Visualizing Teacher Education as a Complex System: A Nested Simplex System Approach

Abstract

Our purpose is to provide an exploratory statistical representation of initial teacher education as a complex system comprised of dynamic influential elements. More precisely, we reveal what the system looks like for differently-positioned teacher education stakeholders based on our framework for gathering, statistically analyzing, and graphically representing the results of a unique exercise wherein the participants literally mapped the system as they perceived it. Through an iterative series of inter-related studies employing cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling procedures, we demonstrate how initial teacher education may be represented as a complex system comprised of interactive agents and attributes whose perceived relationships are a function of nested stakeholder-dependent simplex systems. Furthermore, we illustrate how certain propositions of complexity theory, such as boundaries, heterogeneity, multidimensionality and emergence, may be investigated and represented quantitatively.

Challenges facing teacher education in Qatar: Q methodology research

“…In closing, we emphasize the complexity of teacher education systems. A common approach to teacher education research has been to simplify teacher education's challenges by focusing on a few critical parts of the system without necessarily addressing how the parts are related to and influenced by other parts and factors (Ludlow et al, Instead, as Opfer and Pedder (2011) proposed, researchers should resist simplification and reduction and should conceptualize teacher education as a complex overlapping system, thus developing explanatory theories that incorporate the multiple perspectives, nested contexts, processes, and nonlinear relationships of the system's elements (Ludlow et al, 2017). We anticipate that this research-and similar scholarly endeavors-will pave the way for empirical investigations that draw on network and systems theory strategies to reveal the group-level perceptions, the within-group heterogeneity, and homogeneity, and the shifting between-group perceptions of all those involved in teacher education regarding their roles and the challenges faced.…”

Education Stakeholders’ Viewpoints about an ESD Competency Framework: Q Methodology Research

“…It is a theory that challenges the pervasive worldview built on scientific reductionism and contends that complex phenomena cannot be properly understood from the properties of its parts [17]. Dominant thinking regarding TPP outcomes remain relatively linear and are process-product driven, yet such views do not take into consideration their nested nature and the notion that a multitude of factors are at play, resulting in emergent phenomena rather than predictable outcomes [14]. In this respect, research that only explores the parts of TPPs has resulted in a fragmented understanding of the way they work [6].…”

“…Framed by complexity theory, this study presents the development and evaluation of a pre-service teacher competency framework as an emergent structure for implementing ESD in Qatar. Throughout the process, we accepted the notion that how pre-service teachers ought to be prepared and evaluated against a definite set of criteria is inherently contested and subjective [14]. In effect, we recognized teacher education as a complex system in which simultaneous interactions among actors and elements occur to influence the way preservice teachers learn to teach in concordance with ESD goals [4,5,15].…”

Leveraging critical friendship to navigate doctoral student role transitions

“…In nursing education, Skiba (2007) recognized the novice-expert conflict in that while faculty are considered experts in their field, they are constantly challenged by new technologies and innovations in the field, leading them to feel novice. More recent research (Chang et al , 2016; Ludlow et al , 2017) suggests that this shift from novice to expert is even more complex for teacher education graduate students, especially when compared to graduate students in other disciplines.…”