Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice

In spite of a prominent discussion in the literature about the relationship between theory and practice in teacher education there is a lack of empirical research examining the effects on teachers’ development of professional knowledge after graduating from higher education into teaching practice. This study uses a database of 191 German and Austrian teachers whose general pedagogical knowledge (GPK) was tested at four time points to cover their teaching career from entering into initial teacher education through graduation until entering the teaching profession. In both country contexts, teachers acquire knowledge during their initial teacher education, indicating the impact of formal opportunities to learn (OTL) during higher education. However, the knowledge growth discontinues at the transition from academic learning in higher education institutions into teaching practice at school. Teachers with high school grade point average (GPA) are significantly less affected, which reflects the relevance of future teachers’ cognitive entrance characteristics to higher education.

This study investigates the integration of feature films and television series (FF/TV) into higher education teaching through the lens of the Teacher Agency and Professional Autonomy (TAPA) model. While FF/ TV is recognised for its potential to enhance student engagement, facilitate learning diversity and create interactive teaching environments , challenges such as cognitive overload, emotional bias, and the need for critical media literacy persist. Drawing on survey responses (n = 50) and semi-structured interviews with 18 university lecturers across disciplines in Australia, the study reveals how educators exercise teacher agency and professional autonomy in their decision-making processes. Findings show that the teacher agency is not linear but influenced by past experiences, present evaluations, and future aspirations key dimensions of the TAPA model. Moreover, educators' perceived autonomy varies according to institutional support, professional space and personal beliefs, affecting FF/TV integration strategies. The study emphasises the need for structured yet adaptable institutional support to enhance teacher agency, suggesting that collaborative learning and interdisciplinary engagement can refine FF/TV-based pedagogy. By exploring these dynamics, the study offers practical insights into balancing student engagement, critical analysis, and media literacy within a nuanced framework of professional autonomy. ARTICLE HISTORY

This narrative inquiry aims to investigate the emotional experiences of Indonesian EFL student teachers during their teaching practicum and how these emotions are intertwined with the development and transformation of their professional identities. In this study, eight student teacher participants were purposefully recruited following the ethical protocols. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and personal reflections, capturing student teachers' emotional experiences related to their learning to teach processes. A thematic analysis identified patterns and recurring themes in the semi-structured interviews and reflections, enabling the participants to openly express their emotions , challenges, and coping strategies throughout the practicum. Findings demonstrate that student teachers' emotional experiences during the practicum play a critical role in boosting their confidence and constructing their emerging professional identities. This study provides valuable insights into the complex ways emotions impact student teachers' self-perceptions and roles as prospective teachers. ARTICLE HISTORY

Teacher retention is a key strategy to address the pressing teacher shortage issue in both the United States and globally. Fostering self-care in preservice teachers may be a viable way to prevent burnout and develop self-care strategies to improve teacher retention, as supported by evidence from the helping professions. However, little research has been done to investigate what self-care strategies are used by preservice teachers and how to promote the use of self-care strategies among preservice teachers. To close the gap, the current scoping review examined the literature on self-care strategies used by preservice teachers to reduce stress, improve well-being, and prevent burnout. Eighteen articles were reviewed, covering three topics: (a) identifying coping strategies used by preservice teachers to manage stress, (b) examining the effectiveness of interventions on preservice teachers’ well-being, and (c) discussing teaching strategies for teacher educators to promote preservice teachers’ self-care practice. Research and practice implications for researchers and teacher educators were discussed.

Relational pedagogies attend to considerations of emplacement and context by asking how education might most effectively motivate rich forms of pedagogical encounter in light of student and teacher positionality. However, missing from the scholarly literature are substantive accounts of the ways relational pedagogies inform school renewal initiatives. Using experiences gleaned from a school-wide renewal initiative enacted in a secondary school in Queensland, Australia, this paper explores how the convictions and practice of teachers aligned with a renewal agenda that was designed to reconceptualise teaching and learning under a ‘relational’ lens. This paper reports that the conditions within a school prescribe how relationality (as both concept and practice) mandate particular practice frameworks, which in turn influence the ways that students and teachers experience teaching and learning. The analysis outlined in this paper finds that relational pedagogical approaches that are not supported by commensurate school policy enactments risk becoming redundant, overlooked, or altogether proscribed when attempts towards relationality are translated into practice.

Despite the broadening participation in post-secondary education (PSE) worldwide, the conundrum of disproportionately low PSE enrolments among minority student populations continues to command scholarly attention. Yet, there is a lack of empirical research on the identities of secondary school teachers in the context of minority choice and access to PSE. Taking a critical poststructuralist conceptualisation of teacher professional identity as the complex interplay of macro discourses and policies, school contexts, and individual agency, this study interviewed 11 senior secondary school teachers in Hong Kong and explored the ways in which they perceived and enacted professional identities when navigating dominant ideologies, institutional conditions, and PSE-going possibilities of minority students. The findings revealed their in-situ identity as PSE-for-all educators against the institutional backdrop of the numerical majority of minority students in the study school that also celebrated its demographic and cultural diversity and inclusion. However, the findings also reflected their saviourist tendencies that perpetuated the ethnic, classed, and gendered stereotypes towards minorities in Hong Kong society. Such contradictory identities signified their agentic demarcation from external structural inequalities and ‘minority deficiencies’, thereby seemingly dismissing their responsibility or culpability for the PSE under-representation of minorities.

Numerous countries in East Asia have developed co-teaching programmes that pair local English teachers (LETs) and native Englishspeaking teachers (NESTs). However, research has consistently unveiled challenges for collaboration between co-teachers. Thus, the aim of this study is to qualitatively examine the sources of breakdowns in co-teaching across various school levels.

Calls to engage more men in the so-called ‘feminised’ primary school environment are omnipresent. Male teachers are expected to bring something new, different and unique to this feminised environment. The aim of this article is to explain the gendered expectations on male teachers in primary schools and describe how male teachers construct their masculinity in relation to these expectations. The article presents the results of an ethnographic research in primary schools in Czechia. The results show that there are at least three most prominent areas—authority, effeminate behaviour, and care—where male teachers search for the appropriate and very narrow concept of masculinity. Male teachers must appear sufficiently masculine, but not too masculine, because they are doing masculinity in a predominantly female environment. The article provides a novel contribution on two levels. Firstly, it examines the balancing of masculinity and conflicting expectations imposed on men in primary education. Second, it shows that despite the diversity of geographical, historical, and geopolitical school contexts, the local expectations about masculinity bear striking similarities.