Secondary students' development as teachers over the course of a PGCE year

Abstract

Research has suggested that students pass through different concerns or stages in their development as teachers. Although some authors have suggested that concerns or stages are sequential, other research does not support sequential concerns or stages of development. The major purpose of this study was to look at the concerns of students at different times during a one year Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course, particularly to identify any changes in concerns about school experience as they developed as teachers and whether the development of concerns was sequential. A second purpose was to look at whether the Teacher Concerns Questionnaire (TCQ) is a useful instrument for measuring students' concerns. One cohort of students on a secondary PGCE course in England was administered the TCQ on three occasions during the academic year 1996/97.Results showed that these students were moderately concerned about school experience at the three administrations of the questionnaire. Self and impact concerns were the highest causes of concern and task concerns the lowest causes of concern at all three administrations of the questionnaire.Results also showed that there was a significant difference in the amount of total concern between the first and second and first and third administrations of the questionnaire, but not between the second and third administrations. There were significant differences between scores on nine of the items on the TCQ. However, there were no significant differences between students learning to teach different subjects. The three categories of concern identified for the TCQ: self; task; and impact concerns were only partly supported by the results of this study. The results did not support work which has suggested that the development of concerns is sequential. The results are discussed in relation to the ongoing development of teachers and identifying concerns of individual students.

Exploring teaching concerns and characteristics of graduate teaching assistants

“…However, other empirical studies have been unable to completely confirm developmental patterns of teacher concerns (Capel 2001;Ghaith and Shaaban 1999;Mok 2005;Pigge and Marso 1987). Other factors extend Fuller's concerns model.…”

Assessing Pre-service Teachers Prior to Certification: Perspectives on the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT)

“…Over the years, various studies have investigated different dimensions of pre-service teacher experiences, including their development of literacy practices (Estrada & Grady, 2011), concerns (Capel, 2001), mentoring experiences (Edwards, 1998), and how stress affects them (Head, Hill & Maguire, 1996). In a more recent investigation pertaining to pre-service teacher expectations, researchers have found that expectations appear to influence how pre-service teachers perceive preparedness at the end of their courses (Hobson, Giannakaki & Chambers, 2009).…”

The effects of highly engaged field experiences and multi-faceted mentoring stategies on ameliorating pre-service teacher concerns.

“…Those Traditional PSTs that had done experiences outside the university, such as substitute teaching, and those PSTs in the SKyTeach program reflected that the previous experience allowed them to focus on the meticulous details of becoming a more effective teacher instead of being concerned about the superficial apprehensions of being in front of a classroom. These comments were in accordance with the findings of studies by Capel, (2001), Parsons (1973) and Petrusich, (1966) who stated that teachers with more experience tend to have fewer self-preservation concerns.…”

“…The findings that preservice teachers of different programs expressed similar levels of concerns coincide with the results of Dalez (1998) who compared the concerns of recent graduates of traditional teacher education program and graduates of a professional development school. Other studies which found simultaneous existences of teacher concerns among preservice teachers were reported by Capel (2001) and Evans and Tribble (1996). The presence of a moderate level of all three concerns before the student-teaching experience validated the idea that student teaching was a stressful time in a preservice teacher's program (Black-Branch & Lamont, 1998, Greer & Greer 1992.…”

“…However, it was limited in logging individual concerns. Capel (2001) recommended using a mixed-methods approach to identify concerns of individual students so that instructors in pre-service courses could better help them address individual concerns.…”