From pre-service science teacher towards transformative intellectual: pre-service science teachers address food insecurity in South Africa

ABSTRACT

Teacher training requires teachers to learn not only the academic content they must teach but to learn how to teach. In the modern world where changes are constant and the teaching demands are many, pre-service teachers must learn skills but they must also learn certain attitudes and beliefs that will allow them to be successful and effective in their profession. This study investigated the changes reported by pre-service science teachers after they completed a food gardening project as part of their teacher training. Qualitative data were collected through the use of focused group interviews, individual interviews, and written journal entries. Data were analysed using a critical pedagogy theoretical framework. Teachers reported significant changes in their attitudes and beliefs after their gardening experiences. They reflected on their new-found understanding that they could change the way they teach and that their teaching could have an effect on their students and their communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher training
• critical pedagogy
• practical experience
• empowerment

Disclosure statement

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

Ethical statement

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Research Foundation of South Africa [Grant Number UID: 107718].