TEACHER CANDIDATES’ BELIEFS ABOUT TEACHING AND REPRESENTATIONS OF TEACHING ON THE EDTPA

Abstract

This study investigated nine teacher candidates’ beliefs about teaching and learning and how these beliefs were related to these nine candidates’ representations of teaching in their edTPA portfolio. More specifically, the study investigated what candidates said about what they decided to represent and demonstrate about their teaching practice on the edTPA and then how their responses related to their beliefs about teaching and learning. Candidates participated in two semi-structured interviews. The first interview focused on eliciting candidates’ beliefs about teaching and learning through metaphor analysis. The second interview had candidates perform a stimulated recall using excerpts from their edTPA portfolios, and asked candidates’ to identify places in the excerpts where they saw their representations aligned or misaligned to their beliefs. Candidates were then asked to explain why they categorized these representations as aligned or misaligned and what impacted their alignment. The study built on previous studies of candidates’ experiences and representations of teaching in their edTPA portfolios by comparing candidates’ beliefs with their demonstrations and representations. The study found that candidates’ beliefs about teaching and learning and their demonstrations and representations of teaching in their edTPA portfolio were frequently misaligned due to four major constraints. These constraints included: candidates’ cooperating teachers, heavily prescribed curriculums, the video component of the edTPA, and candidates’ conceptions of the edTPA. Using Beck’s theory of action, the study concluded that cooperating teachers and the prescribed curriculum played a more significant role in shaping what candidates were able to demonstrate in their edTPA portfolios because they impacted candidates’ entire edTPA portfolios. However, it was also clear from candidates’ interviews and the sections where the edTPA asked candidates to reflect on their teaching and propose adjustments to their teaching that candidates made thoughtful decisions about what they needed to do to pass the test. Therefore, this study concluded that the edTPA was a well-constructed assessment, yet its effectiveness hinged almost entirely on its implementation. The edTPA did not necessarily reveal whether candidates were prepared to teach but was rather a reflection of their student teaching context. Candidates who received robust and aligned support (i.e., between the university and student teaching placement) were more likely to represent what they believed about teaching in their edTPA portfolio. Implications for teacher educators, researchers, and teacher education programs are discussed.