Abstract

Research on preservice teachers’ beliefs about professional teaching capabilities indicates strong attention to the relational dimension; these studies have contributed to a portrayal of preservice teachers as simplistic and overly optimistic about the teaching profession. In this article, I position preservice teachers’ attention to teacher–student relationships as a form of professional knowledge. Drawing from findings of a qualitative study of U.S. elementary (prekindergarten-Grade 4) preservice teachers who were asked to describe professional characteristics of effective teachers, I suggest their beliefs reveal surprisingly nuanced understandings about the complex nature of teaching.

Citation

Bauml, M. (2009). Examining the unexpected sophistication of preservice teachers’ beliefs about the relational dimensions of teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, 25(6), 902-908. Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved December 10, 2019 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/197132/.

Keywords

• Knowledge Base for Teaching
• preservice teachers
• Teacher Characteristics
• teacher education