Perceived Mismatches in How Preservice Teachers Were Expected to Teach and How They Were Taught

• In Event: Early Childhood Preservice Teacher Education

Abstract

A responsibility of early childhood teacher educators is to prepare preservice teachers to address their future students’ needs while attending to the issues of standardization and accountability. We investigated this issue by examining how a sample of preservice teachers made sense of becoming teachers in high-stakes teaching contexts who center their practices on the needs and interests of their students. When analyzing the findings of this case study, their sensemaking shifted from who they were becoming as teachers to how they were being treated by their program, which led them to question their training and development as early educators. Interpreting these findings provides insight into opportunities for teacher educators to support preservice teachers as they enter their future classrooms.

Authors

• Christopher P. Brown, The University of Texas at Austin

• David Patrick Barry, West Chester University

• Da Hei Ku, The University of Texas at Austin

• Kate Puckett, Eastern Oregon University