Teacher preparation and the COVID-19 disruption: Understanding the impact and implications for novice teachers

Navigating Uncertainty: Teachers' Insights on Their Preservice Training and Its Influence on Self-Efficacy during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This quantitative study investigates teachers' perceptions of self-efficacy during the COVID-19 pandemic and explores the correlation between these perceptions and the preservice training they received. The research addresses the cognitive connection between teachers' current self-efficacy, particularly their satisfaction with and appreciation of preservice lecturers. The connection between self-efficacy and "cognitive connection" lies in the intricate interplay of cognitive processes, observational learning, and the formation of beliefs and perceptions. The way individuals cognitively process information, make connections between experiences, and interpret feedback significantly influences their self-efficacy beliefs and behaviors. Utilizing a retrospective lens, the study reveals a significant correlation between teachers' evaluation of their preservice training, especially their appreciation of lecturers, and their present self-efficacy. The findings highlight that teachers, amidst the challenges of the pandemic, evaluated their self-efficacy at a remarkably high level. This underscores their resilience during a period of unprecedented uncertainty demanding substantial personal and professional adaptability. The nuanced interplay observed suggests that teachers' sense of self-efficacy serves as a predictive variable of their mental and professional resilience when confronting uncertainty and navigating rapid and profound changes, as exemplified by the exigencies of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mentorship reconsidered: A case study of K-12 teachers' mentor-mentee relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study critically examined the impact of a crisis context (COVID-19 pandemic) on K-12 teachers by placing emphasis on the mentor-mentee dyad through the perspective of the mentee in a large United States public school system. A phenomenological case study was undertaken that used semi-structured interviews to examine 14 early career teachers (mentees) participating in a formal mentoring program during the 2020-2021 school year. The study focused on mentor-mentee relationships by accounting for the single most traumatic and transformative event of the modern era of K-12 public education. The analysis yielded three findings highlighting the impact of COVID-19 on the mentor-mentee dyadic experiences of first- and second-year teachers engaged in a mentoring relationship. The findings indicate that (a) e-mentoring allowed for avoidant behaviors from mentors (b) successful mentoring involves the development of personal relationships between a mentor and mentee, and (c) peer and reverse mentoring became commonplace during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public school systems can use these findings to help develop positive mentor and mentee relationships that go beyond the traditional dyadic roles and help reduce stress in a crisis context, while developing a culture where superiority bias is improved. Research implications offer mentoring literature a view to pay more attention to temporal influences during environments of high stress, which may provide more explanatory power on mentorship roles, cultural influences, and social interactions in the course of mentor-mentee practices.

The effect of Universal Teacher-Child Interaction Training on Hispanic teachers' sense of self-efficacy in early childhood education and care settings

Disparities exist in the availability of high-quality early childhood education and care settings (ECEC) across communities within the United States. Teachers have an imperative role in fostering children's socioemotional development; however, when the classroom climate deteriorates due to disruptive behavior, meeting these emotional and learning needs becomes more difficult. Dealing with challenging behaviors can lead to emotional exhaustion which is directly linked to a decrease in teacher sense of efficacy. Teacher-Child Interaction Training-Universal (TCIT-U) targets teachers' skills to provide quality interactions and decrease child behavior problems. Despite evidence that teacher sense of self-efficacy can inhibit negative teaching practices, a lack of research has explored this construct as related to TCIT-U. The current study is a randomized, wait-list control study measuring the change of teachers' sense of self-efficacy after participating in TCIT-U, and the first known of its kind. The study included mostly Hispanic (96.4%) teachers (N = 84) of ECEC programs across 13 unique sites serving 900 children ages 2-5 years from low-income, urban areas. Results from inferential statistics and hierarchical linear regression tests demonstrated TCIT-U as an effective intervention to improve teachers' sense of efficacy in classroom management, instructional strategies, and student engagement. In addition, this study contributes to the effectiveness of TCIT-U as an in-service training which targets teacher communication skills for teachers with diverse backgrounds in ECEC settings with mostly dual language learners.

To Learn or Not to Learn: Perceptions Towards Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Self-identity Among English Language Teachers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a pivot towards digital teaching and learning. This study aims to assess the perceptions of self-identity and continuing professional development (CPD) among secondary school English teachers in Hong Kong in light of the academic paradigm shift triggered by the pandemic.

Methods

A mixed methods approach is adopted. A quantitative survey (n = 1158) was complemented by qualitative thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with English teachers in Hong Kong (n = 9). The quantitative survey offered group perspectives related to CPD and role perception in the current context. Interviews offered exemplar views on professional identity, training and development, and change and continuity.

Results

The results reveal that collaboration among educators, development of higher-order critical thinking in students, refining knowledge about teaching methods, and being a good learner and motivator were among the key traits that comprised the teacher identity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The increased workload, time pressure and stress associated with the paradigm shift during the pandemic resulted in lower voluntary involvement of teachers in CPD. However, a significant need for the development of information communications technology (ICT) skills is emphasised as educators in Hong Kong received relatively little ICT support from their schools.

Conclusion

The results have implications for pedagogy and research. Schools are recommended to enhance technical support of educators and help them acquire more advanced digital skills to work effectively in the new environment. Reduction of the administrative workload and providing more autonomy to teachers is expected to lead to greater engagement in CPD and improvements in teaching.

The Factor Structure of the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale Adapted for Korean Preschool Teacher Candidates During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

Background

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has remarkably challenged preschool teacher candidates, triggering concerns for their psychological well-being and mental health. Valid and reliable instruments to assess elements of mental health are thus required. The self-rating Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale demonstrates promise as an instrument for the identification and quantification of the states of anxiety and depression in non-psychiatric patients. The Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale is widely applied in both clinical and research contexts. However, no psychometric evaluations have been performed for this instrument with non-clinical samples such as preschool teacher candidates in South Korea. This study purposed to establish the factor structure of the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale and to validate its Korean version and was conducted online with a sample of preschool teacher candidates during the peak of the coronavirus disease 2019 lockdown.

Methods

Data were collected from 359 undergraduates currently enrolled in a 4-year early childhood education degree program at a private university in Korea. The sample was randomly split to perform exploratory factor analysis and then confirmatory factor analysis respectively to test competing models hypothesized to reflect the factor structure of the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale.

Results

Supplemental revisions based on confirmatory factor analysis modification indices demonstrated that a correlated 2-factor model with 1 cross-loaded item offered the best fit to the data with adequate internal reliability estimates.

Conclusion

Overall, this study confirms the validity and factor structure of the Korean version of the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, which is deemed an acceptable instrument that can be used to measure the symptoms of depression and anxiety in Korean preschool teacher candidates.