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This article is an afterword to a collection of perspectives on excessive teacher/faculty entitlement. The authors, from nine different countries, explore the manifestations and consequences of excessive entitlement in education. The article highlights the need for awareness and understanding of excessive entitlement at all levels of education. It also discusses the impact of personal experiences on teachers' sense of entitlement and calls for further research on teacher education programs to address and discourage excessive entitlement. [Extracted from the article]

If the practicum is the most valued element of a teacher education program, how good is each teacher candidate's learning and how well is it supported by the university supervisor? While most self-studies of teacher education practices focus on practices in the university classroom, this article reports an analysis of a supervisor's practices, with special attention to underlying assumptions of the supervisor. Data permitted identification of patterns in the supervisor's pedagogy and in teacher candidates' responses to that pedagogy. The supervisor's underlying assumptions and the contribution of conversations with a critical friend were identified. A table was constructed to contrast the assumptions in two stances toward supervision, one characterized as transmission and the other as interpretation. Conclusions emphasize the importance of listening to each candidate's voice and including a metacognitive element in a supervisory conversation after a lesson observation.

This article has two major goals. The first is to establish a distinction between the idea of critical reflection (as required today in many teacher education courses) and the concept of reflective practice (as set out by Schön in the context of active professional practice). The second is to present some of the important lessons a teacher educator has learned from reflective practice (not critical reflection) during 40 years of work with pre-service teachers.

This article reports research evidence of the enhancement of student teachers' epistemology of reflective practice through their participation in a formative strategy developed in the context of the Bologna Process in Portugal. Building on Schön's conceptualisation of the education of the reflective practitioner, articulated with concepts such as pedagogical content knowledge, approximations to core teaching practices, epistemology of reflective practice, and assessment for and as learning, the strategy was designed to be a sheltered reflective practicum to learn about language and literacy education while still at the university, before moving into real class practicums. Data collected through individual reflective writing, developed at the beginning and revisited at the end of the practicum, were subjected to qualitative analysis. The results evidence students' awareness of their limited initial and rich final understandings as well as of critical features of the learning process, expressing positive feelings and acknowledging the relevance of their learning for future practice. The discussion argues for the relevance of offering a sheltered reflective practicum approach while still at university in the design of teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews 65 studies presented at the 10th international self-study of teacher education practices conference in 2014 to determine whether emerging self-study research incorporates the five major characteristics of self-study: self-initiated inquiry that is situated and improvement-aimed; undertaken collaboratively; uses multiple research methods; and demonstrates trustworthiness. We present an analysis of 63 empirical studies with reference to the five major characteristics and several additional criteria. Our analysis indicates that most of the self-studies reported at the conference were conducted within the context of faculty teaching programs with case analysis as the predominant approach; also, most were carried out collaboratively. Multiple research methods were preferred over single methods and the most frequent analysis was presented in the form of themes and topics. This review corroborates that empirical studies generally meet the major characteristics of self-study research, although not every self-study reviewed was conducted with a defined collaborative theoretical framework. Collaboration, use of multiple research methods, and trustworthiness emerged as three characteristics that were not always addressed adequately or carefully.

This self-study of activities as a practicum supervisor in several secondary schools focuses on the supervisor's contribution to the quality of a teacher candidate's professional learning in the context of a familiar tension between on-campus courses and in-school practicum experiences. Data from both formal and informal supervisory experiences are taken from notes recorded in classes with those supervised formally, records of notes taken in practicum observations, and email messages exchanged with teacher candidates about their supervision experiences. Analysis of formal supervision experiences generated a series of insights into candidates' experiences of the practicum, a modest innovation in supervisory practice, and important reminders arising from a significant error in personal practice as a supervisor. Informal supervision experiences involved visits arising from invitations to observe extended by candidates in the author's physics methods course. These experiences generated opportunities to test an alternative supervisory strategy focused on candidates' perceptions of their learning from experience. Related literature includes the topics of learning from experience, reflective practice, and the potential significance of an epistemology of practice. In closing, attention is given to trustworthiness, the personal significance of the study and connections to the teacher education literature.

Self-study of teacher education practices, professional learning, apprenticeship of observation, modeling, evidence, reflective practice. [Extracted from the article]