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Pre-Service Teacher Attitudes Toward Control: Middle And Secondary Education Teacher Candidate Reflective Practice As Evidence Of Gap Between Theory And Practice, Deborah Paine, Jt Cox, Robert Spires

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

The gap between theory and practice in pre-service teacher training is well documented. Despite shifts toward constructivist approaches and student-centered instruction, teacher education programs continue to note the gap between innovative student-centered best practices in teacher training coursework, and the teacher-centered practices seen in many classrooms which then become early career teachers’ default approach. This study examined the attitudes and beliefs of pre-service teachers through reflections written during a 4-week practicum field experience. Within these reflections, researchers noted pre-service teacher attitudinal reliance on ideas of control, including student behavior control, student noise and the classroom. Study participants dismissed student-centered approaches …