RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT
9/19/2013
THATO NKGAPELE 2012181968
How do student-teachers transition from learner in high school to teaching-student in university?
By Thato Nkgapele
Introduction
Students come into teacher education programmes with firmly held beliefs about the role of the teacher, but always in relation to their roles as students, as they have spent many years in that role and are highly experienced at it. Unlike other professions, future teachers must continue to play the role of the group of people they wish to work with (students) right up until the moment they begin their job, Dome et al (2005). Many entrants to pre-service teacher education courses feel that they already know what it means to be a teacher. One of the most significant experiences in the formation of self as a teacher is from early experiences as pupils in their classrooms with teachers (Schempp et al 1999:31). Pre-service teachers’ experiences as pupils and years of experience observing the work of teachers are powerful factors influencing their existing beliefs. Lortie (1975:24) suggested it is through an “apprenticeship of observation”.
Prospective teachers, then, bring to their teacher education more than their desire to teach. They bring their implicit institutional biographies - the cumulative experience of school lives which in turn, inform their knowledge of the student’s world, of school structure, and of curriculum. All this contributes to well-worn and common-sense images of the teachers’ work and serves as the frame of reference for prospective teachers’ self-images. Britzman (1986:443).
Forming a teaching identity is a complex and culturally-based process, which occurs within a specific context, time, and place within multiple learning institutions (Danielewicz, 2000:12). Professional identity develops over time, and involves gaining insights of the professional practices and the values, skills, knowledge required and practiced within the profession. The student teachers’ past and present experiences as well as their experiences with places of teaching and learning (i.e. their own educational experiences) influence the choices made by the student teacher in selecting to enter the teaching profession (Connelly & Clandinin, 1999:11).
This research proposal is concerned with the process of transition and assimilation of “how teaching-students develop the professional identity of a teacher, having just finished secondary education, transitioning to higher education where they now assume the dual identity of student and that of a teacher. This study will look particularly at first-year teaching students straight out of high school, to see how they transition and what factors are at play in this transition. In looking at identity formation and development issues, it is hoped that greater understanding of the complexities of student teachers’ emerging professional identity is elucidated.
Problem statement
In these different teacher preparation contexts, the university and the settings of field experiences, pre-service teachers continue reconstructing images of the self-as-teacher while constructing and integrating an emergent sense of professional identity (Danielewicz, 2001:12); Steffy et al, (2000:32) Part of this process involves identification of self as a teacher then assimilating these ideas into a sense of self as professional during field experiences (Steffy et al., 2000:32]). Each environment contributes uniquely to the pre-service teacher’s construction of knowledge and identity formation. As Fuller and Bown (1975) [16] stated, “they feel stimulated, apprehensive, exposed, endangered, confused, discouraged, touched, proud, and lost – not necessarily in that order” (p. 47).
The above citations seem to suggest that the different settings and preparation contexts that first-year students are exposed to, play a vital role in the identity formation process of a teacher. It also highlights the importance of self-identification that occurs as students constructs and reconstructs their identities and images as teachers. While it identifies some of the factors that help to facilitate the process, it does not however, mention all the factors that are involved, particularly placing an emphasis on first year students. How first-years come to assimilate the identity of a teacher is important, not only for the student, (i.e. how they are likely to succeed not only as students, but also as teachers, because they will have to carry this identity into the classroom), but also for how teacher preparation programs are designed to better assist the student during this process.
It is well known that many student-teachers struggle to adjust from student to teacher when entering the teaching profession; they have difficult with assimilating, as well as practicing their duties as educators, because of the identity they may have formed from their first year as student-educators. As Bezzina (2006:2) described it, the ‘transition shock’ caused by the beginning teachers’ realisation about the discrepancy of the real world of teaching and the feeling of lack of preparation for many of the demands that teaching brings can lead to a state of paralysis that renders teachers unable to transfer to the classroom the skills they learned during teacher education. This include the way they see themselves as teachers (self- identification), and how they understand their roles.
“Programmes of teacher education have traditionally been designed to lead pre-service teachers to competence in teaching in a school classroom. In doing so, they are concerned with providing pre-service-teachers with knowledge and skills required for successful future practice: an understanding of curriculum planning, of how people learn, of managing student behaviour, of teaching strategies, and of philosophical foundations of education.” Beauchamp et al (2006).What many pre-service education programs don't take in to consideration when designing their programs, is the transitional period of identity formation that happens during first year. Most programs do not attempt to better facilitate this process, in order to make sure that it benefit the student.
Given the above mentioned problem, the following questions arise:
• What are the complete factors that are involved in shaping the professional identity of student-teachers?
• To what extend does the beliefs and experiences of first-year students play a role in the transition phase?
• How important is self-identification and self-reflection during identity formation?
• How much important is practical experience and exposure in helping student-teachers assimilate the identity of a teacher?
Being placed in an environment (i.e. the classroom during teaching-practice) where they have to act out the role of a teacher, how do they respond both psychologically and professionally? Since they themselves where learners just months ago. It is from the above mentioned study that less researched has been conducted in the transitional phase of identity formation of first-years education students. It is important, therefore for such research to be done in this area.
Reference list
Beauchamp, C and Thomas, L, 2006. Imagination and reflection in teacher education: the development of professional identity from student teaching to beginning practice. Bishop’s University Press.
Bezzina, C. (2006). Views from the trenches: Beginning teachers’ perceptions about their professional development. Journal of In-Service Education 32(2), 411-30.
Britzman, D. P. (1991). Practice makes practice: A critical study of learning to teach. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Clendenin, D. J. & Connelly, F. M. (1995). Teachers’ professional knowledge landscape. New York: Teachers
Danielewicz, J. (2001). Teaching selves: Identity, pedagogy, and teacher education. Albany, NY: State University
Dome, N, Prado-Olmos, P, Ulanoft, SH & Garcia Ramos, R.G (2005). I don’t like not knowing how the world works: Examining pre-service teachers’ narrative reflection. Teacher Education Quarterly, 32(2), 63-83.
Fuller, F. F. & Brown, O. H. (1975). Becoming a teacher. In K. Ryan (Ed.), Teacher education: The seventy-fourth yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (pp. 25-52). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Lortie, D. (1975). Schoolteacher: A sociological study. London: University of Chicago Press.
Schempp, P. G., Sparkes, A. C. & Templin, T. J. (1999). Identity and induction: Establishing the self in the first years of teaching. In R. Lipka & T. Brinthaupt (Eds.), the role of self in teacher development (pp. 142-161). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Steffy, B. E., Wolfe, M. P., Pasch, S. H. & Enz, B. J. (2000). Life cycle of the career teacher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Valli, L. (1997). Listening to other voices: A description of teacher reflection in the United States. Peabody journal of Education, 72(1), 67-88.