Through a dynamic interplay of philosophical analysis and fine-tuned fieldwork, this dissertation seeks to bear witness to the presence and power of the "personal core of teaching," a dimension of education that, I argue, is of utmost importance, but which remains largely undervalued by educational policymakers and underexamined by…

Instructors in the Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) work within the Diagnostic Laboratories and volunteer as adjunct instructors for the educational program. Instructors do not receive training when they assume this role and must learn how to teach while actively creating and modifying…

Health professions faculty are traditionally experts in their respective fields and are prepared to teach students from their own profession, but rarely receive training concerning implementation of interprofessional education. The problem addressed by this research was that most health professions educators are not prepared to facilitate…

Teachers typically do not enter the profession with an inkling that they will become involved in recurring conflict. In fact, Collinson and Cook (2007) suggested that teachers often prefer working alone and in their own classroom, at least in part because they are often conflict-avoidant. Whereas schools were comparably conflict-free 30 years ago…

The nation is facing a crisis with the current teacher shortage and rapidly decreasing number of individuals choosing teaching as a profession. Texas has the largest public school teacher workforce in the nation. In nearly ten years in Texas, from the 2012-2013 to the 2021-2022 school years, the number of individuals obtaining a degree in…

There is very little known about why Black elementary educators enter the profession, their professional preparation and experiences, and factors that retain them in the profession. Given that Black elementary educators are underrepresented in the literature, this study filled a gap in the literature by investigating their: (1) reason for becoming…

This quantitative research describes the measures of motivating factors, through a social learning lens, that empower minority high school students in a CTE program to develop a teacher identity through time in clinical teaching practice. This quasi-experimental study found interactions between student motivation, teacher identity, and student…

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of urban secondary math and science teachers, administrators, and district personnel regarding the factors that influence secondary math and science teachers with more than five years of teaching experience to remain in urban Title I districts. The participants were interviewed to gain their…

With the start of every school year, new teachers enter classrooms across our country filled with excitement surrounding the impact they hope to have on students. Some teachers discover that teaching at the elementary level can often times involve more than teaching and loving children. The expectations, demands, and time constraints put on new…

This dissertation focuses on a pedagogical analysis of the intersections of white racial identity, nationalism, and neoliberalism as they manifest and impact teachers and teacher education. After first detailing how my own family became white, I discuss my method in this work in two ways: first, as a form of Freirean Critical Study (an elaboration…

Major stakeholders in education are focused on the high rate of teachers leaving the profession. The review of literature indicated the number of teachers leaving the profession outnumbered the number of teachers entering or staying in the profession. High teacher turnover rates weaken schools' abilities to build and sustain professional teacher…

High quality teachers are an essential piece of the agricultural education model and directly influence the quality of the total program. However, there has been a steady consolidation and elimination of agricultural education teacher preparation programs in New England. In order to understand how this trend affected agricultural education in this…

The education system in California currently faces three major challenges--teacher shortage, lack of diversity in the teacher population in terms of gender and ethnicity, and a need for more effective teachers. After school programs have the potential of addressing all these challenges in a cost-effective manner. However, for these programs to…

This study confirmed the observed strengths and weaknesses of AC candidates as described by those responsible for their hiring and supervision. The findings were consistent with those found in the literature. According to school administrators making hiring decisions, AC candidates are stronger in content knowledge and weaker in pedagogy than…

License renewal and recertification have long been standard practice in service professions. Ten years ago, a new law called for policy revision and mandated that Illinois teachers acquire continuing professional development to maintain certification. This study provides a historical perspective of the Illinois teacher recertification process,…