Location
Walsh B
Proposal Track
Research Project
Session Format
Presentation
Abstract
The gap between theory and practice in pre-service teacher training is well documented. Despite shifts toward constructivist approaches and student-centered instruction, teacher education programs continue to note the gap between innovative student-centered best practices in teacher training coursework, and the teacher-centered practices seen in many classrooms which then become early career teachers’ default approach. This study examined the attitudes and beliefs of pre-service teachers through reflections written during a 4-week practicum field experience. Within these reflections, researchers noted pre-service teacher attitudinal reliance on ideas of control, including student behavior control, student noise and the classroom. Study participants dismissed student-centered approaches due to the perceived likelihood the pre-service teacher would lose control of the classroom and their students. Researchers analyzed pre-service teacher attitudes regarding control as evidence of preservice teacher anxieties and locus of control. Further, researchers argued pre-service teacher attitudes highlight the need to explicitly address these anxieties and attitudes toward control in teacher education programs. Finally, researchers argued for the need for more research on pre-service teacher attitudes and beliefs regarding control in order to reduce the gap between theory and practice in teacher education.
Keywords
Pre-service teachers, teacher attitudes and beliefs, control, classroom management
Recommended Citation
Paine, Deborah; Cox, JT; and Spires, Robert, "Pre-service Teacher Attitudes Toward Control: Middle and Secondary Education Teacher Candidate Reflective Practice as Evidence of Gap Between Theory and Practice" (2017). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 53.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2017/2017/53
Included in
Pre-service Teacher Attitudes Toward Control: Middle and Secondary Education Teacher Candidate Reflective Practice as Evidence of Gap Between Theory and Practice
Walsh B
The gap between theory and practice in pre-service teacher training is well documented. Despite shifts toward constructivist approaches and student-centered instruction, teacher education programs continue to note the gap between innovative student-centered best practices in teacher training coursework, and the teacher-centered practices seen in many classrooms which then become early career teachers’ default approach. This study examined the attitudes and beliefs of pre-service teachers through reflections written during a 4-week practicum field experience. Within these reflections, researchers noted pre-service teacher attitudinal reliance on ideas of control, including student behavior control, student noise and the classroom. Study participants dismissed student-centered approaches due to the perceived likelihood the pre-service teacher would lose control of the classroom and their students. Researchers analyzed pre-service teacher attitudes regarding control as evidence of preservice teacher anxieties and locus of control. Further, researchers argued pre-service teacher attitudes highlight the need to explicitly address these anxieties and attitudes toward control in teacher education programs. Finally, researchers argued for the need for more research on pre-service teacher attitudes and beliefs regarding control in order to reduce the gap between theory and practice in teacher education.
