• ConnEcTEd
• [IO 8] Guidelines for planning curricula in teacher education to support coherence

Name of the institution(s) or teams

University of Turku, Department for Teacher Education

Format

PDF

Title

Guidelines for planning curricula in teacher education to support coherence

Keywords

teacher education curricula, theory, practice, enacting practice, coherence, reflection, vision of teacher education programs, self-efficacy

Topic

A digital tool for teacher educators’ course and curricular planning

Goals

To support teacher educators, when they plan teacher education programs and curricula. The goal is to support teacher educators’ individual and collaborative work.

In specific, the aim of the tool is:

• to encourage educators and students to reflect upon visions of teacher education programs
• to enhance students to construct coherence between theory and practice
• to create opportunities for students to analyse practice
• to support students’ opportunities to enact practice
• to support students’ sense of self-efficacy
• to create opportunities for students to benefit from digital tools and learning environments

Domains/aspects of internationalization (fill in the category from the grid)

Groups of students from different countries work together in a virtual classroom and create common projects, which are presented during the course.

Target group

Teacher educators in classroom teacher and subject teacher education

Educational level and study year

All educational levels in teacher education

Context information users would need to understand the digital tool
(e.g., about the TE system, curricular integration)

Teacher education programs are striving for developing curricula that support high-quality student learning and development of competences that are needed in future teacher profession. (Mikkilä-Erdmann et al. in preparation) Teaching is a complicated, many-faceted competence requiring high-level expertise. Teachers are expected to be well educated and develop their skills as “knowledge workers” with profound theoretical domain-specific understanding and general cognitive and social skills. In addition to that, the so-called situation-specific skills are required in the classroom interaction situations (Metsäpelto et al. 2022). European teacher education programs are many-faceted and differently structured and designed. However, through the suggested guidelines we intend to support teacher educators in different institutions and in different roles to reflect on the following dimensions in teacher education: Coherence of theory and practice, opportunity to analyze practice, opportunity to enact practice, teacher self-efficacy and vision of teacher education program. The dimensions are based on the pilot survey conducted in Finland. (Mikkilä-Erdmann et al. in preparation) These guidelines are intended to support teacher educators’ reflection on how to support coherence in teacher education.

Language of the example

English

License

Copyright

In how far does your approach strengthen the internationalization (of the curriculum) in Teacher Education?

The outcome, Guidelines for planning curricula in teacher education to support coherence, is based on a digital survey that was developed in international collaboration (ConnEcTEd IO4 and other IOs). In the future, the document will reach teacher educators internationally through the ConnEcTEd open access portal and will influence curricular work in teacher education.

Which dimensions of digital transformation in teaching for teacher educators did you incorporate (utilize)?

This outcome will be available for teacher educators in digital format on ConnEcTEd platform.

How have you utilized digital tools/methods/resources in your teaching practice to strengthen coherent/integrative and/or international approaches, and what specific strategies or techniques have you found to be effective in achieving this objective?

Not applicable

How have you employed co-creative approaches and/or participatory design in your use of digital tools to enhance student learning and engagement, and what have been some of the successful outcomes that you have observed as a result?

A digital survey tool was designed based on previous research (see references below) by IO4 in collaboration with other partners in the framework of ConnECTed project. Hence, the survey is based on successful collaboration with international research partners using co-creative and participatory approach.