Education 4.0 prepares new generations to develop the skills required to perform in a technological, dynamic, and unpredictable world. The main barrier to implementing Education 4.0 in schools is that teachers have not been trained for it. Given the advances and new resources of the technological field, teacher preparation will be insufficient if it focuses on technological skills but does not incorporate the necessary dispositions for lifelong learning. Universities have the ethical imperative to update teacher education so teachers can become lifelong learners. The objective of this study was to understand whether practice-based curricula offer opportunities to promote lifelong learning tendencies. We used a sequential explanatory method. Quantitative and qualitative instruments were applied to pre-service teachers (survey: n = 231, semi-structured interviews: n = 8), and causal and descriptive approaches were supported by a structural equation model and constant comparative method, respectively. Data triangulation confirmed and added depth to the relationship found. Practice opportunities provided by teacher educators in learning activities and assessment tasks promote curiosity, motivation, perseverance, and self-learning regulation, when they are (i) systematic; (ii) relevant to the classroom work; (iii) presented with clear instructions and effective rubrics; (iv) accompanied with feedback focused on the task, soliciting reflection, and performed by peers and teacher educators in a trustworthy environment. This research may be of value to universities looking to renew their Education 4.0 programs because it shows that practice-based curricula not only transform pre-service teachers into teaching experts but also into lifelong learners.
Initial teacher education should prepare pre-service teachers to develop effective teaching and lifelong learning tendencies. This study aimed to identify the component to consider in pre-service teachers’ assessment processes that promote lifelong learning and develop metacognition skills. For this, it analyzed how the planned and implemented actions by the teacher educators in Practice-based Teacher Education programs promoted metacognition and lifelong learning in the pre-service teachers. The method was a mixed explanatory sequential design. Quantitative and qualitative instruments were applied. Information was obtained from the learning and assessment resources (72 syllabi and 14 assessment tasks) and pre-service teachers’ opinions (survey: n = 231, interviews: n = 8). The findings identified three main components: (i) authentic and relevant assessment tasks, (ii) prior communication of instructions and evaluation criteria, and (iii) frequent performance-focused feedback from peers and teacher educators during and at the end of assignments. The study results can be valuable in teacher education programs to strengthen assessment processes, promote lifelong learning tendencies, and develop metacognitive skills among the teachers in training.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.