Understanding Preservice Teachers' Perceptions of Classroom Community and Care

Our research in this qualitative study focused on preservice teachers' perceptions of understanding classroom community and how care ethics play a role in crafting classroom environments. We sampled 20 preservice teachers in order to better understand how they understand care and community prior to entering the classroom. Our findings suggest that participating university students valued a holistic view of their future students; they felt that safety was a major factor, as well as focusing on collaboration. Lastly, an overarching theme we found to be an important factor in each of these major themes was spontaneity as it relates to teachers taking time out of their schedules to meet students' needs.