Beginning Teacher Education : Students' Conceptions of Teaching and Approaches to Learning.

Abstract

Twenty preservice teachers were interviewed prior to commencement of their teacher education course to establish the conceptions of teaching and approaches to learning with which they entered the course. Students were categorised as surface, deep or achieving in their learning orientations (Biggs, 1987). Five conceptions of teaching were identified: the nurturing helper, authorityand disciplinarian, shaper of children's lives, presenter of information and facilitator of thinking and learning. There was a consistent relationship between conceptions of learning and conceptions of teaching. Surface learners tended to see teaching as transmission of information. There were very few deep learners, however they tended to see teaching as facilitation of thinking and learning. Achieving learners tended to see teaching as nurturing. Achieving learners also indicated that shaping children's lives and imposing discipline were important. Beginning Teacher Education Students' Conceptions of Teaching and Learning Because of their extensive experience of classroom life, prospective students enter teacher education programs with well established conceptions of teaching and learning (Britzman, 1986; Calderhead, 1988; Feiman-Nemser, McDiarmid, Melnick & Parker, 1988; Weinstein, 1990). For . example, Lortie (1975) referred to the long apprenticeship of observation in schools which forms the basis of students' knowledge of teachers' work. This student experience has resulted in the belief by many preservice teachers that to become a teacher it is merely necessary to behave like the teachers they have observed (FeimanNemser et al., 1988). Consequently, many students ·enter teacher education with an over-optimistic confidence in their ability to teach and a lack of appreciation for the complexity of classroom practice (Book, Byers & Freeman, 1983). Additionally, Feiman-Nemser et a!. (1988) found that many students believed that teaching conVol. 20, No. 1, 1995 sisted merely of giving students information and Hollingsworth (1989) found that student teachers frequently believed that learning resulted from the provision of teacher-directed information. Other researchers have found that students see teachers in a nurturing role. Weinstein (1990) reported that a capacity to be friendly and caring was the most frequently mentioned attribute of a really good teacher. Book et a!. (1983) found that substantial numbers of students entering teacher education saw teaching as an extended form of parenting. Similarly, Calderhead (1988) reports that many students build ideal images of teaching which emphasised the teacher as a guide, confidant and friend. There is some evidence to suggest that conceptions of teaching correspond with conceptions of learning. For example, Feiman-Nemser et al. (1988) report that the belief that teaching is the giving of information is supported by the understanding that learning is the reproduction of teacher-given information. Prior beliefs and understandings exert a major influence on the impact of teacher education on students' development as teachers. Hollingsworth (1989) found that prior beliefs provided a filter through which students viewed their teacher education and classroom experience. Thus, she argued that preprogram beliefs interacted dynamically with program content and classroom practice. Similarly, Korthagen (1988) reports that students' learning orientations influenced their ability to benefit from teacher education. Specifically, he found that a reflective (internal) approach to learning fitted more comfortably with a reflective teacher education program. Students with an external learning orientation often dropped-out of the program. Teachers' images, conceptions and ~eliefs also exert a powerful influence on their classroom practice (Calderhead, 1988). For example, Anning (1988) found that teachers' beliefs about