Becoming Science Teachers: an evaluation of the initial stages of primary teacher training

Abstract

This 3‐year evaluation study explores the development of trainee primary teachers’ attitudes toward the teaching and learning of science during the early stages of their professional education. We demonstrate that science is, for many students, a potentially problematic area of the curriculum in which their past learning experiences are particularly prominent in the development of negative attitudes and feelings of apprehension towards the subject. Through a combination of questionnaire data and reflective writing, origins of attitude development and the impact of both course provision and teaching practice are explored at depth. A dichotomy between student expectation and experience of science teaching is demonstrated and the implications of this are examined with respect to the nature of teacher education, course provision and primary partnership initiatives currently being developed between higher education and primary schools.