Creativity and artistic enjoyment are frequently discussed as important aims within arts education, yet limited attention has been paid to how everyday classroom communication shapes students' lived experience of artistic work. This study examines how contrasting communicative framings of the same artistic task influence pupils' reported aesthetic and creative experience in lower secondary education. Using a small-scale exploratory quasi-experimental design, two intact lower secondary classes (students aged 12-13; N = 60) completed the same art activity under two different communicative framing conditions. Data were collected through a brief post-activity questionnaire combining Likert-type items and open-ended responses. While both conditions supported positive engagement, consistent differences emerged in experiential orientation. Under normative mediation, students more frequently described deliberation and task completion, whereas under open mediation they more often articulated freedom, inspiration and expressive identification. The findings suggest that teacher language does not determine enjoyment but modulates how artistic activity is inhabited. By foregrounding communicative mediation as a professional dimension of teaching practice, the study offers empirical support for integrating reflective attention to classroom discourse into teacher education.
Cooperative learning is an effective instructional strategy in science education, yet many teachers underuse it due to management challenges and doubts about its effectiveness. This study investigated how cooperative microteaching practices (CoMP) influence pre-service science teachers' (PSTs) understanding of cooperative learning and beliefs about using cooperative learning in science teaching. Using a quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design with 64 senior PSTs in a science teaching methods course, both groups designed and delivered inquiry-based microteaching, but only the experimental group incorporated CL strategies. We measured self-efficacy beliefs with the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument and examined beliefs and understanding of cooperative learning using the Cooperative Learning in Science Education Questionnaire. While no significant group differences emerged for general science teaching self-efficacy, the results indicate more positive implementation-oriented beliefs among PSTs in the cooperative microteaching group compared to the control group, particularly regarding expectancy of success and confidence in classroom management within cooperative settings. CoMP students also demonstrated more sophisticated conceptualizations of cooperative learning. These findings underscore the value of integrating cooperative learning into pre-service education to promote instructional confidence and collaborative pedagogical practices.
This study examines Bhutanese pre-service teachers' perceived level of ICT competency, as defined by the TPACK framework, to understand their readiness to integrate technology into their teaching practices. Thus, this study collected data from 354 pre-service teachers in Bhutan using a survey that assessed individual factors, TPACK knowledge domains, and TPACK practice domains. The findings reveal that while Bhutanese pre-service teachers possess moderate confidence in their overall TPACK knowledge and practice, their Technological Knowledge (TK) remains notably lower than their content and pedagogical knowledge. Analyses further show that academic year and prior ICT course experience are positively associated with TPACK knowledge and practice, whereas gender differences are not significant. These results highlight the need for teacher education programs in Bhutan to strengthen basic technological skills and to provide more systematic, practice-based opportunities for designing and implementing technology-enhanced lessons, thereby realizing national ICT-in-education policy goals in classroom practice.
Becoming and remaining a public-school teacher in the United States is overwhelming and complex. Adding to this is the continued assault by policymakers on public education. In states like Texas, they are expanding upon earlier neoliberal reforms by enacting such policies as only funding highly structured curricula or limiting children's access to books. Many teachers struggle with the issues these policies create and decide to opt out of the profession. Yet, their retention is essential. To consider how teacher educators and others can better support teachers, I share findings from a qualitative case study that examined how a first-year and a veteran elementary school teacher in Texas's public schools made sense of the impact of policymakers' neoliberal reforms on their teaching, profession, and tenure in the field. Examining their sensemaking reveals how such reforms as the standardization of their workload and teaching environment appeared to restrict their teaching as well as their descriptions of their tenure in the profession. Analyzing and interpreting their experiences illuminates opportunities for change in teacher education and potentially policy. Such transformation appears necessary to ensure all educators have the experiences and knowledge required to navigate and survive the realities of teaching in neoliberal contexts.
Adopting a critical genealogical method inspired by Foucault, complemented by Shoshana Zuboff's theorisation of surveillance capitalism, this article analyses the position of AI in education as a technology of governance within the forces of algorithmic futuring. In teaching, attention has turned to the challenges faced by the profession regarding the ethical use of AI in the classroom. However, much of this discourse neglects the inherent governing politics of these technologies as well as their inherent violence in reproducing systemic injustices. In part, this is symptomatic of a failure to observe the accurate historical positioning of AI as the result of convergences of several core vectors, characterised by their rise in the neoliberal era. Our analysis considers a range of official and media discourses underpinning the emergence of AI, and associated politics, within the current policy landscape related to teaching and teacher education. Our findings challenge AI's ostensible novelty amid genealogies of corporate influence, rendered intelligible amid forces of datafication in education, and culminating in recent intergovernmental organisation discourses centred on transforming teaching and teacher education. We excavate a colonial 'politics of ex-machination' seeking to evolve an outmoded teaching profession and transforming teachers into techno-pedagogues and ethical gatekeepers.
This study explores how an international teaching practicum in a vulnerable context informs the initial preparation of pre-service primary teachers. Using a qualitative design, we analysed reflective journals written by 14 pre-service teachers during a practicum in Kenya. The journals show that working under resource constraints brought lesson planning and classroom organisation into sharp focus as professional necessities, while pupils' motivation to learn was repeatedly framed as a source of pedagogical meaning. Participants also described an ambivalent emotional trajectory, combining fulfilment and gratitude with sadness, frustration and powerlessness. These emotionally and ethically charged experiences were closely tied to how participants made sense of responsibility, professional judgement, and emerging teacher identity in settings shaped by structural inequities. The study also demonstrates the value of reflective journals for tracing how autonomy, emotion, and situated decision-making interact in real time. Overall, the findings show that international practicums in vulnerable contexts can support teacher learning when embedded in programme structures that foster critical reflection, ethical engagement, and coherent planning. Implications include robust pre-departure preparation, supervision linking university mentoring with host-school collaboration, and post-practicum consolidation to support the translation of learning into practice.
During their clinical fieldwork experiences, secondary (grades 7-12) English Language Arts (ELA) student teachers will encounter a variety of curricular types. Sparse research exists on secondary ELA student teachers' experiences with different types of curricula. This qualitative case study examined how seven student teachers in the United States viewed the feasibility and acceptability of the ELA curricula they experienced during student teaching, and the influence, if any, the curricula had on their sense of autonomy and self-efficacy. Participants completed two interviews and two written reflections. Three themes emerged: 1) text-centered curricula and high levels of autonomy; 2) feasibility and acceptability of scripted curricula; and 3) the impact of student teachers' relationship with mentors on self-efficacy. The findings of this study have practical implications for teacher preparation and induction programs.
Imposter syndrome, characterised by persistent self-doubt and feelings of inauthenticity, is common in the field of education, particularly during periods of professional transition. This autoethnographic study explores its impact on the move from primary school teaching to a lecturing role in Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Drawing on four years of reflective journaling, the paper examines how identity, legitimacy, and belonging were negotiated in this transition, and how imposter syndrome shaped perceptions of competence and professional authority. Findings illustrate that while moments of confidence emerged, they were frequently undermined by anticipatory anxiety and self-questioning, revealing imposter syndrome as a personally disruptive phenomenon. However, the study also demonstrates how resilience can be fostered through intentional reflection, narrative reframing, and support from trusted mentors and colleagues. By situating an individual account within the broader context of teacher education, the study highlights the importance of acknowledging imposter syndrome as a common professional experience. It argues for the need to embed reflective practice, mentorship, and supportive institutional cultures within ITE, ensuring that teacher educators can navigate transitions with greater confidence and authenticity.
This study explores how teacher students experience AI-generated feedback provided through a digital response system during campus-based seminars and how they relate these experiences to their future teaching practice. Unlike research focusing on individual uses of generative AI, this study examines AI feedback embedded in a collaborative think-pair-share activity where teacher students participate as both learners and prospective teachers. Data were collected through observations, written reflections, and interviews, and analyzed thematically. Teacher students appreciated the AI-generated feedback for its immediacy, structure, and capacity to prompt reflection. At the same time, they questioned its reliability, contextual sensitivity, and ethical appropriateness in classroom settings. They described a trust hierarchy in which teacher feedback was relied upon most, followed by AI-generated feedback, while peer feedback ranked lowest. During the seminars, AI-generated feedback became a shared reference point that students compared, questioned, and discussed, positioning it as part of the interaction rather than a time-saving tool. Teacher students connected these experiences to concrete considerations about how similar feedback arrangements could be used, adapted, or avoided in their own classrooms, particularly in relation to comparing feedback sources, pedagogical responsibility, feedback practices, and digital competence.
Internationally, and more recently in Australia, teacher workforce issues and a focus on Initial Teacher Education reform have seen a rapid expansion of alternative teacher preparation arrangements. These arrangements include the employment of preservice teachers as paid practising teachers while simultaneously completing their studies. In contexts such as Queensland, Australia, these emergent arrangements involve a complex system of stakeholders including schools, universities, employment sectors, and regulatory authorities. Despite the potential impact on practising preservice teachers' experiences, this system of stakeholders remains largely under-conceptualised. Applying ecological and systems theory, we conceptualise the practising preservice teacher system. Drawing on activities and reflections collected from Queensland-based and national stakeholders during a 'Roundtable discussion of preservice teachers teaching in Initial Teacher Education', we illustrate opportunities and challenges for stakeholders that such an inherently complex system evokes. This study offers an internationally relevant and innovative systemic approach to understanding alternative teacher preparation arrangements.
In early childhood education (ECE), the primary focus of AI-related learning concerns teacher candidates' professional AI literacy. This qualitative case study examines how preservice ECE teacher candidates engaged with generative AI (GenAI) tools while designing culturally responsive lesson plans. Drawing on the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework as an analytic lens, the study involved 50 teacher candidates at two U.S. universities participating in an AI-integrated curriculum with a focal sample of five participants selected for in-depth analysis. Data from lesson plans, reflective journals, interviews, and online discussions show that teacher candidates approached AI tools with interest but often struggled to align AI-generated content with students' cultural contexts, identify and address issues of bias or misrepresentation, and make pedagogically appropriate adaptations without targeted guidance. These findings illustrate how preservice teachers develop AI literacy through iterative processes of evaluation, reflection, and adaptation of AI-generated materials, highlighting both the opportunities and challenges that GenAI introduces for culturally responsive lesson design in ECE.
Humour can be a powerful tool for navigating the emotional challenges of learning about difficult topics. This paper explores the reactions of 13 teachers from three Australian secondary schools to a satirical video created by youth co-researchers from the African Diaspora Youth Belonging Project. Inspired by the TikTok trend 'Of course I'm & mldr; ,' the video highlighted stereotypes experienced by African diaspora students in Australian schools. As part of a year-long action research project, the video was shown during professional learning workshops with teachers. This paper examines the affective responses of these teachers to the video, arguing that emancipatory racial humour can support critical conversations about racism and teacher bias. Drawing on the concept of a pedagogy of discomfort, it shows how humour enabled teachers to confront defensiveness and denial, encouraging reflection on their own practices and assumptions. The study highlights humour's potential as a transformative tool in anti-racism education.
In teacher education, it is common for student teachers to spend an extended period visiting a mentor teacher to learn about professional teacher work; i.e. work placement education (WPE). During WPE, mentors and student teachers engage in mentoring conversations. These conversations focus on the student teachers' progression. The aim of the current study is to investigate what mentor teachers focus on as part of transferring their professional knowledge in mentoring conversations during WPE. Situated learning was used as a theoretical framework. In the study, recordings were made of mentoring conversations with three teachers who mentored two student teachers each. The analysis resulted in three themes: (a) clear instructions; (b) managing pupils' use of materials; and (c) identifying pupils' individual needs. All themes are related to how the mentor teacher's view of teaching was communicated in a community of practice from mentor to student teacher.
Informal music learning is growing in popularity among preschool teachers, often favored over formal music education approaches. However, the impact of a learning musical microenvironment within the preschool class focused on informal music learning has not yet been fully explored. This study investigates Greek preschool teachers' opinions on the relationship between a music corner and children's informal music learning and the potential impact on daily preschool practices. Particularly, we examined their views on whether informal ways of learning music take place in music corner and whether they use it to enhance children's music and social skills. Quantitative research was conducted with 318 preschool teachers. A questionnaire, based on the literature review and research questions, was designed and distributed to the participants. Kolmogorov-Smirnov regularity test, Cronbach's alpha reliability test, descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were also conducted. The findings suggest that preschool teachers recognize music corner as an effective way to emerge children's informal music learning and as a potential support mechanism for their pedagogical practices. Specifically, children express, practice and explore their music-making ideas, co-operate and communicate with their classmates as well as acquire experiences and knowledge during their free play.
Playful pedagogy is often underutilized in higher education and is frequently regarded as an enjoyable enhancement rather than an essential teaching philosophy. Despite research demonstrating that play can enhance learning, its application in higher education remains limited. This study explores the experiences of 24 preservice teachers in the early childhood and elementary education program with play in academic settings by using the Playful Mindset Survey and conducting focus group interviews. The results reveal the preservice teachers' perceptions of play-based learning, its importance for future instruction, anticipated challenges, and strategies for implementation. Preservice teachers highlighted the role of play as an effective engagement tool that fosters community and curiosity within the classroom. They also recognized the potential of play to support academic learning, reduce student anxiety, and enhance memory retention through interactive and meaningful experiences.
This research examines innovative approaches to cultivating Communities of Practice (CoPs) used by primary school educators to develop their technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK). The research was grounded in the CoP social learning theory and the TPACK model. The study used a qualitative research technique with a group of 12 teachers who completed open-ended survey questionnaires, one-on-one semi-structured interviews, and observational sessions. Furthermore, this research included one school principal and two deputy principals who actively participated in all data-gathering methods except for the survey questionnaires. The findings indicated that the participant educators had formed an informal CoP within their schools, through mutual engagement characterised by teamwork. In this context, educators acquired Technological Knowledge (TK), Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), and Content Knowledge (CK) from each other. The shared repertoire facilitated by the exchange of teaching materials enabled educators to acquire TK, CK, and Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK). The findings may serve as a framework for advocating the recognition of CoPs by national governments and international organisations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as a practical approach to sustainable Teacher Professional Development (TPD).
Educational systems in Scandinavia have long been concerned with Bildung in relation to digital technologies. The rise of generative AI (GenAI) has renewed this attention as GenAI reshapes how learners engage with knowledge, culture and society. This study explores how teacher educators conceptualize Bildung and respond to challenges posed by GenAI in teacher education. Through reflexive thematic analysis, framed by interpretative repertoires, we explore 20 semi-structured interviews with teacher educators and analyze their discursive understandings of Bildung and GenAI. We identified three Bildung repertoires: Individual Bildung (individual becoming), Social/Societal Bildung (growth through encountering the 'other'), and Teacher-Professional Bildung (professional becoming). These repertoires frame Bildung as a relational, reflective, value-based process, challenged by efficiency-driven educational discourses and GenAI's affordances. Teacher educators also articulated three GenAI repertoires: phenomenological (the illusion of meaning-making), epistemological (blurring distinctions between information and knowledge) and ontological (disrupting human being and agency). Teacher educators expressed ambivalence, perceiving GenAI as both a threat to Bildung ideals and a catalyst for renewed reflection on educational purposes. We propose that teacher education and schools address GenAI as a phenomenon, foster epistemological awareness, and engage with ontological questions about being and becoming in a digital age.
This paper provides international perspectives on quality assurance of initial teacher education (ITE) programmes for both accreditation of new programmes and evaluation of existing programmes. The paper first reviews the policies and processes for quality assurance reviews in higher education and ITE specifically, finding that ITE programme evaluation is typically taken up through higher education quality assurance frameworks and practices that vary across different jurisdictions. Four illustrations of ITE quality assurance systems (Singapore, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Finland) demonstrate how the governance of ITE gives shape to programme evaluation policies and practices in each context. The paper concludes with a discussion of how a commitment to the teaching profession and a commitment to the relationship between theory and practice are both present and create tensions in the quality assurance processes.
This study examines how novice teachers discursively and emotionally navigate dilemmas involving immigrant students in U.S. schools. Drawing on a sociocultural discourse framework and analysis of written reflections from 21 preservice teachers, the study identifies four emotional-discursive typologies: the Avoider, the Meritocrat, the Empathizer, and the Critical Reflector. These typologies reveal how novice educators engage in what this paper terms emotive shielding, a discursive pattern in which emotional language (e.g. empathy, guilt, discomfort) serves to obscure or deflect structural critique. While emotional engagement was common across participating novice teachers, only a small subset moved beyond personal resonance to interrogate systemic inequities. This is one of the few studies to explicitly map emotional-discursive typologies in preservice teacher responses, offering a nuanced lens into how language and feeling shape novice teacher identity. The findings underscore the limitations of unstructured reflection in teacher education and call for more intentional scaffolding of sociocultural analysis, especially in preparing teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse students.
This multiple case study examined the extent to which a 15-week self-regulated learning (SRL) intervention, named the Self-Regulatory Instructional Planning Approach (SR-IPA), promoted the self-regulatory development of preservice teachers. This study involved six preservice teachers enrolled in a secondary social studies methods course as part of a secondary teacher licensure program and each case consisted of the experiences of one preservice teacher. As part of the SR-IPA, participants received direct SRL instruction followed by explicit SRL guidance as they completed five cycles of SRL while planning instructional lessons. Findings suggest: (a) the preservice teachers were unfamiliar with SRL before experiencing the SR-IPA; (b) the SR-IPA promoted the preservice teachers' SRL skill development by providing tangible resources and emphasizing SRL processes; (c) the preservice teachers intend to continue engaging in SRL processes when planning future lessons; and (d) the SR-IPA supported the preservice teachers in developing their SRL skills to the emulation phase of Zimmerman's Coaching Model, but not beyond. The implications of this study involve recognizing that emphasizing and explicating SRL processes may be an effective strategy for developing SRL among preservice teachers and that teacher education programs should acknowledge that SRL skill development can be a lengthy process.
