Orhan: a case study in the development of a student teacher's personal theories

Abstract

This paper is concerned with one student teacher (Orhan) and how his personal theories about teaching effectiveness changed over a period of 15 months, as represented by repertory grid data. These findings are drawn from a larger scale doctoral study by Sendan which suggested that while the content of participating student teachers' personal theories showed only limited change, there was notable change in their structure. This change varied between individuals, and was non‐linear and complex in nature.

This individual case study reports changes in Orhan's thinking, which suggest his increasingly clear discrimination regarding teacher effectiveness, through cycles of decon‐struction and reconstruction in his personal theories. These changes occur particularly in structure, and in Orhan's view of himself as teacher.