Abstract

Team teaching at the workplace holds promise for (re)creating strong professional identities among student teachers in teacher education. The current study explores the mediating impact of  both the advantages and disadvantages of (team) teaching on crucial components of student teachers’ professional identity, specifically those previously identified as influenced or significantly impacted by team teaching in empirical research: learning and regulation activities, reflective thinking, and motivation. A cohort of 464 student teachers was randomly assigned to one of three student teaching formats: team teaching (A1 _intervention), team teaching with support (A2 _intervention), and traditional teaching (C_{ontrol intervention}). Results of Bayesian structural equation modeling show that certain dimensions of these components were indirectly influenced or significantly impacted by interventions, mainly through the disadvantages and exceptionally through the advantages of (team) teaching. This finding highlights the intricate interplay between team teaching practices and perceptions in the (re)creation of student teachers’ professional identity.

Introduction

Creating strong professional identities in student teachers is a crucial aspect of teacher education (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2010). A solid teacher identity not only supports them during their education, but also sustains them in their future profession (Timoštšuk & Ugate, 2010). Professional identity, defined as dynamic and multidimensional, encompasses the perceptions, meanings, images, and self-knowledge that student teachers have of themselves (Rodrigues & Mogarro, 2019). It is socially (re)created through interactions with education professionals, such as teacher educators, peers, and mentors (Dikiltas & Bahrami, 2022). Moreover, team teaching (with a mentor) as a collaborative student teaching format may facilitate this social process in (re)creating a professional identity (Aliakbari & Valizadeh, 2023; De Backer et al., 2023b).

The findings presented by De Backer et al. (2023b) emphasize the significant impact of  team teaching, especially when complemented with extended support, on key components of student teachers’ professional identity, particularly observed in learning and regulation activities (Endedijk et al., 2020), reflective thinking (Kember et al., 2000), and motivation (Vansteenkiste et al., 2009). While team teaching holds promise for learning to teach, acknowledging both its advantages and disadvantages from the perspective of participating student teachers is important (Baeten and Simons, 2014; De Backer et al., 2021). It is prevalent that student teachers hold different personal beliefs, resulting in varying perceptions regarding team teaching (De Backer et al. 2023a). These perceptions might influence student teachers’ outcomes and thus the overall effectiveness of team teaching (Ronfeldt et al., 2015; Saunders et al., 2009). The central research question guiding this study is: To what extent does team teaching or team teaching with support indirectly impact student teachers’ professional identity related to their learning and regulation activities (RQa), reflective thinking (RQb), and motivation (RQc) through the advantages or disadvantages of (team) teaching?

The current study was conducted at a Flemish College of Education as part of a three-year teacher education program designed for students pursuing bachelor's degrees in either preschool or primary education. This program offers four education paths, including standard (i.e., day classes) and flexible (i.e., evening classes) tracks for preschool or primary education. A randomized complete block design was adopted, with 464 student teachers within each education path randomly assigned to one of three student teaching formats: team teaching (A1 intervention, n = 128), team teaching with support (A2 intervention, n = 129), or traditional teaching (Control intervention, n = 207). The latter category also included student teachers who lacked permanent mentors due to a teacher shortage. The instrument used in this study was a composite questionnaire that incorporated various validated scales found in existing literature. To explore the interplay between (team) teaching practices and perceptions on student teachers’ professional identity, a Bayesian structural equation modeling (SEM) method was implemented using R (version 4.2.2) and Stan (version 2.26.1).

Results The results of Bayesian structural equation modeling show that the advantages of teaching demonstrated a mediating influence on the motivation of student teachers in the intervention traditional teaching, particularly for the dimension of introjected regulation. In a related finding, the disadvantages of (team) teaching were identified as having a mediating influence on learning and regulation activities, specifically in the dimension of proactive and broad use of the mentor for student teachers in both traditional teaching and team teaching, as compared to traditional teaching. This pattern held true for reflective thinking in the dimension of reflection as well. This nuanced understanding underscores the importance of team teaching practices and perceptions on student teachers’ professional identity and offers valuable insights for teacher educators and institutions aiming to optimize learning to teach. Conclusion In conclusion, unraveling the interplay between team teaching practices and perceptions on student teachers' professional identity reveals that negative perceptions about team teaching exert a greater impact than positive ones. Consequently, there is a need to proactively address and mitigate negative perceptions about team teaching in the (re)creation of student teachers’ professional identity. This insight contributes valuable perspectives to the ongoing discourse of team teaching as a student teaching format in teacher education, providing teacher educators and policymakers with tools to optimize the effectiveness of team teaching, especially when accompanied by support.

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