The aim of this research was to investigate stakeholder attitudes towards people, with dyslexia, training to be primary classroom practitioners. The study examined stakeholder awareness and understanding of the term dyslexia; their perceived strengths and challenges, of those training to be teachers, with dyslexia. The study explored the impact of attitudes on disclosure of dyslexia and the potential of their employability as primary teachers in light of inclusive legislation and whether attitudes, held by a range of stakeholders, were on a neutral to positive or neutral to negative spectrum. The research entailed the implementation of an online questionnaire completed by 214 current stakeholders (including Initial teacher Education lecturers, school staff, Initial Teacher Education students and parents) and 11 semi-structured interviews. Findings suggest that there is uncertainty and confusion about the term dyslexia, its associated characteristics and its causes. Many stakeholders perceive dyslexia negatively with key characteristics being linked, predominantly, to deficits in reading, writing and spelling. This research has found that stakeholders identify a number of strengths that those with dyslexia bring to the teaching profession. These key strengths include empathy, inclusive practice and ease of identification of children with dyslexia. The main challenges/concerns identified by stakeholders, of those entering the profession, with dyslexia, were - the demands of the profession; the inability to teach particular age groups/subjects and the level of support needed to ensure success and retention following qualification. This latter concern constitutes a key finding of this research, as the level of support afforded by universities is perceived as being unrealistic in the workplace. The ethical responsibility that universities have, in preparing students for the demands and reality of the workplace, has emerged. The notion of what constitutes ‘reasonable adjustments’ is questioned by many stakeholders. This research concludes that a number of ‘reasonable adjustments’ are perceived as being unreasonable within the teaching profession due to the professional roles, responsibilities and requirements of being a teaching professional. Furthermore, uncertainty about legislation exists with regard to reasonable adjustments, whose responsibility it is to enforce reasonable adjustments and how schools can actually support those with dyslexia, in light of professional standards. Overall, this research has found that 16.1% more stakeholders display attitudes on the neutral to positive spectrum than neutral to negative with regard to those with dyslexia training to be primary classroom teachers. However, this masks major differences between stakeholders and between responses to particular statements/questions. A significant majority of stakeholders demonstrated a negative attitude towards the notion of people with dyslexia entering the teaching profession, believing that parents should be concerned if their child is being taught by someone with dyslexia. Both of these findings could have serious implications on the future disclosure of those with dyslexia. This research has found that a fear of stigmatisation and potential discrimination, which deter those with dyslexia from disclosing on course and job applications are justified and real. This research concludes that employability chances are lessened upon disclosure of dyslexia.

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.

The need to empower student teachers with positive teacher-student relationships (TSRs) competencies resonates with the fact that students are not merely cognitive but also emotional and social beings. Indeed, the interactions of the cognitive, emotional and social dimensions work to impact on their learning and performance. The benefits for positive teacher-student relationships within and outside class contexts cannot be overemphasised. Students are hard-wired with the need to connect in relationships with their teachers. Teacher-student relationships determine students’ school engagement, their adaptation to developmental changes and their motivation to learn. Also, TSRs influence students’ discipline, stability to social adjustments, value orientation and their identity formation and development. Undeniably, the building of positive TSRs and teaching and learning processes are essentially mutually inclusive. To be able to form and sustain positive TSRs, student teachers need well-developed knowledge, beliefs, and self efficacy attributes. This comparative study of Tanzania and Germany argues that positive teacher student relationships form a critical requirement for effective teaching, learning, and holistic development of students in schools. To this end, the initial teacher education has a duty to nurture the TSRs attributes alongside other teacher competencies. Despite the acknowledgement of the necessity for positive TSRs by researchers, educators, and administrative authorities, literature provides no evidence of the contribution of the initial teacher education to the positive TSRs abilities. The existing studies on TSRs have focused mainly on TSRs in schools and on the problems related to unhealthy TSRs (Giles, 2008; Jones, 2009; Knoell, 2012; Raufelder et al., 2013; Sands, 2011; Wubbel et al., 1993) and others. This disjuncture between the reported problems faced by teachers in forming and sustaining positive TSRs and the opportunity for initial teacher education to empower student teachers for positive relational exchange frames this study. The study employed a combination of the conceptual change, self-efficacy, and goal contents theories. The utilisation of the theories was justified by the study assumptions that in order to produce teachers who are capable of handling positive TSRs in schools, the initial teacher education has to transform, orient, and reorient student teachers on the relational exchange knowledge. Secondly, apart from the pro-relational knowledge, student teachers ought to demonstrate improved self-efficacy as a yardstick of their preparedness and commitment to positive TSRs. Lastly, the study examined the implication of student teachers’ motivational reasons for joining teaching on their TSRs self efficacy. Motivational dynamics have been proven to influence teachers’ occupational satisfaction and their behaviours (Weiss & Kiel, 2013; Vansteenkiste & Ryan, 2013). Hence, the motivational reasons held by student teachers to join the teaching profession were viewed as an important construct which also may influence the student teachers’ self-efficacy for positive TSRs. This study sought to answer the following question: Does the university¬¬ based initial teacher education contribute to positive TSRs (competencies) among student teachers? To ascertain for this role, the study investigated and compared student teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, perceived self efficacy, as well as the approaches employed in this regard. The study was anchored on the Pragmatism epistemology and ontology. The study used qualitative and quantitative techniques to study two typical cases, namely; the Universities of Leipzig and Dar es Salaam, in Germany and Tanzania respectively. The study deployed both probabilistic and non-probabilistic sampling techniques to arrive at the sample size N=721 for student teachers; both final-year (n=548) and beginners (n=173) and eight (8) university teacher educators. Findings of the study show the presence of significant changes in the student teachers\' knowledge, beliefs, and perceived self-efficacy for positive TSRs. Comparatively, student teachers in Germany revealed higher levels of the TSRs knowledge and perceived self-efficacy than their Tanzanian counterparts. However, the qualitative findings revealed inadequacies in TSRs knowledge among the final-year student teachers in both countries. The beginner student teachers in Germany demonstrated higher command in positive TSRs knowledge and self efficacy than their Tanzanian counterparts. It was further unveiled that the student teachers’ knowledge had a significant association with their self-efficacy for positive TSRs. The approaches employed in promoting positive TSRs competencies include the teaching practice, educational courses and role modelling. However, these approaches were constrained by the strict focus given on academic performance, lack of clear orientation on the nature of positive TSRs, and overlook of important and potential aspects of initial teacher education. Despite having approaches to promoting positive TSRs abilities, teacher educators demonstrated varied and contradicting perspectives of what constitutes the nature and character of positive TSRs. The study considered contradicting perspectives among the hurdles to the effective orientation of the positive TSRs. Moreover, findings indicated that student teachers in Germany and Tanzania joined the teaching profession as a result of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational reasons. It was found out that the intrinsic motivation reasons were more important among German student teachers. Conversely, extrinsic motivational reasons were relatively more important among student teachers in Tanzania. The analysis of motivational reasons indicated a strong positive association (Cramer’s V .175) between intrinsic motivational reasons and perceived self-efficacy for positive TSRs. The study concludes that although positive TSRs feature in the initial teacher education, its implementation has suffered inconsistency, underrepresentation, and misinterpretation by teacher educators and student teachers. The study recommends for an integration of a compulsory positive TSRs content or module to address for depth, breadth and evaluative treatment of the competencies (the proposed framework of integration has been suggested). Moreover, the study recommends for the redefinition and reaffirmation of the positive TSRs phenomenon in the theoretical and practical aspects of the university based initial teacher education.

As teaching is a highly complex activity, so too is learning to teach. One pedagogy which has been shown to promote teacher learning is the use of small group discussion. This thesis examines the experiences of seven preservice secondary teachers at a New Zealand university who met weekly during their second practicum to discuss their experiences at their placement schools. Individual interviews conducted with five of the participants revealed that students felt positively about the weekly meetings. The preservice teachers appreciated 1) being able to hear about the experiences of other preservice teachers 2) tell others about their teaching 3) being able to seek advice and potential solutions to problems 4) the sense of personal connection and emotional support they gained during the weekly sessions. The students reported that the weekly meetings allowed them to think about their teaching from the perspective of others, and gave them time to reflect about their experiences while on practicum. This study situates these findings within the literature on initial teacher education and offers suggestions for future research using this pedagogy.

This thesis examines students’ experiences of learning to teach mathematics as they complete a primary Postgraduate Certificate in Education to gain qualified teacher status. The research data are drawn from students’ accounts of learning to teach mathematics, which include email communications during their studies and interviews with eight students at the end of the course. Analysis is informed by post-structuralist feminist understandings of discourse, power and knowledge. These tools are used to explore the complexities of learning to teach, the ways in which beginning teachers are ‘produced’, what counts as mathematics and the effects of power relations within pedagogical encounters. I use a reflexive approach to methodology, acknowledging the ways in which my own subjectivity permeates the enquiry, and the ways in which power permeates the research process. The study found performances of gender in students’ accounts of their experiences of the course, both on campus and in schools. Dominant discourses of teaching and mathematics create tensions for students and act as a form of control and categorisation as they strive to be recognised as legitimate mathematics teachers. It is argued that students’ subjectivities are shaped by discursive practices and peer and pedagogical relationships in the context of the course and that students are constituted as mathematical subjects often in inequitable ways. They are both powerful and powerless in different instances as they take up competing discourses, positioning themselves and their peers in shifting locations. Some students are silenced, categorised and marginalised within discourses of mathematics. Most report complying with the established practices of the school and class teacher and focused on the struggle to achieve legitimacy as successful student teachers. They 2 demonstrate both compliance with and resistance to dominant discourses as they are caught between the tensions and inconsistencies of competing and conflicting discourses. A key implication of this study is that teachers, teacher educators and student teachers need opportunities to explore their own gendered subjectivities as learners and teachers and to acknowledge that learning to teach mathematics is not solely a cognitive endeavour but one deeply located in social relations and contexts. Within teacher education more spaces need to be opened up to enable student teachers to embody themselves as mathematics subjects and primary teachers differently.

This thesis reports the findings of a research study conducted in an initial primary teacher education college in Dublin, exploring how teacher education students experienced and constructed meaning from a pre-service RE course which recognized the importance of a focus on their inner lives. The study, which adopted a qualitative interpretive approach, was conducted using semi-structured interviews with twelve past students from a recently-graduated year group of one hundred students. The study hoped to uncover how a focus on the inner life was taken up by the research participants in relation to their personal and professional wellbeing and their role as educators in general and religious educators in particular. While it did not seek to generalise as a result of the findings, confined as it is by time and circumstance, nevertheless aspects deemed worthwhile by the research participants may also be deemed worthwhile by the reader and indeed may not be confined to the domain of RE. The findings have been framed generally against the three themes of ‘particularity’, ‘inner-ness’ and ‘ongoing-ness’. The theme of ‘particularity’ relates to the participants’ epistemological journey, as it is concerned with how concrete elements of the course supported inner life work. The theme of ‘inner-ness’ relates to the participants’ ontological journey, as it is concerned with how participants experienced and made meaning from the space provided by the course for inner life work. The theme of ‘ongoingness’ relates to the total RE journey from primary and secondary school to college and into their teaching lives and its impact on participants’ inner lives. What is clear from participants’ responses is that the RE course, and particularly the elements of the RE course that had a focus on the inner life, had a significant impact on participants’ identity, both personal and professional, at an important stage of their development and personal story. The study demonstrates the importance of inner life work for teacher education students and contributes a level of insight into how students appropriate and construct meaning from a created and creative space that supports a focus on that inner life.

This study used Activity Theory (AT) as a lens to explore how administrative and academic activity systems worked in a university, in schools and in the university-school partnership to support Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Saudi Arabia. It examined the perspectives of partnership coordinators, university tutors, head teachers, cooperating teachers and student teachers involved in the ITE partnership programme at Umm Alqura University. The study was conducted under the umbrella of the interpretive paradigm. Case study was used as the methodology of the study. The study employed multiple methods of data collection: questionnaire, interviews and documentary evidence. Maximum variation sampling was used to select the participants to take part in the current study. The total number of the whole sample with all sub-groups was 187. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted with volunteer interviewees. The study yielded various findings. Participants’ expectations were influenced by their history and background. In addition, student teachers were supported in learning about teaching in the university, school and through the partnership between school and university. However, different kinds of challenges were identified. These included: extreme centralisation in running the partnership activity system, lack of awareness of the importance of the partnership and of the need to address contradictory points of view about teaching and learning to teach in a constructive way. These challenges were symptoms of unresolved contradictions inherent in the partnership activity system. Despite these contradictions, many opportunities for professional development were highlighted by all partners. Using AT as an analytical tool, several implications for all partners were identified. The study concluded with the idea that for effective teacher education, not only is it important to understand the interaction between university and school but also how, within each, administrative and academic activity sub-systems operate and interact. This is because clear understanding of all aspects of the academic and administrative elements of the partnership, and of their relationship, is essential for a successful teacher education.

This thesis examines what it is that enables postgraduate student teachers to promote the recently introduced curriculum innovation, dialogic talk, in primary classrooms. Drawing on literature relating to the way talk has been enacted in English classrooms for the last thirty five years, it suggests that patterns of verbal interaction have continued to prove resistant to change, despite policy imperatives and university courses. Adopting a collaborative action research approach, data were collected in three cycles over three years to investigate the perceptions of three successive cohorts of postgraduate students of the role of talk in learning, and the place of the teacher in developing it. Using a sociocultural lens, students’ conceptual and pedagogic understanding of dialogic talk, and their ability to promote it, is examined in depth through nine case studies, as are the factors which the participants themselves identify as enabling or inhibiting engagement with innovation. It is suggested that the lack of a commonly agreed definition, and of readily available theoretical guidance, has reduced dialogic talk to just another label. As such, it can play no significant part in developing practice beyond rapid question-and-answer routines of ‘interactive teaching’ and the potentially reductive IRF (Initiation, Response, Feedback) script recorded by researchers (Mroz et al, 2000; Myhill, 2006) before, and after the inception of the National Literacy Strategy (1998a). Turning to the role of the university, it questions the place of the ‘demonstration lesson’ and whole cohort lectures, urging that significant changes need to be made to the role of the teaching practice tutor, and the nature of ‘partnership’ between schools and university departments. Finally, it speculates that without a significant change in the way university departments examine, and address, the values, attitudes and memories of talk that student teachers bring with them from their own primary classrooms, there will continue to be replication of practice.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:42:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriana Parravano Neves.pdf: 1028496 bytes, checksum: 2e5a2cc2cdc758b411b3da5578f47a45 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-05 / The central object of the present research is the supervised internship in a pedagogy course as a guideline for the constitution of interdisciplinary experiences in initial teachers‟ education. This work analyzed a teacher-training course, Pedagogy, in the city of São Paulo, to confront theoretical aspects of the necessity of initiating an interdisciplinary posture in the orientation for initial teacher education. For this, it was made a bibliographic review, utilizing authors focused on themes about Teacher Education, Interdisciplinary Subjects, Curriculum and Supervised Practice Internship, in addition to field research, where I utilized the fieldnote as data collection tools, in which I registered the routine of the classes observed of the course. A five-question questionnaire was applied with the aim of reflecting about the ideas of the theory and practice developed in the course. During the analysis, it was possible to observe the difficulty students in pedagogical training have in relating theory with practice, using as an argument the lack of stimulus, the observed practice in formation and the perception of the current context. The internship was revealed as fundamental for the students to be exposed to projects and proposals, which gather reflections, and interdisciplinary analyzes during initial teacher education, becoming their formation more coherent in relation to the contemporary needs of a thought and an action more complex. Among results, it was perceived the student s perspective before the internship in this initial teacher education course, as well the significance of the interdisciplinary issue in the context of formation, cause, although students did not have the chance to experience the interdisciplinary challenge, they have brought concerns about it. / A presente pesquisa tem por objeto central o estágio supervisionado no curso de Pedagogia como eixo norteador para constituição de experiências interdisciplinares na formação inicial do professor. Foi analisado um curso de formação de professores na capital paulista para confrontar os aspectos teóricos da necessidade de desencadear uma postura interdisciplinar presente nas orientações para formação inicial de professores Para tanto, foi feita uma revisão bibliográfica, utilizando autores centrados em temas sobre Formação de Professor, Interdisciplinaridade, Currículo e Estágio Supervisionado; além da pesquisa de campo, onde utilizei como ferramentas de coleta de dados o caderno de campo, em que registrei a rotina e as aulas observadas do curso, além da aplicação de um questionário com cinco perguntas voltadas à reflexão sobre a ideia de teoria e prática e de documentos do curso de Pedagogia. Durante as análises da coleta, foi possível perceber a dificuldade que os alunos em formação pedagógica possuem em relacionar a teoria com a prática, argumentando falta de estímulo, prática observada na formação e percepção do contexto atual. O estágio revelou-se como fundamental para que os discentes sejam expostos a projetos e propostas que congreguem reflexões e análises interdisciplinares durante a formação inicial, tornando mais coerentes a formação em relação às necessidades contemporâneas de um pensamento e uma ação mais complexos. Dentre os resultados, foi possível conhecer o olhar dos alunos perante o estágio no curso de formação inicial bem verificar a importância da questão interdisciplinar no contexto de formação, pois embora não tivessem a possibilidade de vivenciar o desafio interdisciplinar, os alunos trouxeram inquietações nesse sentido.