Ideal teachers and learning communities in the classroom: Looking through the lenses of pre-service teachers

This study hopes to capture the dynamism in teacher education, in particular ideal teachers and their involvement in the classrooms. The written responses based on memorable school experiences and focused group interview information is derived from 22 pre-service teachers. The study has shed much light on the area of teacher beliefs and teacher identity. The study reveals that ideal teachers practicing an integrated approach in teaching promote a positive climate in the classroom. Teachers are urged to foster an equal partnership relationship with their students. To harness these ideal teacher characteristics, pre-service teachers should have the ability to reflect and synthesize. The three entities i.e classroom, teacher education program and school, which represents the learning community provides a solid platform for these pre-service teachers to conceptualize their ideal teacher characteristics. Hence Teacher Education Institute needs to coordinate and capitalizethese three entities in producing pre-service teachers with ideal teacher characteristics.