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Psychology in Teacher Education

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International Handbook of Psychology Learning and Teaching

Part of the book series: Springer International Handbooks of Education ((SIHE))

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Abstract

Teachers should be empowered to act as deliberate professionals, i.e., guiding their actions in an adaptive way to the affordances of educational situations by carefully choosing purposes and goals, by ethical and cultural considerations, as well as by conceptual and technical knowledge. The core goal of teaching psychology in teacher education and vocational programs is to contribute to the education of such deliberate professionals. With theoretical and empirical insights in areas such as human learning, cognition, and motivation; personality and social development; testing and measurement; individual diversity, group differences, and special needs; research on social and cultural factors in instructional contexts; and classroom management, teachers’ professional development, and school effectiveness, educational psychology provides an important basis for the initial education of teachers. Yet, given the restricted time and space for psychology courses in initial teacher education, the curriculum and syllabus design for these programs poses several challenging issues, in particular how to deal with the trade-off between breadth and depth in covering scientific psychological insights and their various potential applications in teaching contexts.

This chapter aims at providing international perspectives and insights into the core goals, as well as evidence-based practices and approaches of teaching psychology in teacher education programs. Starting with an introduction to the rationale for teaching psychology in teacher education programs, the chapter offers a summarizing overview of frameworks of professional teacher standards from all over the world, as well as recommendations for teaching psychology, and especially educational psychology, in teacher education programs. Next, core contents and topics of psychology for (pre-service) teachers are analyzed and presented based on a review of respective textbooks being used in countries around the world. Evidence-based instructional suggestions for implementing teaching, learning, and assessment are also provided. Finally, the relevance of psychology teaching in teacher education programs is emphasized, particularly with regard to transferring psychological knowledge and theories into educational practice and understanding psychological epistemology.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Psychology, Chair of Psychology of Learning and Instruction, Technische Universitaet Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Susanne Narciss

  2. Department of Education, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Jörg Zumbach

Authors
  1. Susanne Narciss
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  2. Jörg Zumbach
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susanne Narciss .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Univ of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Joerg Zumbach

  2. Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Bonita Springs, FL, USA

    Douglas Bernstein

  3. Psychology Learning & Instruction, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Sachsen, Germany

    Susanne Narciss

  4. DISUFF, University of Salerno, Salerno, Salerno, Italy

    Giuseppina Marsico

Section Editor information

  1. University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Joerg Zumbach

  2. Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Douglas A. Bernstein

  3. Department of Human, Philosophic, and Education Sciences, University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy

    Giuseppina Marsico

  4. Psychologie des Lehrens und Lernens, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Deutschland

    Susanne Narciss

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Narciss, S., Zumbach, J. (2023). Psychology in Teacher Education. In: Zumbach, J., Bernstein, D., Narciss, S., Marsico, G. (eds) International Handbook of Psychology Learning and Teaching. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26248-8_68-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26248-8_68-2

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  1. Latest

    Psychology in Teacher Education
    Published:
    06 October 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26248-8_68-2

  2. Original

    Psychology in Teacher Education
    Published:
    03 March 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26248-8_68-1

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