In this study, concept map exercises were used to trigger student teachers’ thinking about the inclusion of students with disabilities in the regular learning settings. The results show that the construction of concept maps by small groups of student teachers has the potential to engage students in lively discussions, and to contribute to creative and reflective thinking. An analysis of the content of the 134 maps that were constructed identified ten main themes about inclusive education. Three of the themes dealt with pupils’ well-being, particpation in school activities and learning. Two dealt with a teacher’s situation. Five dealt with school resources and policy issues.

This article reports on an exploratory project in which the authors designed an innovative interactive video method to help preservice teachers practice critical observation of other preservice teachers as preparation for eventually observing their own classroom teaching on video. The authors conclude that the interactive video approaches developed in this project used video of near-peer preservice teachers to trigger the observations of both experts and novices, with the experts’ observations used to guide preservice teachers’ classroom awareness.

This article explores some of the key issues that emerged in the revision of the professional standards in Scottish education which resulted in a suite of professional standards covering different stages of a teacher’s career. The revision of the professional standards was part of a wider project to build teacher professional learning in ways that had an impact on practice and on pupil learning. The focus then turns to an alternative way of constructing a professional standard in order to foster authentic forms of professional learning. The article concludes by exploring the issues that need to be addressed to facilitate the productive use of professional standards in the career-long professional learning of teachers.

This auto-ethnography focuses on the process of developing a teacher educator identity for the new teacher educator whose career path did not begin in the Pre K-12 setting. By examining her own experience the author explores the tensions and difficulties that beset new nontraditional faculty of teacher education and compare them to those of traditional teacher educators.

In this article, the author presents an approach to gaining awareness and deeper understanding of the practice of teaching through focusing on the lived classroom experience. The process is self-inquiry through engagement with Johns’ (2010) six dialogical movements, which results in gaining valuable insights into practice. The study highlighted some of the emotional aspects of the experiences of teaching and learning, and considered the importance of a teacher focusing on subjective response in order to gain awareness of self in practice. As a result of this narrative and guided reflection process, the author became more aware of the range of life experiences and abilities of the students, and he sought to arrange future sessions that were more encouraging and that attended to different needs more effectively.