Preservice Teachers' Perceptions of Their Positioning and Agency in Student Teaching Placements During COVID-19

• In Event: Designing Field-Based Learning for Connectedness During Times of Disconnect and Crisis

Abstract

Drawing on the experiences of four preservice teachers (PSTs) during the Covid-19 pandemic, this qualitative study uses positioning theory to describe PSTs perceptions of their positioning as a co-teacher in their student teaching placement, and the roles and responsibilities that they were able to assume. PSTs reported having ample opportunities to develop teacher agency and identity. Their responses also indicated that the remote instruction context may have partly contributed to their agentic positioning by their cooperating teacher. This analysis provides implications for teacher education; if teacher educators intend to support PSTs in fostering equitable classrooms in which students have influence and are positioned as agents of change, it is important to consider diverse ways to do this for PSTs.

Author

• Valerie Valdez, University of California - Santa Barbara