In the frenzy of lesson planning, classroom management, and assessment writing of teacher education, the emotional health and well-being of preservice teachers (PTs) is often overlooked. This study at one teacher education preparation program in the Midwest USA, offers arts-based practices as a mechanism to explore mental health. This study – through polyvocal poetry – investigates how to engage PTs in evocative exploration of two types of reflection – retrospective (past/present selves) and prospective (possible selves) – to evaluate how PTs self-reflexively understand teacher identity and address mental health and well-being challenges they/others face. Findings of the study include: 1) embedding mental health activities into teacher preparation is vital to PT growth; 2) understanding how PTs make sense of teacher identity development through past, present, and possible selves helps teacher educators; and 3) teacher identity development offers an approach for teacher educators to engage PTs’ mental health struggles.
The study investigates whether classroom heterogeneity explains variations in instructional quality across classes taught by the same teacher and whether teachers’ self-efficacy (TSE) moderates these effects. Using latent SEM on three-level data from 106 mathematics teachers and 3566 9th-grade students from a German large-scale assessment study, results indicate that cognitive heterogeneity negatively relates to classroom management, while TSE positively relates to student support and cognitive activation. However, the present operationalization of TSE did not provide evidence for a buffering role in reducing between-class differences in instructional quality or attenuating classroom composition effects. Findings are discussed in light of ongoing discussions about the implications of classroom heterogeneity for effective teaching practice.
Using structural equation modeling (SEM), this study examined the mediating role of teacher self-efficacy in the relationship between pedagogical interactions with practicum mentors and practicum satisfaction among 680 preservice teachers in Spain. Confirmatory factor analysis of the Spanish version of the Learning to Teach Questionnaire (LTQ) supported a correlated two-factor structure distinguishing active guidance and feedback (Guidance) from observational learning and imitation of the mentor's practice (Imitation), demonstrating adequate reliability and validity. Multigroup analyses confirmed measurement invariance across school ownership types and grade-bands of practicum teaching, but not academic years, indicating that the instrument's measurement properties are not fully equivalent across training stages. The structural model revealed that teacher self-efficacy, particularly for classroom management, mediated the relationship between pedagogical interactions and practicum satisfaction, with Guidance exerting stronger indirect effects than Imitation. These findings suggest that active pedagogical support may be particularly relevant to teacher self-efficacy and practicum satisfaction.
This study examines the career trajectories of tertiary education teachers in Australia using 24 years of longitudinal data that capture changes in employment and career paths over time. The results reveal substantial early-career attrition, with higher exit risks observed among younger teachers, VET subsector staff, individuals in regional and remote areas, and those in insecure roles. Lower wages, reduced job satisfaction, higher job stress, lower perceived job complexity, and limited perceived skill development are also associated with an increased likelihood of teacher exit. Longitudinal analyses further indicate clear divergence in career experiences, with early-career leavers reporting declining job satisfaction and increasing stress prior to exit, while long-term stayers maintain more stable and positive perceptions of their work over time. These findings highlight the importance of strengthening early-career support, improving employment stability, enhancing job quality, and addressing structural disparities across subsectors to sustain a stable and resilient tertiary education workforce.
