The View of Student Teachers on the Teacher’s Profession

Abstract

Introduction: In recent years, teaching is no longer perceived only as a job, but as a profession. The study focuses on student’s view on the teacher’s profession, which is important in the context of becoming a teacher. During their university studies, student teachers are at the beginning of their professional careers. Their attitudes, values and principles are still evolving. Methods: Building on previous studies, qualitative methodology was applied. The main goals of the research were to describe the changing views of student teachers on the teacher’s profession, and to compare their views in the first and third years of study. Therefore, thematic writing was chosen. Results: The results show that the student teacher’s views change significantly during their university studies. While in the first year, student teachers focus more on the importance of childhood, their own practical experience and the teacher’s influence on a child’s life; in the last year of bachelor´s study, the emphasis is on the teacher’s personality, teaching professionalism and on the teacher as a learner can be observed. This paper can provide evidence that university education for kindergarten teachers is important and it most likely influences their future work. Discussion: The research findings show that it is appropriate to pay attention to how views about the teacher’s profession change. This could broaden the view of the development of the teacher profession concept and could also be a useful tool for modifying the content of future teachers’ education. Limitations: A certain limit of research can be sen in using one method. It would certainly be appropriate to supplement the research with interviews with participants. In my future research I will focus on this issue. Conclusion: 1. The student teachers’ views change significantly during their university studies, 2. The focus moves from their practical experience to the didactic theory. 3. There is a shift from focusing on personality of teachers to their abilities.

Nye lærerstuderendes forståelser af kvalitet i undervisning

“…Dette har vi undersøgt i naervaerende studie. Nye laererstuderendes personlige skoleerfaringer er tidligere blevet fremhaevet som betydningsfulde for, hvordan de mener god undervisning ser ud, og for deres laereruddannelse (Trávníčkovás, 2021;Lamote & Engels, 2010;Amundsen et al, 2021). Erfaringer bidrager til at forme både vaerdier og holdninger, og tidligere studier foreslår, at nye laererstuderende har en form for filter, som er medbestemmende for, hvad der fanger deres interesse på laereruddannelsen (Stenberg et al, 2014).…”

“…Der er gennemført en raekke empiriske studier, der ser på, hvad nye laererstuderende retter deres opmaerksomhed mod. Studierne finder, at nye laererstuderende retter fokus mod eleverne som børn, at de er optagede af den enkelte elevs personlige udvikling og deltagelse, og at de gør sig overvejelser om laererens indflydelse på barnets liv (Lamote & Engels, 2010;Trávníčkovás, 2021;Rautiainen et al, 2018). I studierne argumenteres der for, at de studerende i løbet af laereruddannelsen aendrer deres fokus og bliver mere optagede af undervisnings-og fagprofessionalisme og af konkrete paedagogiske tilgange som fx differentiering (Trávníčkovás, 2021;He & Levin, 2008).…”

“…Studierne finder, at nye laererstuderende retter fokus mod eleverne som børn, at de er optagede af den enkelte elevs personlige udvikling og deltagelse, og at de gør sig overvejelser om laererens indflydelse på barnets liv (Lamote & Engels, 2010;Trávníčkovás, 2021;Rautiainen et al, 2018). I studierne argumenteres der for, at de studerende i løbet af laereruddannelsen aendrer deres fokus og bliver mere optagede af undervisnings-og fagprofessionalisme og af konkrete paedagogiske tilgange som fx differentiering (Trávníčkovás, 2021;He & Levin, 2008). Rautiainen og kolleger (2018) finder i deres studie, at nye laererstuderende har tendens til at holde sig selv fast i rollen som elev, og kritiserer dem for udelukkende at orientere sig mod, hvordan det er at vaere laerer, i stedet for at vaere nysgerrige på at forstå undervisning som et komplekst faenomen: "The student teachers were oriented to learning how to be a teacher, not to becoming interested in the phenomena" (s. 428).…”

“…Set i forhold til Rautiainen og kollegers (2018) forslag om, at nye laererstuderende er optagede af 'how to be a teacher', så kan det overraske, at de ikke er mere optagede af undervisningens didaktiske spørgsmål om indhold. Analysen bekraefter og supplerer tidligere studiers (Lamote & Engels, 2010;Trávníčkovás, 2021;Rautiainen et al, 2018) pointe om, at nye laererstuderende orienterer sig mod eleverne. I tillaeg hertil finder vi i denne analyse, at de studerende er bevidste om formålet med undervisningen og er opmaerksomme på, at eleverne er i faerd med at laere noget bestemt.…”

Når lærerstuderende øver sig i engelsklærerfaglig opmærksomhed på læreruddannelsen

“…Det at bringe engelsk, altså målsproget, i spil fremhaeves igen og igen som en af laererens vigtigste opgaver (fx Troyan et al, 2013;Glisan & Donato, 2017;Barahona & Davin, 2021). Samtidig har flere studier af laererstuderende vist, at de erfaringer og vaerdier, de studerende har allerede inden de starter laereruddannelse og saerligt deres tidligere skoleerfaringer, er afgørende for det syn på laererprofessionalisme, de udvikler (Trávníčkovás, 2021;Stenberg et al, 2014).…”