Towards a better understanding of psychological needs of student teachers during field experiences

Abstract

Field experiences aim at immersing student teachers in authentic work tasks and conditions of teachers. However, specific psychological needs of the teaching workforce are not considered when studying the fulfilment of student teachers' psychological needs. This paper proposes a four-dimensional theoretical framework incorporating both basic and specific psychological needs. A diary study is presented, which measures the fulfilment of the hypothesised needs at five intervals during a ten-day field experience. The average fulfilment rates and development trends show differences among the four dimensions, suggesting the presence of lower-and higher-order needs. Significant correlations between need fulfilment and success indicators, such as learner satisfaction, learning gain, teacher self-efficacy and level of self-reflection, are also found. The results highlight the relevance of high rates of need fulfilment right from the start of the field experience.

The significance of mentor–mentee relationship quality for student teachers' well-being and flourishing during practical field experiences: a longitudinal analysis

“…Meet-and-greet events that support the exchange of expectations could help kickstart the relationship. This has been suggested by prior research in a similar way, showing that basic need fulfilment is important from the start of an internship, and that it should be tackled in advance of field experiences (Dreer, 2020). Another suggestion could be the continuous working in mentee-mentor pairings over several field experiences, which might help further in strengthening the relationships.…”

“…Korthagen and Evelein, 2016). Studies show that the satisfaction of student teachers' need for relatedness during field experiences appears to be linked to positive motivational states (Poom-Valickis et al, 2017), learner satisfaction and learning gains (Dreer, 2020).…”

Sentrale områder i praksisopplæringen for lærerstudenters profesjonelle utvikling – en systematisk forskningsgjennomgang (2005–2020)

“…Flere av studiene er sortert innenfor mer enn ett hovedtema på grunn av bredt tema og vide problemstillinger. Trent, 2014;Cheng, 2005;Chien, 2015;Hildenbrand & Arndt, 2016;Howells & Cumming, 2012;Mauri et al, 2019;Yangın Ekşi et al, 2019Caires et al, 2012Parsons & Stephenson, 2005Mjåtveit & Jakobsen, 2014Dreer, 2020Poulou, 2007Timoštšuk & Ugaste, 2012;Yuan & Lee, 2016;Meijer et al, 2011Kokkinos et al, 2016Liou et al, 2017Janssen et al, 2008Martins et al, 2015;Malderez et al, 2007Gloppen, 2013Sørensen, 2019 Østrem, 2009;Fuglseth, 2009;Mosvold et al, 2014;…”

“…Naere samarbeid i såkalte kritiske partnerskap, mellom medstudenter og praksislaerer, hvor atmosfaeren blant annet er støttende, kan videre bidra til utvikling av studentenes refleksive og kritiske tenkning (Parsons & Stephenson, 2005). En god relasjon mellom laererstudenter og praksislaerere synes samtidig å ha positiv innvirkning på studentenes profesjonelle utvikling (Dreer, 2020;Mauri et al, 2019), blant annet fordi studentene i større grad tør å utfordre og vaere uenig med praksislaereren (Hildenbrand & Arndt, 2016). Gode relasjoner kan også bygges gjennom at studentene har en aerlig og respektfull holdning til sin praksislaerer (Chien, 2015).…”

“…Praksiserfaringer kan i tillegg bidra til stressreduksjon (Kokkinos et al, 2016), et mer realistisk bilde av hvordan det er å vaere laerer, økt selvsikkerhet (Blackmore et al, 2018), trygghet og bevissthet om egen profesjonell utvikling (Poulou, 2007). Studentenes selvoppfatning og mestringsforventning synes å øke som et resultat av praksiserfaringer (Brown et al, 2015;Dreer, 2020). Som Brown og medforfattere (2015) konkluderer: «[…] Preservice teachers have an increased sense of preparedness to teach and an increased self-efficacy after the completion of their student teaching experience» (Brown et al, 2015, s. 88).…”