Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.5673/sip.51.3.3
Understanding the Role of Teachers, Learners and Teaching – Beliefs of Students at the Faculty of Teacher Education
Vlatka Domović
orcid.org/0000-0001-5794-6786
; Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Vlasta Vizek Vidović
; Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Professional beliefs and attitudes are a core part of teacher identity and significantly guide
everyday teaching at schools. Recent findings indicate that college students’ intuitive beliefs
tend to resist educational influences exerted during their initial education. Therefore a comparative
study was conducted to examine the students’ perception of the teacher/learner role
and their basic views on teaching. The study was carried out in a group of first year students
(N = 205) and a group of final year students (N = 95) from Rijeka, Zadar and Zagreb. The
research which combined qualitative and quantitative approach examined the perception of
the teacher/learner role using the metaphor technique, while Approaches to teaching questionnaire
(Trigwelli Prosser, 2006) was applied in order to check beliefs about the nature
of teaching. The qualitative data analysis revealed that nurturing orientation was dominant
among students of both groups (teacher as a parent or a friend) in the perception of the
teacher’s role, while behaviourist orientation was dominant (learner as a sponge) in the perception
of the learner’s role, regardless of the fact that one group of students were in the final
year of their university education. The quantitative data analysis showed that both groups
gave the highest ratings to the student-centered approach to teaching, which was inconsistent
with their perception of the teacher/learner role. In the discussion it has been pointed out
that one of the main tasks in the initial teacher education should be raising awareness about
these discrepancies. It would facilitate the transformation of these intuitive beliefs based on
early educational experiences into beliefs based on accumulated scholarly knowledge on
teaching and learning.
Keywords
teacher professional beliefs; teacher identity; perception of teacher/ learner role
Hrčak ID:
115064
URI
Publication date:
3.2.2014.
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