Drop-outs, transformed professionals or change makers: prospective teachers’ beliefs acting as filters, frames and guides in pre-service education

ABSTRACT

Situated in the context of English as a foreign language (EFL) pre-service teacher education in Israel, the study surfaces connections between student teachers’ (STs) evolving beliefs about teachers and teaching, their experiences during teacher education and career intentions. Findings distinguish between three distinct student teacher profiles as related to belief change and its influence on dispositions to learning and aspired career trajectories; the three groups differ in interpretation of knowledge and experience, conceptualising problems and approaching career planning. Our findings add nuance to the discussion of STs’ beliefs as a response to past experiences and the impact of the socio-cultural context on STs’ learning to teach. The findings are elaborated and discussed with implications for the preparation of prospective teachers.

KEYWORDS:

• Pre-service teacher education
• teacher beliefs
• career intentions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Though deemed politically incorrect, the native/non-native labels seem to persist in the language use of researchers and teachers alike (Medgyes 2001, 2014).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Evgenia Lavrenteva

Evgenia Lavrenteva is a PhD student of the Faculty of Education at the University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, Israel; e-mail: [email protected]. Her interests focus on teacher education, curriculum development and implementation.

Lily Orland-Barak

Lily Orland-Barak is Professor in Education, former Dean of the Faculty of Education and present Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Haifa, Israel. Her research focuses on professional learning, mentoring and curriculum development in the context of teacher education. She has published numerous articles and books on these topics and serves on national and international academic committees and editorial boards.