Teacher Education in Kuwait: Exploring the Impact of Pedagogical Content Knowledge on Novice Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Ability to Teach

Abstract

Teacher education (TE) has been a significantly controversial topic across the globe. In Kuwait, there has been vigorous discussions and debate by policymakers on the effectiveness of teacher education. Although the Kuwaiti government has recently paid considerable attention to the teaching profession and TE, there is hardly a murmur about novice teachers’ perceptions of their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as a result of their preparation program. This chapter is intended to review TEPs in Kuwait and provide empirical investigation of novice teachers’ perceived PCK impact on their teaching ability as a result of the PCK courses and field experiences exposure during their preparation program.Teacher candidates from the two main education preparation providers in Kuwait were invited to complete a survey asking them to rate their perceived PCK based on the core educational courses in their teacher education programs (TEPs). Results revealed the need to enhance TEPs in Kuwait as novice teacher expressed a need to more training to enhance their teaching ability. The results also highlighted a gap between (theory and practice) as there is a disconnection between some of what the program curricula provide and what teachers were faced with in real context.