitudes and feelings of preparedness to work with students with disabilities expressed by teachers indicate that their training is inadequate. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to explore preservice and beginning teachers’ attitudes and feelings of preparedness to work with students with disabilities. Participants included preservice teachers who were just beginning their teacher education program (Phase 1), student teachers (Phase 2), and practicing teachers (Phase 3) who had been enrolled in either undergraduate or graduate initial licensure teacher preparation programs at East Tennessee State University. A three-part survey containing both closed and open-ended items, including the Opinions Relative to the Integration of Students with Disabilities (ORI) scale, was used for data collection. Quantitative findings in this study were mixed or inconclusive. Some significant differences were found in overall ORI scores and subscale scores based on 1) the phase of training for undergraduates, 2) program levels (undergraduates and graduates), 3) type of teacher certification, and 4) the existence of relationships with persons with disabilities. No differences in attitude were found for any program-related teaching experiences with persons with disabilities. When combined with qualitative analysis, the study revealed a collection of disconnects that provided insight into the preparation of teachers. Disconnects were noted between expressed attitudes and feelings of preparedness; feelings of preparedness and program benefit; teacher preparation and teacher practice; and expressed value and need for more field experiences and the impact of program-related teaching experiences on attitudes and feelings of preparedness. Themes involving personal relationships, the expectancy to collaborate and learn through ongoing experience, and the limited focus on students with disabilities throughout the teacher education programs provided clues to factors that might potentially impact feelings of preparedness to work with students with disabilities.

Mentoring is a common element of new teacher induction aimed at easing beginning teachers' entry into the profession and assisting beginning teacher growth and development. Previous research has shown that mentors are comfortable supporting beginning teachers but are reluctant to provide challenge-activities that will help beginning teachers improve their practice. For optimal growth to occur, mentors should balance support and challenge in their work with beginning teachers. This descriptive study employed multiple cases to examine the relationship of two junior high school mentors with their mentees. The mentors in this study work in a school district with an established and highly supportive mentoring program. Each mentor has received extensive preparation and ongoing support for their mentoring efforts. The purpose of this study was to examine how mentors balanced support and challenge in order to assist their mentees' growth. The relationships of two mentors, working with two beginning teachers each, were examined for elements of support and challenge as well as the ways in which the mentors and mentees positioned each other and were positioned. The mentors in this study strongly favored challenge over support in their interactions with their mentees. Although there were many similarities among the mentoring activities and conversations with the beginning teachers, each mentor had her own mentoring style and adapted their mentoring to meet the needs of the individual beginning teachers with whom she worked. One might expect challenge to be critical or negative, but the challenge found in this study was more nuanced and complex. The nurturing challenge found in this study was paired with support in such a way that the beginning teachers were not overwhelmed by the feedback they received. While the institutional expectations of mentors influenced how they positioned themselves in relation to the mentees, mentors also attempted to position mentees in a position of power within their own classrooms and with respect to their own development as beginning teachers. While at times both mentors and mentees resisted being in the position of dominance, for a majority of the interactions both parties accepted the institutional positions prescribed by the district program.

Over two million new K–12 teachers will be employed in the United States over this decade. Current conservative estimates state that close to thirty percent of new teachers hired to fill these positions will leave the teaching profession within the first three years. This study was designed to obtain current information about accredited teacher credentialing institutions with regards to how they affect teacher longevity in the teaching profession. Utilizing current research as a guide for determining what is needed to bolster the new teacher's ability to cope with the demands of the classroom, this research polled credentialing institutions in the state of California to determine if the elements existed within their programs. This study then presented the findings from the researcher created survey, the review of course catalogues, and follow-up interviews conducted for clarification. This research found that while ninety percent of the responses from the returned surveys agreed that teacher preparation programs do have a responsibility to affect teacher retention there are elements within all current programs surveyed that are missing.

No description available.

This study explores the motivations, perceptions, and imagery of beginning teachers in Lebanon. It foregrounds the importance of ‘images’ as potentially useful conceptual tools for understanding the developing identities of beginning teachers. The research consists of in-depth, semi-structured interviews in which student-teachers are encouraged to reflect on their own and other people’s views and perceptions about teaching. The thesis places the students-teachers’ personal portraits of teaching within broader cultural-historical representations of teachers in Lebanon and examines how the student-teachers deal with such representations while still in training. The core research questions focus on the participants’ motivations as well as the underlying cultural, social, and political factors that influence their views and perceptions about teaching. The research questions were designed to explore the various images of teachers and teaching that the students draw on in their personal portraits. Biographical information as well as students’ experiences at the time of training were explored for this purpose. The findings suggest that student-teachers’ developing identities emerge through their identification with competing images and representations of teaching and teachers. These images cut across various contexts, temporalities, and imagined settings in the student-teacher portraits, linking personal, educational and professional experiences. Many of the images synthesized large amounts of experiences and knowledge about teaching and contained gendered, religious, affective and interpersonal dimensions. Finally, the thesis offers a new way of conceptualizing images. This study hopes to help teacher education programs gain greater insight into beginning teachers’ thinking, motivations and developing identities.

Thesis (PhD (Curriculum Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / This dissertation is an interpretive analysis of the professional experiences of six beginning Home Economics teachers in Malawi. The specific aim of the study was to explore the opportunities, challenges and problems of the teachers in their first year of teaching. The data for the study were developed using a triangulation of five research methods, including a questionnaire, face-to-face interviews, classroom observations, teachers’ reflective diaries and focus group discussions. Grounded theory was used as the methodology and analytical framework of the study. Research in teacher education acknowledges that learning to teach is a complex process (Calderhead & Shorrock, 1997; Flores, 2001; Flores & Day, 2006; Solmon, Worthy & Carter, 1993) and that the first year of teaching has a very important impact on the future careers of beginning teachers (Stokking, Leender, De Jong and Van Tarwijk, 2003; Solmon et al., 1993). The transition from the teacher training institution to the secondary school classroom is characterised by a type of reality shock in which the ideals that were formed during teacher training are replaced by the reality of school life (Lortie, 1975). The results in this study point at the school context as the ‘reality definer’ in the professional experiences of the teachers. The findings also support previous studies of beginning teachers which have emphasised the vulnerability of beginning teachers and show the first year of teaching as a ‘sink or swim experience’. However, the results show a unique relationship between the school context and school expectations. In this dissertation I contend that it is this relationship that was fundamental to the professional experiences of the six beginning Home Economics teachers. In the dissertation I present a three-stage substantive-level theory of the beginning teachers’ experiences and argue for the redefinition of the perception of teacher learning in Malawi: from a definition of pre-service teacher education as teacher learning, to teacher learning as a ‘triadic process’ comprised of teacher education, school induction and continued professional development.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:56:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rosemeire dos Santos Cunha Oliveira.pdf: 1235070 bytes, checksum: aafd03975f392b2cb6eb2487d980988e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The initialization to teaching is characterized by intense conflicts, uncertainties but also by moments of satisfaction, discoveries and great desire beginners to learn the profession and become better and better teachers, despite the differences experienced in this career step. This research aimed to identify and discuss issues that mark the entrance in the career of a group of history teachers of upper grades of elementary school, as well as ways of facing found to meet these requirements. For this study used a qualitative approach, through semi-structured interviews with three History of beginning teachers from the public school state of São Paulo state. The guiding axis of this survey included the entry into the teaching profession, the life cycle of teachers, challenges and difficulties faced and the knowledge they mobilized. Overall, the results of this study allow us to affirm that the early-stage teachers facing pedagogical and institutional difficulties, because they present feelings of loneliness caused by the absence of collective work, lack of experience, as well as uncertainties and insecurities that affect the carry out teaching. During the analysis, it was observed that one of the weaknesses that populate the universe of the group of beginning teachers is related to the lack of theoretical study. The results also showed that, despite being the beginning of his career an important period of the teaching life, insertion programs and monitoring of teaching does not are constituted a priority of public policy / A inicialização à docência é caracterizada por intensos conflitos, incertezas, mas também por momentos de satisfação, descobertas e grande desejo dos iniciantes aprenderem a profissão e tornarem-se cada vez melhores professores, apesar das diversidades experienciadas nessa etapa da carreira. A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo identificar e problematizar questões que assinalam a entrada na carreira de um grupo de professores de História das séries finais do Ensino Fundamental, bem como as formas de enfrentamento encontradas para responder a essas exigências. Para este estudo, foi utilizada a abordagem qualitativa, por meio de entrevistas semiestruturada com três professores iniciantes de História da rede pública de ensino do Estado de São Paulo. O eixo norteador desta pesquisa contemplou a entrada na carreira docente, o ciclo de vida dos professores, desafios e dificuldades enfrentadas e os saberes por eles mobilizados. De modo geral, os resultados do presente estudo permitiram afirmar que os docentes em início de carreira enfrentam dificuldades pedagógicas e institucionais, pois apresentam sentimentos de solidão causada pela ausência do trabalho coletivo, falta de experiência, além de incertezas e inseguranças que os acometem no exercício da docência. No decorrer das análises, observou-se que umas das fragilidades que povoam o universo do grupo de professores iniciantes, está relacionada à falta de aprofundamento teórico. Os resultados também revelaram que, embora seja o início da carreira um período importante da vida docente, os programas de inserção e acompanhamento da docência ainda não se constituem como prioridade das políticas públicas

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:33:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriane Knoblauch.pdf: 3525095 bytes, checksum: 5342f10d7ec705e3fae37b51fd6a8ce2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-02-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The present work discusses the professional socialization of teachers in the first years of career in the Fundamental Level in the city of Curitiba. Based on the studies of Pierre Bourdieu, professional socialization means the process through which occurs the incorporation of aspects of the habitus of a certain professional group, based on the origin of the agents. The habitus is understood here as the aspects present in the school´s culture which guide actions and behavior in the interior of a professoral group. The purpose if this study was understand the means by which occurs the professional socialization of beginning teachers, because such aspects belong to a major process of formation of the teacher. The final objective was to contribute with the theories of teacher professionalization. Data were collected by the observation of five teachers in the beginning if their career in a school in the outskirts of Curitiba, during planning time, meetings and other groupal activities in the school, so as to accompany their behavior in relation to other teachers. The five teachers were also interviewed so as to try to establish characteristics of their original habitus, considering financial, cultural and social aspects of their families, as well as their school history and the beginning of the career as a teacher. Other personnel of the school were interviewed, so as to learn how the beginning teachers are seen by them. The analysis of the data, subsidized by studies of Bourdieu and Elias, signaled that, in the professional socialization process, three aspects of the relation between the original habitus of the teachers and the internal school dispositions combine: there are dispositions which need to be incorporated, because they are completely new, such as terms by which the new teachers will need to describe their students´ development, which shows their lack of linguistic capital, necessary for teaching; other dispositions were already a part of their habitus, but needed to be adapted because the teachers learned them when they were students themselves; and there are dispositions in the original habitus which were maintained the submission to the superiors in school, the moral of effort, which comes from their vision of work and the ethics of care and tenderness, which comes from their feminine memory. Such adapted, new and maintained dispositions guided the teachers actions in the beginning of their professional life / Este trabalho discute a socialização profissional de professores dos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental em início de carreira do município de Curitiba. Com base nos estudos de Pierre Bourdieu, entende-se por socialização profissional o processo pelo qual ocorre a incorporação de aspectos do habitus próprio de um grupo profissional que se dá a partir do habitus de origem dos agentes. Em se tratando do grupo docente, o habitus está sendo entendido aqui por aspectos presentes na cultura da escola que orientam ações e comportamentos em seu interior. O objetivo do trabalho foi compreender o modo pelo qual ocorre a socialização profissional de professores iniciantes por entender que tais aspectos fazem parte do amplo processo de formação de professores, com vistas a contribuir para a teorização sobre profissionalização docente. Os dados foram coletados por meio da observação de cinco professoras em início de carreira de uma escola da periferia de Curitiba durante os horários de planejamento, de reuniões e de outros momentos de convívio no interior da escola para acompanhar a atuação delas perante outras professoras. Além disso, foram realizadas entrevistas com elas para tentar estabelecer facetas do habitus de origem delas no que se refere ao capital econômico, cultural e social de suas famílias, à trajetória escolar delas e ao início da carreira docente. Entrevistas também foram realizadas com outros profissionais da escola a fim de reconhecer a forma como as professoras em início de carreira eram vistas por eles. A análise dos dados, subsidiada por estudos de Bourdieu e Elias, apontou para um processo de socialização profissional em que três aspectos se complementam na relação entre o habitus de origem das professoras e as disposições para a docência instaladas no interior da escola: há disposições que precisaram ser incorporadas que são completamente novas, tais como a incorporação novos termos por parte das professoras iniciantes para descrever o desenvolvimento de seus alunos, o que revela desconhecimento delas em aspectos lingüísticos do capital cultural necessário para a docência; outras disposições já estavam instaladas no habitus, mas precisaram ser adaptadas tendo em vista que foram vivenciadas pelas professoras enquanto alunas, tais como a organização do tempo escolar; e há, ainda, disposições presentes no habitus de origem das professoras iniciantes que foram mantidas no processo de socialização profissional, quais sejam, a submissão frente à esfera de poder da escola, a moral do esforço decorrente da visão de trabalho presente nas professoras e a ética do cuidado e carinho, decorrente da memória feminina delas. Tais disposições - adaptadas, novas e mantidas - orientaram ações das professoras no início da carreira docente

Cette thèse rend compte d’une recherche inscrite dans le programme empirique et technologique du « cours d’action », un programme d’anthropologie cognitive poursuivant conjointement (i) un but épistémique par la production de concepts sur l’activité humaine et (ii) un but transformatif par la conception d’aides favorisant des transformations majorantes de cette activité. La thèse s’inscrit plus particulièrement dans un volet consacré à la vidéoformation des enseignants. La recherche dont elle rend compte poursuit des travaux antérieurs décrivant, analysant et modélisant l’activité des enseignants débutants afin de mieux comprendre les difficultés qu’ils rencontrent et les aider à mieux y faire face. Elle fait plus particulièrement suite à ceux qui ont abouti à la conception de NéoPass@ction (neo.ens-lyon.fr), un dispositif de vidéoformation en ligne basé sur la modélisation de l’évolution de l’activité typique des débutants du second degré dans une situation identifiée comme critique : l’entrée en classe et la mise au travail des élèves.L’objectif principal de la thèse est l’étude systématique de l’activité d’enseignants stagiaires du second degré en situation d’utilisation autonome de NéoPass@ction. Son objectif secondaire est l’étude exploratoire de l’influence de cette vidéoformation autonome sur l’activité enseignante en classe. La thèse vise ainsi à (i) investir la modalité d’autonomie en vidéoformation, originale sur le plan empirique ; (ii) contribuer à la connaissance de l’activité et des modalités d’apprentissage des enseignants en situation de vidéoformation, essentiellement étudiées à partir d’objets intermédiaires et rarement à grains fins et de façon holistique ; (iii) alimenter un processus de conception continuée de NéoPass@ction ; et (iv) proposer des pistes technologiques pour la conception et la mise en oeuvre de dispositifs de vidéoformation. Six enseignants stagiaires ont participé à l’étude par deux utilisations autonomes deNéoPass@ction, de quarante-cinq minutes chacune, et en accueillant le chercheur trois fois dans leur classe. Quatre types de données ont été recueillies : des données d’observation (i) de l’activité de vidéoformation (capture dynamique d’écran) et (ii) de l’activité en classe(enregistrements vidéo), et des données d’entretien (iii) de remise en situation à l’aide des traces numériques de l’activité de vidéoformation et (iv) d’autoconfrontation aux enregistrements en classe.Les résultats (i) montrent des structures typiques de différents niveaux dans l’organisation de l’activité en situation d’utilisation de NéoPass@ction ; (ii) montrent des concordances entre activité attendue par les concepteurs et activité réelle des enseignants, mais aussi des décalages motivant des aménagements ; (iii) modélisent un processus typique d’apprentissage (iv) articulant des séquences d’exploration (orientées-dispositif) et d’enquête (orientées-travail), (v) impliquant différents niveaux d’immersion mimétique correspondant à différents types d’enquête, (vi)ouvrant des séquences d’enquête consistant en l’identification et l’évaluation conjointes et spontanées de couplages significatifs [enjeu/action], (vii) aboutissant à la typification des couplages perçus et évalués comme viables et enviables, et (viii) pouvant participer d’une trajectoire de développement et s’accompagner d’échos significatifs en situation de classe. Un premier niveau de discussion globale des résultats mobilise des concepts essentiellement sémiotiques et narratologiques et présente des aménagements effectués et possibles pourNéoPass@ction ; un second niveau repositionne les résultats dans l’état de l’art empirique et technologique et propose des pistes de conception en vidéoformation. / This thesis reports on a research included in the empirical and technological program of "course-of-action", a program of cognitive anthropology jointly endorsing (i) an epistemic aim by producing concepts on human activity and (ii ) a transformative aim by designing aids enhancing the improvement of that activity. The thesis is part of a particular strand to video-enhanced teacher development. The research which it reports builds on previous work describing, analyzing and modeling the activity of beginning teachers in order to better understand the challenges they face and help them cope better. It especially follows on those that led to the design of NéoPass@ction (neo.ens-lyon.fr), an online video-enhanced device based on the modeling of the evolution of the typical activity of secondary school beginners in a situation identified as critical : entrying into the classroom and getting students to work. The main aim of the thesis is the systematic study of the activity of trainee teachers of secondary school in a situation of autonomous use of NéoPass@ction. Its secondary aim is the exploratory study of the influence of this autonomous video-enhanced training on teaching activity in the classroom. The thesis thus aims to (i) investigate the modality of autonomous videoenhanced training, an empirically original object; (ii) contribute to the knowledge of activity and of learning conditions for teachers in video-enhanced situations, that are mainly studied from intermediate objects and rarely in a fine-grained and holistic way; (iii) feeding a design-in-use process of NéoPass@ction; and (iv) make technological propositions for the design and implementation of video-enhanced devices and training sessions. Six trainee teachers participated in the study by two autonomous uses of NéoPass@ction, forty-five minutes each, and by hosting the researcher three times in their classroom. Four types of data were collected: observation data (i) of video-enhanced training activity (dynamic screen captures) and (ii) of teaching activity (video recordings); and interview data (iii) of re-situation using digital traces of the video-enhanced training activity and (iv) self-confrontation to classroom recordings. The results (i) identify typical structures of different levels in the organization of the activity in the situations of NéoPass@ction use; (ii) show matches between activity expected by the designers and actual activity performed by the teachers, but also offsets motivating design developments; (iii) model a typical learning process (iv) articulating exploration sequences (device-oriented) and inquiry sequences (work-oriented), (v) involving various levels of mimetic immersion corresponding to various types of inquiry, (vi) opening inquiry sequences consisting in the joint and spontaneous identification and evaluation of significant couplings [issue / action], (vii) resulting in the typification of the couplings perceived and evaluated as viable and “enviable”, and (viii) that can foster vocational growth and generate significant echoes in teaching situations. A first level of overall discussion of the results mobilizes primarily semiotic and narratological concepts and presents completed and possible design arrangements of NéoPass@ction; a second level repositions the results in the state of empirical and technological art and makes propositions for video-enhanced design.

The study is concerned with the process of socialisation of teachers in the teaching profession. Drawing on socialisation theory the study sees the process of secondary socialisation in teacher preparation as building skills and enabling personal development. It was predicted that in the transition from the training institution to the first years of teaching, the degree of job satisfaction and commitment to teaching would be related to the degree of conflict experienced and that job satisfaction and commitment would be less for beginning teachers compared with that anticipated by trainees. Conflict was seen as appropriately measured by the difference between personal professional attitudes and occupational values one the one hand and the professional attitudes and occupational values perceived to be held by senior teachers on the other. Seventy-three final year trainee teachers at the Canberra College of Advanced Education and 47 beginning teachers in their first two years of teaching in Canberra primary and secondary schools, were selected as the sample. Previously validated instruments were used in a questionnaire. The findings clearly showed the existence of conflict between personal professional attitudes and occupational values and the perceived professional attitudes and occupational values of senior teachers. The difference in conflict between trainees and beginning teachers was small and tended to decrease. However, there was a marked increase in variance of conflict scores for women conpared to men. For women also, conflict was highly related to job satisfaction. Thc findings suggested that men tend to be more homogeneous in their adaptation to teaching and are more inclined to be satisfied and committed despite holding professional attitudes and occupational values which conflict with those of senior teachers. The study discusses some of the imlications of the findings for the training institution and the importance, particularly for women teachers, of coping with conflict in the teaching situation.