Editorial
Editorial
Feyyat Gökçe
Dear Teacher Educators, Educational Scientists, and Educationalists,
A total of five articles have been published in the second issue of August, 2018 of the Journal of Teacher Education and Educators.
The first article titled “The Preparedness of Preservice Literacy Teachers: Viewpoints among Literacy Teacher Educators” by Laurie A. Sharp, Roberta D. Raymond, and Rebekah Piper, aims to determine how literacy teacher educators view current preparation levels of preservice literacy teachers in terms of the dispositions, knowledge, and skills articulated by professional literacy standards. The study utilizes a cross-sectional survey research design among 65 respondents selected by purposive sampling techniques. Findings reveal areas of strength and areas needing improvement with specific aspects of the professional literacy standards. Implications from the findings are discussed, as well as limitations of the current study and recommendations for future research.
The second article with the title of “Inclusive Education as an Approach to Reduce Inequitable Access to Education: Exploring the practices of Jegnoch Metasebiya Primary School in Harar Town, Ethiopia” by Teketel Agafari Hankebo, examines the accessibility of instructional provision for children with disabilities. The qualitative study begins with introducing how inclusive education (IE) enhances accessiblity of learnning.. The school chosen for the study is one of the schools awarded in the country for its best performance. According to the findings of the study, the number of students with disabilities enrolled in the school are not significant. Moreover, results show that the schooling and instructional activities are not accessible for the children. The study concludes that the school is implementing an integrated approach. Some recommendations are made for the regional education office and the school to allocate adequate budget, promote inclusive education and to strengthen collaboration with all stakeholders.
In their article titled “Inclusive Safety at School: How to Train Teachers”, Paola Nicolini and Federica Nardi present the activities proposed last year during the first edition of the course “Safety at school”, organized by the University of Macerata and S.E.T.A. (Safety Education Training Agency) Association. Six workshops held by university professors and other experts, focused on the topic of inclusive safety both at school and in the city in order to provide the opportunity of exchanging ideas and field experiences. The idea of the course came up after the earthquakes that stroke the central Italy, to offer new conceptual and practical instruments to face the topic of safety at school. As a conclusion, the first edition of the course was a satisfying pilot to move forward to the next step. The exit questionnaire showed a high level of satisfaction from participants.
In the fourth article titled “Physics for Teaching High School Physics: Views of Prospective Physics Teachers and Teacher Educators about Undergraduate Physics Study”, Saiqa Azam attempts to explore the views of pre-service physics teachers and science teacher educators about the initial teacher education (ITE) programs in two Melbourne universities, focusing on their levels of preparation for teaching high school physics. The study uses a qualitative interview approach to generate data to develop an understanding of the role of undergraduate physics study in teaching high school physics, and to determine if science teacher educators’ views match with those of future high school physics teachers. Both groups of participants identify a number of issues which impact prospective physics teachers’ ability to teach high school physics, and offer suggestions to improve the undergraduate physics study. The findings provide insights into the varied needs of future physics teachers with diverse backgrounds, the inadequacy of their undergraduate physics study, the capacity of some other science courses, and suggestions to improve the preparation of high school physics teachers.
With the last article titled “Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in Ethiopian Secondary School Teacher Education Practicum Supervision”, Tesfamichael Getu and Mulugeta Teka aim to examine the practicum supervision practices of the PGDT program at Bahir Dar University (BDU) and Mekelle University (MU), Ethiopia. They collect data from student teachers, university supervisors, teacher educators, cooperating teachers and program coordinators through interview along with document analysis. The results of the study indicate that the practice fails to adequately address PCK as subject-specific pedagogy becomes a peripheral issue in the practicum supervision. Hence, it is called for restructuring the PGDT practicum supervision program in a way that could well address PCK.
In the hope of reuniting with you in the following issues of the Journal of Teacher Education and Educators…
