Our classrooms are increasingly populated by students from diverse linguistic, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. These students bring rich experiences that could be utilized as resources for teaching and learning in culturally diverse classrooms. Unfortunately, they often encounter racism and inequality, as well as a discrepancy between their home…

In an era where computational thinking is regarded as a basic skill for the 21st century that needs to be taught across the K-12 curriculum, research shows that teacher education programs do not adequately prepare preservice teachers to promote computational thinking skills in classroom teaching. Accordingly, the present study contributes to the…

Problem-based learning could have a great impact in teacher education not only to support prospective teachers' learning, but also to help them to design and implement learner-centered experiences to satisfy requirements of reform-based curriculum. In this paper, we discuss the nature and role of problem-based learning to support authentic…

The Teacher Education Program at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) implemented three initiatives in 2018 to improve the practicum experience for teacher candidates. One of these initiatives was to extend the use of e-Portfolios into final practicum. E-Portfolios are first developed by teacher candidates in EDUC 431, the Education…

This portrait of pre-service teacher training in diversity at the 12 Québec universities is the first part of a comparative research program on the development of this field and the issues it raises. Combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies, it is based on a content analysis of 37 courses covering approaches to ethnocultural, religious…

Schools of education are in a unique position to foster a culture of academic integrity among pre-service teachers who will go on to careers as K-12 educators. This presentation presents the results of a year-long mixed methods study to understand the perceptions and approaches to academic integrity taken by academic staff in a Canadian school of…

The educational outcomes of critical pedagogy, especially the process of acquiring a critical consciousness, are frequently stated in the critical literature. Unfortunately, research illustrating the successful process of facilitating a critical consciousness among preservice teachers is limited. This research begins to address this significant…

This study investigated the effect of different aspects of mathematics knowledge for teaching on performance in upper elementary mathematics methods courses. In the Ontario (Canada) context, prospective teachers have been, until the 2015-2016 school year, able to obtain a Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree in as little as eight months after a…

This paper reports the results of an international survey on ethics education in initial teacher education. The survey collected data in relation to four main questions: How common is a required ethics-related course? What are the objectives of dedicated ethics-related courses for teacher candidates where such courses exist? How do teacher…

This paper discusses how design thinking was used in a one-semester education course at the University of Calgary with prospective secondary school teachers of different disciplinary backgrounds and high school subject specializations. It presents some key characteristics of design thinking and their relationship to creativity and students'…

Environmental education in K-12 and initial teacher education contexts appears to be at a cross-roads despite UNESCO's declaration of its importance in educating future generations about the global challenges we face and our resistance to change the behaviours that create these conditions. This paper argues for the interdisciplinary status of…

This research linked 47 Hong Kong and 35 Canadian teacher candidates in a new participatory culture project within the theoretical framework of "new media literacies." This paper reports the qualitative data with quantitative descriptions of participants' social interactivity within the cross-border communities of practice. Besides the…

Attracting and retaining teachers for rural and remote areas is a pervasive global problem. Currently, teacher education in Canada is primarily delivered in face-to-face formats located in urban centres or satellite campuses. There is a need for relevant and responsive teacher education programs for rural pre-service teachers. Recognizing this…

Public education's distinctive and primary challenge is to ensure all children, across all communities, have access to the skills and knowledge required for their full participation in democratically regulated social, cultural, and vocational life. This is an aspiration increasingly difficult to realize under present-day conditions of austerity in…

This comparative and qualitative study-in-progress focuses on two early childhood teacher education (ECTE) programs in contexts where the participants are undergoing rapid social and personal change: a program in Namibia and a program for immigrant childcare educators in Canada. The objective is to provide in-depth understanding of the ways in…