Abstract

The development of trainee teachers to become foreign-language-teachers during their pedagogical studies

Esa Martti Penttinen, University of Helsinki, Finland

This case study examines the effectiveness of Finnish teacher education in promoting the professional development of trainee foreign-language teachers’. The material consists of the written reflections of trainee teachers undergoing teacher training at the University of Helsinki during the academic year 2008–2010. The students’ significant learning was observed in the framework of the concept of the hypothetical ’teacher’ whom the students are being trained to become. The learning, which the students achieved, was assessed from the point of view of their professional development as teacher, and the ideas they had about their professional identity as future teachers.

The research seems to show that the students saw ’a good teacher’ the possessor of a number of competences that should be acquired by teachers. This is problematic, because according to humanistic psychology to suppose it is a fallacy that the methods of expert teachers either can or should be taught to beginners. The early personal school experiences of the students were significant building their own practical knowledge. They either wanted or didn’t want to act or to teach in the classroom in the same ways as their own teachers used to do. The students were guided by their beliefs about themselves, how they saw their professional identity. The teacher trainees became aware that ’a good teacher’ will not always exhibit ’good teaching’, although he or she may have excellent competences. The students relied on the advisor for the answer to the question of how they should act, when they have problems in the classroom. The connection between theory and practice during the practice teaching sessions, which the trainee teachers were required to complete, remained elastic.