Teacher Education: Policy, Practice and Research

This book evaluates teacher professional development programs. These programs are evaluated in terms of participants' classroom teaching behaviour, as assessed by their school students' perceptions of their classroom learning environments. Teacher candidates' perceptions of teachers was examined as well. Additionally, this book explores the preparation, roles, and responsibilities of teacher educators. Several studies demonstrated a high prevalence of voice disorders in teachers, together with the personal, professional, and economical consequences of the problem. Prevention programs to reduce the risk for vocal disorders are evaluated. This book discusses a program that combines clinical placement in urban schools with academic course work. Three elements of the program are examined to demonstrate their influence on the learning of candidates. In addition, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of in-service teachers is an important issue for current teacher education in Taiwan. This book describes the related literature to this issue, followed by addressing the models and merits of peer coaching. Attention is given to the problem of HPS (knowledge of history and philosophy of science)in physics teachers education, by designing and discussing a model of intervention aimed at deepening and widening the teachers' disciplinary knowledge and developing an adequate knowledge of Nature of Science (NOS). Teachers who adopt stereotypical images of scientists and their activity are likely to induce negative attitudes towards science and scientists to students. This trend was examined by determining the extent to which Greek teachers adopt a stereotypical model of the scientist and the types of activities they consider to be scientific. In this book, science anxiety, self-efficacy, and self-concept of undergraduate biology students is addressed. Gender differences in these patterns of motivation variables were looked at as well. A course structure framework likely to serve as a tool for the development of training programs and future research studies in the area of prison teacher education is also proposed. Furthermore, prospective "STEM" teachers' motivations are looked at, for undertaking a teaching career and their perceptions of the teaching profession. The ways in which a learning-oriented teaching assessment framework is used to provide the basis for developing teachers into self-regulated learners is examined. Furthermore, the Domain-Specific Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale is addressed, which assesses six domains of teacher self-efficacy. Finally, the role that personal epistemologies play in teacher education, particularly with respect to the potential problems and roadblocks they may present, are evaluated.