Pre-Service Teacher Training, Primary Teachers’ Identities and School Work

Abstract

Given the importance of primary education as a basis for a knowledge society, the aim is to contribute towards improving the effects of preservice teacher training, in terms of lifelong learning and professional efficacy. We present the results of research carried out with the aim of relating preservice training curricula and the construction of teacher identities. Forty biographical narratives were collected from primary school teachers who had trained at the same pre-service teacher training college in 4 different periods over the last 40 years. The results suggest that pre-service training has a real impact on identities, but also that a large part of that impact is neutralised in the work contexts. Here, a traditional conception of school work persists which forces new teachers to adapt to the real schools. These results are discussed in relation to the challenges posed by the knowledge society.