Diversity in Coherence: A Comparison of Coherence Across Three Teacher Education Programs

• In Event: Unpacking the Conception of Coherence in Teacher Education: International Perspectives

Abstract

Research shows that coherent educational programmes contribute to improved student outcomes, be it at elementary, secondary or higher educational level (Kedro, 2004; McQuillan et al., 2012). Unfortunately, teacher education programs have been criticized for being too fragmented (Grossman et al., 2009). It has even been suggested that a lack of coherence in teacher education may result in a lack of coherence in teacher candidates’ body of knowledge and skills (Bain & Moje, 2012). To address these concerns, teacher education programs started, from the 1980’s onward, to implement reforms that built coherence (Holmes group, 1986). Nevertheless, the question remains to what extent teacher candidates perceive their educational program as coherent. For teacher candidates to grasp, fully understand, and to integrate the theory and knowledge presented to them, they need opportunities to make connections across ideas and to build their own understanding. Such ‘connected’ or aligned experiences enable candidates to build upon their existing knowledge base and construct new knowledge and create opportunities to integrate what is offered. In the present paper we will investigate program coherence, as perceived by teacher candidates, of three university-based teacher education programs (Stanford University, USA, University of Helsinki, Finland, and University of Oslo, Norway).
Survey data were collected from 270 teacher candidates (see Table 3). The 19 items used tapped three underlying factors: perceived coherence between courses, opportunities to connect various parts of the program, and perceived coherence between field experiences and courses (Author1 et al., submitted). Items were rated on a four-point Likert scale ranging from 1:none to 4:extensive opportunity and 1:strongly disagree to 4:strongly agree. The internal consistency was good for all scales (see Table 3). To investigate whether the observed differences between the programs are statistically significant, we performed ANOVA’s. To grasp opportunities to improve program coherence, we used descriptive analyses at item level.
We find that teacher candidates across programs perceive their teacher education programs as reasonably coherent. Yet, there remains room for improvement: across all programs, students report less coherence between courses, and among courses and field placements. We also saw differences across programs. At the scale level, Stanford students perceived their teacher education program as more coherent compared to both Helsinki and Oslo students (p<.01). We also noted significant differences between Helsinki and Oslo students, with Helsinki students perceiving more coherence between courses (p=.01), whereas Oslo students reported more opportunities to connect various parts of their program (p<.05).
Our findings make sense given the extensive reform the Stanford program pursued, expressly intended to help develop coherence within and across coursework as well as to forge deeper links to school sites (Author3, 2006). Our data suggest that the collaborative work the faculty and other employees have done to create a coherent program has had effect at the student level. This corroborates findings and research designs addressing collaboration between teachers/teacher educators (e.g., Coburn et al., 2012; Daly, 2010). Although all programs are perceived as relatively coherent, findings point both to program differences and areas for improvement, especially in relationship to school sites.

Authors

• Esther T. Canrinus, University of Oslo

• Kirsti Klette, University of Oslo

• Karen M. Hammerness, American Museum of Natural History

• Ole Kristian Bergem, University of Oslo