Student teachers’ prior experiences of history, geography and science: initial findings of an all-Ireland survey1

1. This study is the first stage of a longitudinal study undertaken by the Irish Association for Social, Scientific and Environmental Education (IASSEE) and is funded by the Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South (SCoTENS), by Mary Immaculate College, Limerick and by St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra.

Abstract

Research into student teachers’ perceptions, attitudes and prior experiences of learning suggests that these experiences can exert an influence on practice which can be relatively undisturbed by their initial teacher education. This article is based on the initial findings of an all-Ireland survey of all first-year students on B.Ed. courses in colleges in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland. The survey is the first stage in a longitudinal study which will follow the same cohort of students for the duration of their initial teacher education, seeking to map and track the development of their ideas about teaching and learning in primary history, geography and science. Based on an analysis of the quantitative data in the entry questionnaire, the initial findings suggest that subject knowledge remains a problematic issue in initial teacher education and that both location and gender interact with knowledge, attitudes and subject area to produce a complex and challenging context for teacher educators in history, geography and science education.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Michael O'Leary for his advice in the preparation of this article.

Notes

1. This study is the first stage of a longitudinal study undertaken by the Irish Association for Social, Scientific and Environmental Education (IASSEE) and is funded by the Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South (SCoTENS), by Mary Immaculate College, Limerick and by St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra.

2. Students attending St. Patrick's College, Mary Immaculate College, St. Mary's University College and Stranmillis College have the option of studying history and geography to degree level. St. Patrick's College offers bioscience as a first-year academic course. St. Mary's University College and Stranmillis University College offer science to degree level. All colleges offer curriculum courses in these areas, either as discrete subjects or on an integrated basis.

3. For students from RoI, the post-16 level of qualification refers to the Leaving Certificate Examination, while for NI students it refers to A level and AS level. A small number of students had qualifications at tertiary level. These have been included in the post-16 category. Apart from pure science subjects, there is a range of science-related subjects available in both jurisdictions that give students access to varying levels of knowledge in science. It was decided to include these subjects in the questionnaire as forming part of the students’ knowledge base in science. These subjects include agricultural science and home economics.

4. Because the number of male students is small, the gender analysis is based on the whole cohort of students and is not broken down by location.

5. Not all academic subjects chosen are taken to degree level. Two of the colleges, Mary Immaculate College and St. Patrick's College, provide for more than one academic subject along with education in the first year of the B.Ed.

6. Shulman's theory of teacher knowledge has been subjected to sustained critique. See, for example, Edwards & Ogden (1998). For an examination of the concept of pedagogical content knowledge, see Segall (2004).