This longitudinal study examines the use of a mandatory learning module in an initial teacher education (ITE) programme that aims to develop the practical knowledge of pre-service teachers (PSTs) in a Chinese Normal university. Guided by formative interventions, data were collected from videotaped discussion meetings, teaching activities, and…

In 2022, after two years of the COVID virus profoundly interrupting social connection, learning, work and human mobility, governments worldwide turned material and rhetorical attention to life 'post-pandemic'. Understandably, teachers who were central in keeping communities virtually connected during the pandemic--are positioned as core to a…

Global education policies make a commitment to inclusive education, yet initial teacher education seems to struggle in preparing teachers for this task. We explore this matter in the present article. Life stories, participant observation and individual interviews over a period of two years with 28 preservice specialist teachers in an ongoing…

Curriculum integration has recently stirred growing interest in educational discourses. New Finnish core curricula for basic education and for general upper secondary schools encourage and even obligate schools to integrate the curriculum. Integration has been deemed to be important, as the boundaries between school subjects have remained…

What do teacher educators need to know and do in order to move from espousing to enacting social justice in their own teacher educating practice? This article addresses this question by examining scholarship that focuses on the preparation of preservice teachers for social justice. Using five knowledge domains for teaching (personal, contextual,…

The theory-practice debate has been a perennial issue in initial teacher education (ITE). By reporting a mixed-methods study in an ITE programme characterized by a university-based 'theory-first' approach in Hong Kong, this study offers useful empirical evidence to analyse the theory-practice issue. 346 student teachers of a BEd Programme…

This research investigated an initiative to familiarize pre-service teachers with Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as an example of Open Educational Resources (OERs). Student teachers in one faculty in a teacher education college in Israel were given the option to register on an international MOOC for credit. The purpose of the research was to…

This narrative inquiry involved a vibrant online knowledge community of Chinese novice teachers in colleges and universities. The teachers engaged in conversations with their me/ntor and peers, sharing life experiences and exchanging teaching puzzles. Through capturing the evolution (formation, development, sustainability) of the online knowledge…

Rather than being confined to academic knowledge provided by university-based programmes, there are calls for teacher education to embrace the knowledge situated within local communities. Drawing on the theories of community knowledge in teaching and teacher education, this paper reports the results of a study that explores community members'…

New Zealand tertiary classrooms are a mix of New Zealand's ethnically diverse domestic students and predominantly Asian international students. This multicultural diversity, while having potential to enhance educational experience, brings challenges for teachers in the use of cooperative learning. A major challenge is status inequality in diverse…

This is the first report in a series of studies concerning student teachers' readiness-for-the-job, defined by a framework of 11 international teacher competences (ITCs). Attaining readiness-for-the-job is connected to four characteristics of teacher education, namely; (1) employing the ITCs in day-to-day teaching in initial teacher education, (2)…

This paper presents a comparative critique of key education and teacher education policies in England adopted by New Labour (1997-2010) and the Coalition government (2010-2015). It focuses on direct measures intended to alleviate the effects of poverty on young people's educational outcomes, and on teacher education policies with implications for…

This paper is related to an investigation carried out by researchers from a Brazilian public institution (Federal University of São Carlos) and experienced elementary school teachers. It adopts a research and intervention methodology developed in an online continuing teacher education programme, whose aims were the development of mentoring…

This paper examines contemporary issues in early childhood teacher education in Sweden. The aim of the study was to explore dimensions of the construct of preschool teachers' competence as reported by 810 students enrolled in early childhood teacher education at 15 Swedish universities. The results showed that students' definitions of preschool…

To date, there is a paucity of research on graduate students' learning experiences in teacher education, and we also know little about what support they might need in their learning to become teacher educators. In order to fill this gap, this study draws on three graduate students' experiences, to explore how a PhD programme in a university in…