How Do Prospective Teachers Understand Educational Research?

Abstract

Despite the benefits that research offers for the development of teaching practice, prospective teachers appear to be reluctant toward research. A variety of predictors of research use have been analyzed and the prospective teachers’ conceptions of research appears as one of the most powerful one.

This research aims to explore the prospective teachers’ conception of educational research. A qualitative study based on six focus groups was carried out with students from different teacher education programs in a Chilean public university (N = 48).

Findings show that students conceive research as a useful tool to solve educational problems and that prospective teachers’ conceptions are influenced by the methodology used in some courses of the teaching program and the teacher’s approach. Paper lead to understand how prospective teachers conception toward research can be shaped by the study programs.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research shows some results of the Initiation FONDECYT Project 11180227 “Presence and importance of integrating research in teaching education and how it is perceived by students and lecturers” awarded to one of the authors and funded by the "National Research and Development Agency" (ANID-Chile).