Teaching is a complex profession. Much of the work of teachers is hidden from view, happening behind the scenes. It is not until one becomes a teacher that they fully understand the complexities. Preparing teacher candidates before they enter their own classrooms for the potential tensions between their individual perspectives and educational…

Background/purpose: This study aimed to evaluate teachers' self-perceived instructional competencies in educating students with disabilities. Recognizing the pivotal role of educators in inclusive education, the research sought to determine the extent to which teachers believe they possess the necessary teaching skills for this student population.…

Faculty perspectives on teaching students with intellectual disability are important to consider as college programs continue to grow and more students are enrolling. To ensure faculty experiences are considered in program development and improvement, we conducted a brief literature review of postsecondary education-related articles, focusing on…

The teaching profession in England and Wales has been experiencing a steady decline in its workforce, with a significant number of teachers making the decision to move abroad and teach in international schools. Teachers cite working conditions, institutional pressures and pay and conditions at home as reasons to seek employment elsewhere.…

To increase the teacher efficacy of student teachers, they need positive classroom experiences: mastery experiences. These mastery experiences have to be created by the student teachers themselves. Therefore, student teachers need a tool to better understand problematic teaching experiences and help them create positive classroom experiences. Nine…

Field experience (FE) is a key component of pre-service English language teacher education enabling the early integration of pre-service teachers (PSTs) in real teaching situations. As a well-researched area, FE is known to increase PSTs' teaching-efficacy perceptions. Thus, to better understand how it does so in the Turkish context, this study…

This study focuses on teaching experience and practice in post-secondary education--an important and understudied topic. I conducted an in-depth qualitative study of instructor experience in the Metro Academies' Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs), which currently operate at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) and San Francisco State University…

Drawing on data from observations and interviews, this article presents a case study of one teacher's efforts to overcome low self-efficacy beliefs in teaching English to young learners in a Middle Eastern context. It provides insights into the growth processes involved, highlighting how the teacher drew reflectively upon her experiences to…

Teachers who have inadequate training often feel unprepared to teach English language learners (ELLs). This qualitative case study's purpose was to reap a rich understanding of middle school teachers' perceptions, perspectives, and prior teaching experiences concerning their capacity to instruct ELLs in the mainstream setting. The overarching…

Teachers make a difference. White female middle-class teachers represent 84 percent of Americas' teachers. How does culture influence the self-reflective problem-solving behaviors of urban teachers? Urban schools fail youth by opening the doors for a mass exodus. The problem solving behavior of urban teachers may contribute to the student exodus…

This case study explores the reality shock experienced by a White novice teacher, committed to socially just teaching, in her first year in an urban context. The apparently successful novice held three beliefs about her practice and herself: that socially just teaching was a holistic practice; that it could and should be done "right"; and that,…

Purpose: The purpose of this action research presentation is to invite discourse on the intersection of race, gender and instructional decisions in the classrooms of student teachers. The purpose of this study is to also examine the thoughts of a university supervisor during clinical observation with respect to her positionality as a woman of…

Teacher retention has been the subject of much study, yet recent estimates of teachers who choose to leave the profession within the first three years to pursue other careers remains at an unacceptably high level of 33.5 percent. These figures are alarming in light of the fact that schools desperately need qualified teachers. Several authors…

The study described in this report investigated the effects of field-based reflective practice on preservice teachers' sense of self-efficacy. Subjects in the study were 24 senior elementary majors participating in a 4-week field experience. Twelve students were assigned to the experimental school and 12 were assigned to two control schools. Each…