Exploring the working lives of teachers at different stages of their career

Abstract

The objective of this study was to learn about the different experiences faced by the professional teacher (in various stages of her/his career) and the student teacher (during her/his teaching practice), as they value their careers and transfer their subject knowledge and skills in a form that children can understand. Questionnaires, interviews and observations were carried involving student teachers and qualified teachers. Five primary schools were involved, each having three teachers participating in this research. There were also four third-year student teachers taking part in this study. The observations were carried out during a Social Studies lesson. The classes chosen for this research included children in Year 1, 2, and 3 aged 6, 7, 8 or 9 years of age respectively. The major finding revealed that experienced teachers tend to move from one thing to another with relative ease, and can handle class situations without much difficulty. At the same time, they identified the need to keep abreast with both subject pedagogical knowledge and subject content knowledge. On the other hand, student teachers tend to have relatively good command of the theoretical aspects and subject knowledge but find it difficult to handle class situations with the ease that experienced teachers tend to do. Activities prepared by the student teachers and the experienced teachers provided enjoyable experiences which motivated these children to acquire knowledge, skills, values and attitudes which can be used later on in life.