The Difficulty of Change: The Impact of Personal School Experience and Teacher Education on the Work of Beginning Language Teachers

Abstract

This case‐study investigates the impact of personal school experience and initial teacher education on the work of six beginning language teachers. Insights into the thinking and acting of the subjects are gained through an interpretative analysis of their interviews. The findings indicate that one’s own school experience has an important role in constructing practical knowledge during the first years of teaching. Part of this experience is unconscious and difficult to express in words; nevertheless, it has an impact on the actions of the beginning language teacher. Furthermore, the ability of the teachers in the study to use knowledge learned during the teacher education is dependent on their ability to self‐reflect.

Keywords:

• beginning teachers
• practical knowledge
• language education
• teacher education

Notes

¹ The pronoun ‘he’ has been used here in the citations, although in the original interviews the gender reference is not specified as the Finnish language does not differentiate between genders in personal pronouns.