“We Need to Give the Profession Something that No One Else Can”: Swedish Student Teachers' Perceptions and Experiences of their Preschool Teacher Training Programme
Keywords:
early childhood education, preschool, student teachers, personal and professional development, teacher trainingAbstract
Current research points towards preschool and qualitative
pedagogical relationships as being determined and formed by a close
link between care and teaching. An Early Childhood Education should
lead not only towards the acquisition of knowledge within specific areas
but should also enhance the personal development of student teachers.
New and creative competences need to be developed to cope with increasingly complex, changing and diversified learning environments.
The crucial questions are: How well does contemporary Teacher Education prepare student teachers for their future role? Do students feel that
their teacher-training programme has sufficiently prepared them for
their profession? This study comprises Swedish student teachers' perceptions and experiences of their Early Childhood Education. Data is
based on 181 written evaluations by final year student teachers. Results
are discussed using a theoretical framework based on the sociological
concept of an “educational contract” comprising three different levels of
negotiation: students‟ education and their current workforce; students
and their teacher training programme; students, teachers and learning in
any given educational situation.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.16.9.6
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