Postgraduate diploma student teachers' perceptions of their levels of knowledge and skills at the bginning and end of their initial teacher preparation programme
This paper reports a part of a longitudinal study of 170 student teachers who were enrolled in the 2004 intake of the Postgraduate Diploma in Education – Primary (PGDE – Primary) initial teacher preparation (ITP) programme at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore. It examined the changes, if any, in the student teachers' perceptions of their pedagogical knowledge and skills at the beginning and the end of their teacher preparation using a survey which was administered at these two data points. The survey instrument was found to be reliable for assessing these perceptions of knowledge and skills. The findings also indicated that the student teachers' perception of their pedagogical knowledge and skills in facilitating student learning, planning and preparing lessons, assessing students and accommodating student diversity increased significantly by the end of their teacher preparation programme. However, the level of their perceived knowledge in the area of non-teaching responsibilities remained unchanged while their perceived skills in this factor decreased significantly at the end of the programme. Implications of these findings on the PGDE (Primary) ITP programme will be discussed in this paper.
Singapore's preservice teachers' perspectives in integrating information and communication technology (ICT) during practicum
The purpose of the study is to investigate preservice teachers' perspectives in technology integration in Singapore. The preservice teachers participated in three surveys: 1) before taking the technology course, 2) after completing the course, and 3) after completing the ten-week teaching practicum. The first two questionnaires collected data related to their thoughts of using technology in their future teaching. The third questionnaire asked about their actual integration of technology during their ten-week teaching practicum. Qualitative data was also collected from ten purposefully selected participants to gather more in-depth information about how they planned to integrate technology and how they actually used technology in their teaching practicum. The findings from the quantitative survey data and the qualitative information were consistent and complemented each other. The results of the study provided a better understanding of preservice teachers' thoughts and actual practices in integrating technology into their teaching.
A four-year longitudinal study of the development of student teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and skills in teaching
This study followed a cohort of student teachers from the beginning of their teacher education program to the end of the third year of teaching, looking at their perceived changes in pedagogical knowledge and skills in teaching in Singapore. The PKST survey comprising 37 items with six factors were used to collect data. In the cohort of over 1300 student teachers, 353 participated in all five survey data collections. The results showed that the participants’ overall pedagogical knowledge and skills in teaching increased significantly. The largest increases were found in knowledge in lesson planning and skills in classroom management. The skills in showing care and concern did not show significant increases until the end of third year of teaching.
Perception changes in knowledge and skills of graduating student teachers: A Singapore study
The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions that student teachers hold of the level of their knowledge and skills in the areas of pedagogy and classroom management. A sample of 596 student teachers completed the survey on their perceptions at the beginning and at the end of their initial teacher preparation programme. The results of the study indicated that student teachers' perceptions of their knowledge and skills in the areas of facilitation, lesson preparation, classroom management, feedback and evaluation increased significantly upon completion of their teacher preparation programme. However, their perceived skill level in the area of care and concern remained unchanged by the end of the programme. The findings also showed that although the student teachers perceived their knowledge and skills at about the same level at the beginning of the programme, they perceived their knowledge level to be significantly higher than their skills level by the end of the programme.
Enhancing preservice teachers’ professional growth through reflections using videos
Premised on situated cognition, this study focused on developing preservice teachers’ understanding and performances in technology-based pedagogies during the formal coursework at NIE and during their field placements. A mixed-method research design was proposed. This study aimed to contribute to the field of technology-based pedagogy and preservice teachers’ education.
The first objective was to track if there were any changes in preservice teachers’ technology competency, perceptions and practice in the use of ICT for classroom teaching and learning. This was done by collecting quantitative survey data from a cohort of 300 preservice teachers in the Diploma in Education (Primary) programme at four different points throughout their initial teacher education programme. The research questions were:
What are the changes of the preservice teachers’ intentions to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their future teaching?
What are the changes of the preservice teachers’ practices to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their 5-week Teaching Assistantship and 10-week Teaching Practice?
The second objective was to investigate a small group of 14 preservice teachers’ process of constructing their understanding of technology-based pedagogy throughout their initial teacher education programme.
School administrators’ perceptions of beginning teachers’ professional readiness in their first and third year of service
Beginning teachers’ pedagogical skills and knowledge towards positive pedagogic teacher-student relationships
This study investigated beginning teachers’ self-perceived pedagogical knowledge and skills in engaging and managing their students. More specifically, it discussed the development of positive pedagogic teacher-student relationships across three time points: at the exit of their pre-service program, at the end of the first year of teaching, and at the end of the third year of teaching. Four factors were extracted: (a) student learning; (b) accommodating diversity; (c) classroom management; and (d) showing care and concern. A sample of 358 beginning teachers participated in the study. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) results showed that there were significant increases in all four factors across the three time points. The results are useful in informing teacher education programs as well as teacher induction programs to facilitate support for beginning teachers during their beginning years of teaching.
Beginning teachers understanding performances of technology integration
As part of a two-year, mixed methods study, the focus of this paper reports the qualitative findings that are related to nine beginning teachers' learning to teach with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) during their first year of teaching. It aims to explore how these teachers deepen their understanding performances of technology integration in their first year. They demonstrated consistent, varied perceptions, frequency and ways of using ICT for classroom teaching and learning from their initial teacher education to their first year teaching. They developed diverse understandings of technology integration from their own practice, and chose to play different roles, such as, follower, doer and emerging teacher leader for technology integration. Suggestions to schools on providing beginning teachers with ongoing technical and pedagogical support and capitalizing on their tech-savvy strengths are discussed.
Nurturing preservice teachers’ understanding of technology-enhanced pedagogy through reflection
This paper reports the preliminary qualitative findings of the first-year phase from a two-year study, in which we aimed to investigate: 1) the preservice teachers' knowledge, attitudes and use of Information Technology (ICT) for classroom teaching and learning, and 2) their learning from reflection upon their use of ICT throughout their two-year initial preparation program. The major first-year findings showed that all the 14 participants demonstrated a gain in ICT knowledge and skills and register positive changes in their beliefs in and attitudes toward using ICT for classroom teaching and learning. Their use of ICT, however, varied greatly from using ICT as a presentation tool to support their instruction to engaging their students in using ICT to work on the authentic tasks. The participants’ reflection reinforced their perceptions of using ICT for classroom teaching and learning. The recommendations for engaging preservice teachers in reflection are discussed.