Studies suggest that pre-service teachers' existing beliefs often serve as a lens to interpret the subject matter to be taught, guide their thoughts in lesson planning and shape their behaviour in classroom practices during their teaching practicum. This study examines how these beliefs affect pre-service teachers' conceptualization of…

In this article, we draw on survey data to investigate associations between Chinese elementary teaching candidates’ mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) and their experiences in mathematics courses, mathematics methods courses, and student teaching. In our study, we found that (a) Chinese teaching candidates' completion of courses in number…

This study examined similar and differing initial motivations to teach between 257 US and 542 Chinese preservice teachers using the recently validated FIT-Choice scale. In both countries, participants were motivated to enter teaching because of their social utility values. US preservice teachers reported significantly higher motivations from…

The purpose of this study was to examine similarities and differences in perspectives of fathering among American, Chinese, Japanese and Swedish in-service and pre-service early childhood teachers. The participants in the quantitative survey consisted of 67 American in-service and 277 pre-service teachers, 118 Chinese in-service and 163…

This study examines entry-level teacher candidates on career choice, professional goals and view on a teacher's role. The candidates were enrolled in two elementary teacher education programs in the People's Republic of China and the United States of America. A total of 66 participants responded in writing to three questions about why they decided…

Based on analysis of the responses of 359 no-fee preservice students, this study found that: (1) Local identity includes the living environment, cultural environment, people, behavior, economic identity, and sense of alienation associated with one's home place. (2) Local identity is relatively high overall, but identity with behavior at home and…

Since implementation of reform and opening-up policy, China's teacher education has got significant success on policy design, legislation process, theory research, system reform, model innovation and teaching qualification system building. Teachers' educational background level has been increased. Teachers' professional ethics and teaching…

The literature on non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) and native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) tends to focus on their respective strengths, the main strengths of NNESTs being their experience of learning English as a second language and their familiarity with their students' language and educational background. This article proposes…

The article focuses on Chinese students' hopes and expectations before leaving to study abroad. The national political environment for their decision to go abroad is shaped by an official narrative of China's transition to a more creative and innovative economy. Students draw on this narrative to interpret their own educational histories and prior…

The establishment of normal colleges and universities is an important component of building a modern country, which possesses different value ethos with the universities. The emergence of the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris and the local normal schools has set a new model for teacher education around the world and promoted values and knowledge…

Teaching nature of science (NOS) is beginning to find its place in science education in China. This exploratory study interviewed twenty-four Chinese science teacher educators about their conceptions of teaching NOS to pre-service science teachers. Although five dimensions emerged, this paper mainly focuses on reporting the findings relevant to…

How prospective teachers conceive of teaching excellence and assessment purposes probably influences how teaching and assessment practices are implemented in the future. This study evaluated, in four "normal universities" in the People's Republic of China, 765 prospective teachers' responses to two self-report instruments regarding the…

For their 61st annual conference, the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers (ALER) met in St. Petersburg, Florida. This year's conference theme was "Engaging All Readers through Explorations of Literacy, Language, and Culture," which was also used as the title for this year's "Yearbook." This "Yearbook"…

This research investigated the development of critical thinking of middle school chemistry teachers in Shaanxi province of China. In-service and pre-service teachers' critical thinking are examined in order to provide evidence for establishing teachers' standard. The sample in this study consisted of 69 in-service and 61 pre-service chemistry…

Contrary to what many people assume, writes Stewart, a high-quality teacher workforce is not the simple result of some traditional cultural respect for teachers that exists in some countries. Rather, it requires deliberate policy choices. In a tour of seven countries that traditionally score high on international tests of student performance…