Page 87 - Empowering pre-service teachers through inquiry - Lidewij van Katwijk

Pre-service teacher inquiry; an international comparison
We used a comparative, multiple-case replication design, with eight cases:
Four cases from Australia and four from the Netherlands. The cases consisted
either of pre-service teacher or teacher educators. We believed two x four cases to
be literal replications, such that we predicted similar results (Yin, 2014), due to their
similarities in focus, structure, and culture, in terms of pre-service teacher research
across the four Dutch cases and the four Australian cases. However, acknowledging
the aforementioned differences, we also considered the Australian and Dutch cases
theoretical replications and predicted some contrasting results. In line with prior
studies (e.g., Joram, 2007; Munthe & Rogne, 2015; Puustinen et al., 2018), we also 4 expected differences in perceptions between teacher educators and pre-service
teachers. We have chosen for focus groups to gain a deeper understanding of the
various perceptions of and experiences with pre-service teacher research, because semi-structured focus group interviews can provide insights into how people think
(Puchta & Potter, 2004). The group interactions among members encouraged
participants to speak candidly and make connections with various concepts through
discussions, which might not have occurred during individual interviews (Vaughn,
Schumm, & Sinagub, 1996). The questionnaire was meant supplementary and served
four purposes: (1) to prepare participants for the content of the focus group, (2) to
compare individual answers of participants, (3) to compare individual answers with
the answers gathered in the focus group, and (4) to take along perceptions from eleven
pre-service teachers, who were not able to attend the focus group (see Table 4.1).
4.2 Institutes and participants
We invited four institutes of teacher education to participate in this study: two from Melbourne, Australia, where the first two authors collaborated and the second author resides, and two from the Netherlands, the home country of the first and last two authors. In all four participating institutes, pre-service teacher research is a substantial requirement, accounting for 17%–25% of the credits of the final year of the teacher education course to meet graduation requirements. In all these institutes, the final research project is connected to the professional experience or practicum and divided in two parts: the first focused on writing a research proposal, including a literature review, and the second dedicated to the collection of data and writing and presenting the research.
The programme descriptions published by the four institutes also reveal some differences. The Dutch students spend more time in school than the Australian students. In their final year, the Dutch pre-service teachers teach their own student
85