Search

This case study examines four Japanese pre-service teachers' (PST's) experience of learning Bob Moses' student-centered pedagogical framework (Moses & Cobb, 2001) in the context of teaching English as a foreign language, a subject arguably the most difficult for both Japanese students and teachers. The framework is most effective when used to teach diverse learners, including English-as-second or foreign-language learners (Ahn et al., 2018), but its effectiveness in linguistically and culturally different contexts such as Japan has not been researched yet. To examine this, we provided an opportunity for pre-service teachers from the Kobe University teacher education program to learn and teach using the framework. Four PSTs were recruited to participate in three online meetings. First, they watched a model five-step lesson, followed by choosing a difficult English concept to teach in pairs for upper elementary school students. After planning and receiving feedback on their lesson plans, each pair taught a lesson in front of the online group. The leaders and peers provided continuous feedback to improve their lessons, culminating in short online lessons for 5th and 6th grade elementary students. The data consist of PSTs' written reflections, lesson plans, and a researcher memo of a group interview done after the lesson. We aimed to answer the question: What were the most impactful elements of the Moses' student-centered framework for the PSTs as they learn to apply it in their own teaching? The following three themes emerged in regard to the PSTs' learning: (1) modeling teaching, (2) formative feedback, and (3) scaffolding steps. The results indicated that Moses' approach is a promising pedagogical framework that can be successfully applied in the Japanese educational context to guide those who wish to apply active learning and student-centered approaches in their teaching practice, including English language education.

Artefacts can evoke stories. This article explores the use of artefacts in narrative pedagogies in the context of teachers' professional development during the induction phase. The research question is: What kind of stories about beginning teachers' work does the use of artefacts in narrative pedagogies evoke? The article is based on two peer group meetings in which nine Finnish teachers working in day care centres and primary schools participated. The findings illustrate how the use of artefacts offers an entrance into teachers' daily routines, relationships and practices as well as how artefacts can become important actors in teachers' classrooms. This article contributes to the emerging literature on the meaning of artefacts in educational practices and beginning teachers' professional development. Additionally, the article contributes to the still not fully recognised potential that artefacts can have in narrative pedagogies in pre-service and in-service teacher education.

This article explores how student teachers use moral imagination when writing about an ethical dilemma. Moral imagination refers to the ability to consider a situation from a distance and to understand different perspectives through imagination. An ethical dilemma was presented in the form of a framing story, which the participating Austrian and Finnish student teachers continued writing as they chose. Through positioning and narrative analyses, we uncovered how the students' moral imagination on the ethical dilemma centred on one or more of the following foci: (1) the pupil; (2) themselves as teachers; or (3) other actors. This moral imagination manifested through different storylines. The implications of these results and the relevance of the method for teacher education are discussed.

This article focuses on what student teachers tell about the emotional dimension of their identities with self-portraits. Narrative interviews with self-portraits were conducted with two student teachers in the final stages of their studies. The interviews were analysed by using narrative analysis, followed by a thematic cross-analysis of the two emplotted stories. The findings emphasise the importance of vulnerability as a significant emotional dimension of student teachers' identities, showing them to be vulnerable in relation to themselves, to others and to cultural teacher stories. From the perspective of student teacher identity construction, it was notable that the student teachers described moments of feeling unsuited to being a teacher, which made them feel vulnerable. The article discusses the meaning of self-portraits for research and for teacher education; telling stories with self-portraits can be used to understand the emotional dimension of student teachers' narrative identities.

This article examines emotionally challenging expectations in the relationships beginning teachers have with students' parents. The data consist of narrative interviews with 17 Japanese beginning teachers. Due to strong cultural and social norms prescribing appropriate social interactions, Japanese teachers have little leeway in negotiating parents' expectations. We found that beginning teachers described facing three emotionally challenging expectations in their relationships with students' parents: 1) they do not fully understand what is expected of them; 2) they are expected to turn to colleagues for help with difficult issues involving parents; and 3) they are expected to endure and learn from criticism. To cope with these emotionally challenging expectations, beginning teachers perform emotional labour. The article presents a wider understanding of teachers' work as a relational practice and offers insights that can be used to move beyond the discourse that frames beginning teachers from a 'deficit' perspective.

The article discusses parent-teacher relationships in school micropolitics based on beginning teachers' stories. We employ a narrative approach and investigate how micropolitical conditions and strategies are portrayed in beginning teachers' stories of parent-teacher relationships. The research material consists of narrative interviews with seven Finnish primary school teachers in the first and second years of their careers. The findings indicate that micropolitical processes play a part in constructing parent-teacher relationships. These micropolitics both enable and limit these relationships and influence how beginning teachers learn to cope with parent relationships. The findings reveal various micropolitical strategies that beginning teachers use to enact and construct parent-teacher relationships. Furthermore, the findings show that parent-teacher relationships do not necessarily include just parents and teachers, but are multidimensional, encompassing several intertwined relationships that micropolitically condition parent-teacher relationships. The implications for pre- and in-service teacher education and school leaders are considered.

Recent research has acknowledged the importance of the relationships of school principals with beginning teachers. However, little is known about how emotions inform these relationships from the beginning teacher's side. Applying the concept of emotional geographies, this paper explores the kinds of storied emotional distances that appear in the relationships between beginning teachers and their principals. Based on interviews with beginning Japanese teachers, the results indicate that such relationships may be: (1) very direct and personal; (2) acted out indirectly by the principal as personal facilitator "behind the scenes" or as public gatekeeper; or (3) mediated by the teacher community. The analysis reveals beginning teachers' personal experiences of these relationships, as well as how such relationships are influenced by organisational and cultural context. Although principals are described as distant figures within the school organisation, they are seen to play an important role in facilitating beginning teachers' work by connecting with them at a personal level and providing good working conditions by influencing the emotional atmosphere of the teacher community or by sheltering them from parental pressure.

It has been increasingly acknowledged that emotions are a significant dimension in teachers' work and professional development, and an inseparable part of reflection promoted in the research-based teacher education. However, at the same time the difficulty of prompting student-teachers to reflect on their emotions in teacher education has been recognised. This article focuses on this difficulty by examining how emotionally loaded stories about teachers' work were dealt with by soon-to-graduate Finnish student-teachers attending peer group mentoring sessions. We illustrate this group-level phenomenon (the challenge of discussing emotionally loaded stories) through the examples provided by one of the participants, Hannele (pseudonym). Our results revealed that emotionally loaded stories in this peer group were often responded to with laughter and humour or via masking or silencing. Participants seemed to avoid deeper emotional reflection on uncertainty related to oneself and to the teaching profession, therefore maintaining an image of a proper (student) teacher. Our results have implications for both peer group mentoring and pre-service teacher education.

This article contributes to theoretical discussions about beginning teachers’ work being both relational and emotional. Specifically, we have examined the tensions that frequently characterise the relationships between beginning and senior teachers. Our research material consisted of narrative interviews with seven beginning teachers and seven senior teachers working at the same junior high school in Japan. Through thematic analysis, we have identified three categories of tensions: (1) tension between dependence and independence, (2) tension between obedience and assertiveness and (3) tension between loyalty to one’s students and loyalty to one’s colleagues. These tensions are meaningful for both beginning and senior teachers, but they view them in different ways and connect them to different expectations regarding appropriate actions and attitudes. These tensions are also related to wider cultural expectations and general principles that are often concretely realised through different practices within the micropolitical environment of a school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]