Social and Technological Competencies among Teacher Educators: An Exploratory Study
Keywords:
Teacher Educators, Social Justice, Technological Expertise, Teacher Training Institutes, Pre-Service TeachersAbstract
Technological developments, the emergence of new pathways in instructional practices, movements to make higher education institutions edgeless, borderless, and liquid have provoked the idea of introducing emerging trends in the field of teacher education. In the field of teacher education, the promotion of social justice and preparing teacher educators to develop good communication and technology-related skills among pre-service teachers has become a matter of serious concern. Teacher educators require competencies to communicate and connect with diverse learners as well as enriched technological expertise for performing adequately in the present scenario. This study was designed to explore the level of social and technological competencies among teacher educators and the promotion of these competencies among pre-service teachers. A mixed-method research design was applied for this study. Pre-service teachers from six teacher training institutions of two main provinces (Punjab and KPK) of Pakistan constituted the population of the study. 450 pre-service teachers were selected as a sample by using a stratified random sampling technique. Close-ended questionnaire and interview guide were developed for collecting data from pre-service teachers. To ensure the reliability of the instrument, pilot testing was conducted and the calculated value was 0.87. The validity of research instruments was explored by getting experts’ opinions. Data were collected by making personal visits to sampled institutions. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were employed. Results of the study indicated that pre-service teachers were satisfied with the social competencies of teacher educators but the delivery of these competencies among pre-service teachers is not satisfactory. Therefore based on the findings, it has been recommended that for promoting social and technological competence among pre-service teachers, training sessions may be arranged for teacher educators by concerned authorities.
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