Call for Papers: Changing Teacher Education for Changing Schools

Vol. 13, Issue 4 (Year 2023)

 Issue Editors: Janez Vogrinc and Blerim Saqipi

The discussion around how teachers behave in their roles and how they behave in school (Beijaard et al., 2000; Hargreaves, 1994) is closely related to policies and practices in initial teacher education. In parallel, teacher education has been subject to continuous reform in recent decades. The debate has been centred around the demands for teacher qualification levels, the competencies and skills that teacher education graduates need to acquire as they transition to school, and the ways teacher education is responding to the ever increasing pressure on the teaching profession to change. While the trend to increase teacher qualifications (making masters level a minimum requirement) at the international level has continued without any critical review, the developments around the other two dimensions remain an important topic of debate in academic literature and policy debates.

 

One important theme in addressing the above dimensions is how teacher education is bridging the theory-practice gap (Kelchtermans & Ballet, 2002) and handling the dichotomy between an academic and a pedagogical orientation with regard to the task of teaching (Beijaard et al., 2000). The traditional views of perceiving the task of teaching as knowledge transfer have been countered by views that teacher education needs to prepare prospective teachers for broader roles of dealing with the complexities of learning and the societies they serve. In light of this evolving understanding of the roles of teachers, the concept of pedagogical content knowledge for teachers has started to gain more importance (originating from Shulman, 1986).

 

While the struggle to determine the policy and practice of teacher education continues, more evidence is needed to delve deeper into aspects of what constitutes quality teacher education that prepares teachers to respond to the desired professionalism, reflecting the necessary competencies for and attitudes towards the task of teaching.

 

More specifically, this focus issue welcomes articles that provide answers related to the following questions:

- What are good models of initial teacher education to address the concepts of academic knowledge, general education knowledge and subject pedagogy in such a way that they all interrelate in preparing teachers for the todays’ school systems?

- How can initial teacher education manage the local and external pressure that is exerted on the teaching profession in relation to the balance between academic and pedagogical orientation?

- How can teacher education institutions manage the tensions between the academic and pedagogical dimensions of preparing teachers, ensuring an adequate balance?

- What are good practices of addressing the theory-praxis gap during initial teacher education including the elements of school placement?

 

This focus issue welcomes theoretical and empirical articles that provide new insights into the way teacher education can evolve in the next stage.

 

References

Beijaard, D., Verloop, N., & Vermunt, J. D. (2000). Teachers’ perceptions of professional identity: An exploratory study from a personal knowledge perspective. Teaching and Teacher Education, 16, 749–764

Hargreaves, A. (1994). Changing teachers changing times. London, UK: Cassell.

Kelchtermans, G., & Ballet, K. (2002). The micropolitics of teacher induction: A narrative bibliographical study on teacher socialization. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18(1), 105–120.

Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 14(2), 4–14.

 

 

Article submission timeline:

30 September 2022: submission of paper title and abstract with up to five keywords [250 words max.]

30 March 2023: paper submission [between 5,000 and 7,000 words]

December 2023: publication of the focus issue of the CEPS journal

 

Please send the abstract to editors@cepsj.si clearly stating the title of the focus issue.

 

Manuscripts should be from 5,000 to 7,000 words long, including the abstract and reference list. They should be written in UK English. Submissions should be no more than 20 pages in length, and should be original and unpublished work not currently under review by another journal or publisher.

 

When preparing the manuscript, please follow our guidelines, which are available here:

https://ojs.cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/about/submissions.