This article proposes a model for interprofessional collaboration within the context and process of field experiences in public schools. The model evolved out of a collaborative venture between the schools of social work and education at Boston College. The placement of pairs of social work and education interns in urban schools provided an…

This paper addresses student-teachers' ability to "read nature" in a woodland habitat before and after a 10-week ecology course. "Reading nature" is our definition of the ability to observe, describe and explain basic ecology in the field. Data consists of field-based pre-course and post-course interviews followed up by…

This article builds on a case study about how teacher education students may actually learn racism through their program. It employs an analysis of how new racism is operationalized in today's sociopolitical contexts. Field placements and knowledge taught about various groups are critiqued as major teacher education reform efforts that…

The authors describe an international cultural immersion field experience, make recommendations for counselor educators who want to establish a similar program, and present an example of a student's reflection on the experience as recorded in the personal multicultural competency portfolio.

National reports (e.g., A Nation at Risk) and legislation (e.g., No Child Left Behind) call for improved teacher preparation. One area of concern relates to inadequate preparation of teachers for the reality of the classroom. We were interested in determining the role of practicum experiences in special education teacher preparation. Surveys were…

Student teachers' learning in the field experience is seen as being at the heart of their professional training in initial teacher education. This paper reports a qualitative case study of preservice student teachers' learning experiences in school placements in Hong Kong. A multi-case study was conducted in a concurrent teacher education…

Since the 1980s, when studies indicated that inservice teachers perceived that their preservice preparation was inadequate (Feiman-Nemser & Buchmann, 1985; Lyon, Vaasen, & Toomey, 1989), teacher education programs have made significant efforts to provide meaningful preparation (Imig & Switzer, 1996). One such effort includes the use of…

With the development of advanced degrees in early childhood education and the accompanying professional standards (National Association for Education of Young Children [NAEYC], 2002; National Board for Professional Teacher Standards [NBPTS], 2001, advanced early childhood programs are called to reach beyond the university classroom walls into the…

Group supervision is recommended in the literature as an efficient method for field education, especially in the context of reduced agency resources for field instruction. This qualitative interview study explored the experiences of 18 MSW students who received group supervision as the primary method of field instruction. The competence of the…

Media and news companies strive to keep costs down while maximizing profit through electronic news and information dissemination and engaging in unethical personnel managing practices. The author argues that journalism teachers and schools have catered to the demands of media companies by concentrating only on skills demanded by the industry. It…

In this article, the authors focus on the concept of coherence, a relatively underexplored concept in teacher education. They investigate the relationship between students' perceptions of coherence and a number of structural features of teacher education programs to help develop a stronger definition of one important dimension of coherence--the…

A related study found a number of changes in the reflective stance of preservice teachers using a video case curriculum in a mathematics methods course. These included a higher level of reflection, an increased use of evidence, a shift from affective to pedagogical concerns, and increased attention to student thinking (Stockero, 2006). The…

This study investigated how agricultural education programs prepare teacher education students for work in diverse situations. It assessed the extent to which agricultural education programs are infusing diversity, multiculturalism, and pluralism into their curriculum as courses, field experiences, and in-service for current teachers. This census…

This qualitative study investigated perceptions of contemporary leaders regarding moral and ethical learning and the role of higher education. There were three steps in the data collection procedures: a survey of graduate students, open-ended interviews with the selected leaders, and document content analysis. Participants were asked whether they…

A mediating approach is implemented into a section of Block I courses elementary pre-service teachers took in a cohort setting in Spring 2002. The paper discusses the components of the approach as well as the logistics of the initial implementation. Furthermore, the paper provides qualitative and quantitative analysis of a set of data gathered…