A primary goal of teacher education programs is to equip teacher candidates with the necessary skills to navigate the social and cultural realities and complexities of the classroom while seamlessly integrating theory and practice. As our classrooms become more socially, economically, and culturally diverse it is important for teachers to evolve…

Educational developers understand the importance of a strong new faculty program (NFP). When designing an NFP, what do new faculty need and when do they need it? What learning goals facilitate transition and help faculty cultivate important knowledge and skills? In a multi-stage, institution-wide collaborative planning process, we adapted Fink's…

This paper describes several strategies for organizing, collaborating on, persisting in, and funding professional writing activities that can benefit new tenure track faculty members. Establishing and maintaining a regular program of academic writing is essential to a successful career in higher education, but initiating and maintaining a program…

This case describes one university's journey to embed social, emotional, and cultural learning (SEC) deeply into a three-semester combined multiple-subject credential and MA program centered on social justice. The authors describe stages of program development and point to key anchor competencies they believe essential for beginning teachers and…

Effective mentoring programs help to recruit new teachers and improve teacher retention rates (e.g. Ingersoll & Strong, 2011, Rideout & Windle, 2010). Many school districts require mentoring programs for new teachers; however, they do not always have the resources to prepare their teachers to mentor beginning teachers. Clinical faculty…

Previous research indicates that beginning teachers are not fully prepared for what awaits them in the workforce. This study highlights the value of partnerships among higher education providers, schools and employers and links the experiences of beginning teachers to initial teacher education (ITE). Real-life experiences from the field provide…

Despite the Bologna agreement implementation in 2008, teachers' education in Portugal has not changed significantly from earlier practice. The major modification in the requirements of master's level teacher education programmes was the introduction of a strong component of educational research in a master's degree; this is designed to replace an…

Teacher education in universities is under pressure. In many new education policies there is a renewed focus on teacher quality, and therefore quality initial teacher education. In some countries this renewed focus has led to a resurgence of "alternative approaches" to teacher education such as Teach for America / Australia. One of the…

This paper investigates current research into the role of education in combating social injustice, assembles this research to indicate key features of a teacher education programme that would assist education for social justice, and links these features to one innovative university teacher education programme to ascertain some of the practical…

The rationale of this article is that schools and their leaders need to establish and formalize a system which focuses on integrating staff effectively into the organization's community and instituting esteem and competency. Competent educators in a professional community constitute two of the three dimensions that build the capacity to create…

This article provides specific recommendations to help faculty members organize, plan, and conduct a short-term overseas study tour. Specifically, strategies are presented to help with managing student anxiety in the pretrip sessions, acclimating the students to their new environment in the early part of the trip, balancing academic content with…

This article attempts to synthesize teachers' conceptions-of-teaching and integrate them into a structure for professional development. It presents one route by which a teacher might become more expert at the practice of teaching. Various conceptions-of-teaching theories are considered in the light of how they impact on the practice of teaching.…

Early career special educators must be engaged in conversations with developers of preservice teacher preparation programs to co-construct initial teacher education programs which meet their needs. The process of listening to the teachers themselves could serve to ensure that teachers are an explicit element of program design. This article…

This study explores the impact of an alternative teacher preparation program development from the "inside out" or through the voices of second career teachers, known as "Career Switchers," at a mid-size state university. The major objective of this study was to probe into their perceptions to inform program development with reporting framed in…

State-level policy support for teacher induction programs can help teachers realize their full potential, keep them in the profession, promote greater student learning, and save money. Higher education institutions and school districts must work together to provide high-quality and well-designed induction programs. This issue of "Policy Matters,"…