Katriina Maaranen

Beginning student teachers’ teacher identities based on their practical theories

In this article, we investigate first-year student teachers’ teacher identities through their practical theories and ask what these practical theories reveal about their emerging teacher identities? This study approaches teacher identity from a dialogical viewpoint where identity is constructed through various positions. The empirical part of this study analysed the practical theories of 71 first-year student teachers in order to determine what kinds of positions are involved in their teacher identity at the beginning of their teacher education and what positions are emphasised. The results showed that when student teachers begin their teacher education, the majority of positions concern didactical issues, that is, how to promote pupils’ studying and learning processes. In addition, student teachers’ teacher identities as teachers strongly emphasise the moral nature of teaching. Contextual issues about school and society and matters related to content, such as the curriculum, had little representation in first-year student teacher identities. On the basis of the results, the role of teacher education is considered in the process of promoting development of student teachers’ teacher identity during their studies.

Investigating Finnish teacher educators’ views on research‐based teacher education

In this article, we examine teacher educators’ views on research‐based teacher education. Finnish research‐based teacher education has four characteristics: (1) the study programme is structured according to a systematic analysis of education; (2) all teaching is based on research; (3) activities are organized in such a way that students can practice argumentation, decision‐making and justification when inquiring about and solving pedagogical problems; and (4) the students learn formal research skills during their studies. According to the results, teacher educators appreciate the research‐based approach to which the university is committed, although they were sceptical about how well this vision transfers to the students.

Learning a teacher's work

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to bridge the theoretical perspectives of workplace learning and teacher learning. Teacher learning takes place, for example, in the course of a teachers work as well as in the institutional setting of a school. This article describes research conducted on such learning.Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a mixed methods approach. It includes interviews (n=8), which are analysed according to a qualitative content analysis, as well as a survey, which is analysed quantitatively (n=113). In the quantitative analysis descriptive statistics as well as a factor analysis were used.Findings – The research indicates that teacher learning takes place in several different settings; when these are taken into account teacher education is shown to be important. The study also shows that teacher education has succeeded in integrating work and study to some degree when the perspective of workplace learning is taken into account.Originality/value – There seem to be few st...

Researching Pupils, Schools and Oneself. Teachers as Integrators of Theory and Practice in Initial Teacher Education.

Researching can be viewed as a way of analysing issues of schooling by linking theoretical knowledge with perceptions of educational reality already during teacher education. Not only does practicing teaching provide a context for analysing instruction, learning, school culture, diversity, or any other issue related to schooling, also researching these issues provides future teachers opportunity to view schooling as complex and problematic. This case study surveyed and interviewed a group of recently graduated teachers who had worked as teachers during their education. The interest was on their experiences of M.A. thesis research as well as the integration of theory and practice during the education. The respondents had experienced researching as useful as well as meaningful, although they also had development ideas concerning it.

Research-Orientation in a Teacher’s Work

Finnish teacher education is research-based and all teachers are educated to the master’s level. Every teacher also writes a Master’s Thesis as part of his or her studies. During teacher education, we emphasize the importance of the teacher’s pedagogical thinking, personal practical theory, reflection, and inquiry-orientation, and these are also practised in many ways during theoretical as well as practical studies.

Time to think? Primary school teacher students reflecting on their MA thesis research processes

The aim of the study is to investigate reflective processes which take place in primary school teacher education, especially when conducting research for a masters thesis and reflecting on that process. Written reflection has been studied widely, but the point of view taken in this research seems to be new. This research seeks to answer two questions: (1) What kind of reflective learning processes can be found in students’ conceptions of research processes; and (2) How do students view their development during the research process? The data of this article consists of essays by nine class teacher students. The results of this study show that conducting research is a significant learning event in a teacher student’s journey towards becoming a teacher, and by reflecting on their research processes the students are able to analyze their development as researchers as well as their learning during the research process.

Educating inquiry-oriented teachers: students' attitudes and experiences towards research-based teacher education

In this article, we will discuss research-based teacher education as an organizing theme of teacher education. We will report the results of two surveys in which students expressed their attitudes towards the research-based approach and their experiences of research-based teacher education. The construct validity of the inventory was tested using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The comparison of the factor means revealed that the multimode teacher education group had a statistically higher mean score than the traditional class teacher education group for factors which dealt with the pedagogical content knowledge of those subjects that class teachers teach in their classes. When the experienced implementation of the research-based approach was analyzed, the results ran in the same direction. The difference between the attitudes and experiences concerning the research-based approach was remarkable. However, our results suggest that the research-based approach is an appreciated general level organizer for teacher education.

Teacher Students' MA Theses--A Gateway to Analytic Thinking about Teaching? A Case Study of Finnish Primary School Teachers.

Finnish teacher education has been higher academic education since 1979. Thus, all primary school teachers graduate as Masters and they conduct an MA thesis. For this research 23 teachers were interviewed in order to determine their conceptions of reflection, teacher research and their future research intentions. These teacher students worked besides studying and they used their own work as a foundation for their MA thesis research. The teachers who participated in this research reflected both personally and collectively. According to the teachers, teacher research has benefits for the teacher, and for the pupils, the parents, the working community, as well as the wider society. As teacher students learn to engage in researching teaching, they are able to think about teaching analytically.

An Idealistic View of Teaching: Teacher Students' Personal Practical Theories.

Abstract Personal practical theories (PPTs) are built based on underlying beliefs, experiences, values and conceptions regarding ‘good teaching’. Having a vision of teaching and valuing the work may have a strong effect on one’s sense of identity, resilience and commitment. This study focused on Finnish teacher students’ (N = 84) PPTs constructed during the middle or at the end of their studies, on average during their fourth year of a five-year MA programme. All of the PPTs, written as statements (N = 647), were combined, and a unified conception of the theories was formed using inductive content analysis. The three main categories found were the foundations of good teaching, the teacher and the teacher’s daily work. The analysis of the statements shows that the notions of good teaching are very idealistic: they emphasise abstract ideologies and high standards for the teacher, but also everyday matters of teaching, although also here the ideology of the pupil’s individuality is at the centre. The paper concludes by arguing that it is good to have high aims and values for teaching, although in reality some of them might be difficult to achieve.

Portraying reflection: the contents of student teachers’ reflection on personal practical theories and practicum experience*

Abstract This research focused on personal practical theories of Finnish student teachers, on how they argued for them and what they contained, and the data were analysed using Korthagen’s ‘onion’ model of reflection (e.g. 2004). The framework of this research consists of reflection and personal practical theories (PPTs). Personal practical theories are viewed as important for a teacher’s identity: they guide the teacher’s work, action, and reactions before, during, and after a teaching event. Reflecting on teaching, then again, has been one of the most significant issues and focus of numerous studies for several decades. This is a case study of six elementary school student teachers, who had constructed their PPTs before the practicum. We examined their reflections using the onion model of reflection, according to which a person reflects on different levels. The data were collected by interviewing the student teachers after their final practicum. The results show that most of their reflection focused on Environment and Behaviour, so it was located mostly in the outer layers of the onion model. The categorization of the reflection also showed that Competence was the smallest category.