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In the present study, we aimed to specify the key competence domains perceived to be critical for the teaching profession and depict them as a comprehensive teacher competence model. An expert panel that included representatives from seven units providing university-based initial teacher education in Finland carried out this process. To produce an active construction of a shared understanding and an interpretation of the discourse in the field, the experts reviewed literature on teaching. The resulting teacher competence model, the multidimensional adapted process model of teaching (MAP), represents a collective conception of the relevant empirical literature and prevailing discourses on teaching. The MAP is based on Blömeke et al.'s, "Zeitschrift für Psychologie," 223, 3-13, (2015) model which distinguishes among teacher competences (referring to effective performance of teachers' work), competencies (knowledge, skills, and other individual competencies underlying and enabling effective teaching), and situation-specific skills of perceiving, interpreting, and making decisions in situations involving teaching and learning. The implications of the MAP for teacher education and student selection for initial teacher education are discussed. [This article was written in collaboration with Tuike Iiskala, Sanna Hangelin, Sari Harmoinen, Anni Holmström, Outi Kyrö-Ämmälä, Sami Lehesvuori, Ville Mankki, and Pirjo Suvilehto.]

This case study investigates the variety of constructivist approaches to teaching evident in classroom practice. Teaching practices associated with constructivist perspectives have been prevalent in curriculum reforms for some time. Meanwhile, constructivist approaches have been critically discussed in scholarly literature, revealing problematic and ambiguous aspects. This study introduces a model describing constructivist teaching practices according to the following dimensions: knowledge structuring activities, exercise of student autonomy, organisation of authentic learning environments and problem-oriented learning activities. This model is used to analyse the classroom practice of five primary teachers using video recordings. The results of this analysis suggest that the teaching approaches differed primarily in the degree of student autonomy allowed, so that either more comprehensive constructivist teaching methods or rather minor constructivist teaching techniques were emphasised. The distinction between constructivist teaching methods and constructivist teaching techniques is suggested as an explanation of the observed variation among constructivist approaches to teaching. This study identifies the characteristics of these teaching practices, helping researchers and teachers to articulate more nuanced teaching approaches in the future.

This paper compares three types of dialogues as reflective tools in placement learning: supervisory dialogues (mentor to student-teacher), peer dialogues (student teacher to student teacher) and self-dialogues (student teachers to themselves). Forty-four Dutch student teachers utilised the procedure of guided reflection to talk about their teaching experience. Stimulated recall data were analysed through qualitative and quantitative methods. Most poignant result was that supervisory and peer dialogues seemed to have similar reflective power considering student teacher's practical knowledge and richness of argumentation for appraisals. We suggest more frequent use of peer dialogues. Only when expert advice is needed, should one employ supervisory dialogues. As self-dialogues engendered most rules and resolves, they could arguably be employed for student teachers to consolidate their own knowledge and manage their learning behaviour.

This study investigated student teachers' (N = 82) learning of action-oriented knowledge (AOK), triggering incidents in teaching practice, and the relationships between these two. Student teacher's action-oriented knowledge is understood as core capability for the practice of teaching, and learning of action-oriented knowledge needs to be facilitated during teacher education. Action-oriented knowledge integrates theoretical and practical aspects of teaching, and it needs to be investigated in the context of teaching practice in teacher education. The results showed that student teachers identified critical incidents related to didactical relation (57%), pedagogical relation (39%) and content relation (4%) meaningful for their learning. Within the relations, student teachers showed descriptive (43%), inferential (24%) and justified (33%) AOK in their reflections. The incidents related to pedagogical and didactical relation especially triggered descriptive and justified AOK. The results showed that teacher candidates AOK reflection started with evaluative descriptions of their teaching, and moved on to practical justifications. The study confirms that teacher candidates' videos can extend their focus of teaching and afford more attention to student learning.

During the teaching process, a multitude of problems arise in establishing and maintaining relationships with students. The need to fully understand teaching requires more detailed and explicit knowledge regarding the ways teachers perceive and think about their classroom actions. This collective case study focuses on investigating teachers' expectations of their teaching actions as well as the varying levels of intensity within differential teaching investments in expected teaching actions. Structured interviews were conducted with 10 primary school teachers, and the data were analysed using a primarily inductive coding scheme. The results provide a detailed exploration of two approaches, "the interactional approach" and "the instructional approach," and their respective teaching methods. In both approaches, teachers' investments in expected teaching actions illustrate a continuum of low and high intensities. The results may assist in gaining a better understanding of the situational demands of teaching. By being more conscious of their teaching actions, teachers can develop their pedagogical skills more deliberately.

This study examines the two kindergarten teachers' shared professional identities in teamwork in an effort to clarify what constitutes their shared identities and how these identities affect the teachers' professional practices and beliefs. The relational nature of identity maintains that individuals are not the only constructors of their identity, and the literature on teacher education emphasizes the importance of identity in teacher development. The in-depth analysis of the two kindergarten teachers' narrative interviews revealed how the educators constructed their professional identities by intertwining the features of their context, feedback, and teaching. The findings indicate that the shared professional identities of the two early childhood teachers are developed and negotiated through four shared features: commitment, feedback, educational tasks, and professional agency. Together these four shared features shape the teachers' professional roles and pedagogical practices--either by giving support to professional growth and empowerment or by having a decreasing effect on the teachers' professional identity and agency in early childhood contexts.

Different knowledge types have their own specific features and tasks in the learning process. Procedural knowledge is used in craft and technology education when students solve problems individually and share their working knowledge with others. This study presents a detailed analysis of a one student's learning process in technology education and the procedural knowledge used during learning tasks. Thus, procedural knowledge is mainly produced when acting, and includes students' goal-directed actions related to the craft, design and technology processes and their learning content. These knowledge practices also include multiple interactions with teachers and other students. The findings show six different knowledge practices: observing, checking and asking, revising, guided representative action, self-directed representative action, and comprehended action. These knowledge practices actively relate to each other, and, in concert, they constitute chains of actions that constitute two different types of procedural knowledge: proactive knowledge and executive knowledge. We conclude by discussing how these knowledge practices can be used to develop our understanding of the teaching and learning of craft, design and technology.

Drawing on the sociocultural view, shared knowledge is regarded as a basis for interdependent working and multi-professional learning in early childhood education. Shared professional knowledge can be seen as a central element in successful collaboration facilitating individual and collaborative professional learning. This study aims to investigate the content and implementation of shared professional knowledge in an early childhood context. Video-taped data were collected using a stimulated recall method from the two participating teachers. The results show that the content of shared professional knowledge was related to two areas in the teachers' professional knowledge: "professional self" and "professional tasks." In addition, the shared professional knowledge varied according to the teachers' work contexts. This study offers new knowledge on early childhood education practices and teacher education, considering multi-professional collaboration, and shared learning.

This study clarifies the basic structure of student teachers' reflective thinking. It presents a constructivist account of teacher knowledge through a detailed analysis of various patterns of reflection in student teacher portfolios. We aim to gain a greater understanding of the process and outcomes of portfolio writing in the context of teaching practice. By closely analysing portfolio texts, we defined six main starting points for reflective episodes and several patterns under each of them. Also, the patterns of reflective episodes were analysed according to their deductive and inductive dimensions, together with their static and dynamic features. According to our results, it is possible that student teachers can reflect beyond solely practical issues on teaching, articulate multiple concerns about practice and elaborate them in an integrative manner as well as learn both from theory and from practice as a result of reflection for their future profession.