How Candidate Teachers Experience Coherence in University Education and Teacher Induction: the Influence of Perceived Professional Preparation at University and Support during Teacher Induction

Abstract

There is a common understanding that becoming a teacher needs to be a continuous and coherent process of educational and professional development across all teacher education phases. This study focuses on the professional preparation of candidate teachers when entering the induction phase. It provides an opportunity to reconstruct their transition into the profession and asks how predictive perceived professional preparation at university and support at the induction phase are of candidate teachers’ experience of coherence. A sample of 537 candidate teachers in higher secondary schools in Germany participated in a questionnaire survey. By means of structural equation modeling, perceived professional preparation at university and support at the induction phase are found to systematically predict candidate teachers’ experience of coherence. Practical implications to improve coherence in teacher education are discussed.