From the inception of teacher training in Boston, the Laboratory School had a key role in teacher preparation. The rationale behind the Laboratory School approach was that beginning teachers could best learn their craft by observing and imitating experienced teachers. Down to the present time, teacher training is conducted by placing student teachers in classroom situations with experienced professionals. Boston established its Model or Laboratory Schools when the City decided to train teachers at a Normal School supported by municipal tax revenues. Through the years, public schools were chosen to serve as sites for preparing teachers. Outstanding pedagogists were carefully selected by the school system administrators to serve as training teachers. The students learned from an instructor who served as a role model. Other Normal Schools in the State of Massachusetts adopted the same method and established their own Model Schools. Today, Bridgewater State College, Salem State College, and Tufts University have campus Model Schools. When Francis W. Parker (1837-1902) served as supervisor of primary schools in Boston, and as Superintendent of the Quincy, Massachusetts, Public Schools, he became familiar with the Model Schools in Boston and Bridgewater. When Parker became head of the Cook County Normal Schools in Chicago and, at a later date, the School of Education at the University of Chicago, he established Model Schools designed after the Massachusetts training program. The Teacher's College at Columbia University developed the Horace Mann Laboratory School under the direction of John Dewey who had been at Chicago and had witnessed the success of Parker's teacher training. The concept of the Normal Schools and the later teachers' colleges using a controlled school situation for preparing teachers spread to all sections of our nation. Teacher education became a national philosophy that had an effect on all teacher training institutions. A close examination of teachers' training today reveals a continued use of Laboratory Schools.

archives@tulane.edu / 1 / Stephanie Swanberg

This study explored the utilization of best practices surrounding content and delivery strategies for educational technology preparation of undergraduate preservice teachers within some of the top public U. S. institutions of higher education (IHEs). This study was needed due to the changing nature of technology, a critical need to better prepare preservice teachers, and mixed opinions on what should be included in their preparation. The respondents were representatives from 11 NCATE-accredited, public IHEs. The 54 participants included deans, teacher educators, librarians, instructional technology staff, and department heads. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, surveys with selection and open-ended questions, and course syllabi related to technology. Data were analyzed using content analysis to review and code the documents, interview data, and survey data, which included constructing categories. The constant comparative method was used to determine emerging themes. Results revealed that the responding IHEs are preparing undergraduate preservice teachers to implement technology in their future classrooms both within and beyond required educational technology courses and that they are using many best practices and strategies as presented in the research literature and standards. However, only one of the 11 IHEs reported preservice teachers were required to take a technology course concurrently with a methods course, considered to be an important practice. Technology sandboxes were reported to be an effective way for preservice teachers to explore and learn about emerging digital tools, and meeting the challenge of the ever-changing nature of technology. Respondents reported challenges surrounding technology integration including a deadline to meet revised accreditation standards in spring 2016 as IHEs transition from NCATE to CAEP standards (CAEP, 2013). This study found IHEs are still facing historical challenges, such as varying technology dispositions among teacher educators, inservice teachers, preservice teachers, and institutional constraints. Some of the solutions to these challenges included the use of consultants to work with teacher educators and inservice teachers and preparation using digital tools outside of the required technology course. Implications of the results are discussed relative to the reported solutions of the IHEs, despite past and new challenges surrounding undergraduate technology preparation.

The study explored the involvement of teacher unions in the selection process of school principals in Johannesburg Central Region. It was conducted in pursuit of reality from stakeholders involved in the appointment processes in order to get their views and experiences on the issue of the involvement of teacher unions in the selection processes of principals. This was a qualitative study based on the phenomenological design. It was conducted in two schools. A total of eight participants were purposefully sampled: two principals, two SGB representatives and four teacher unions’ representatives. The data were collected using individual interviews. Four themes emerged from the data in this study. The findings revealed that there is subjectivity and unfairness in the selection processes of principals. The Department of Education ought to review the involvement of teacher unions in the appointment of principals to public schools. / Educational Management and Leadership

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