What graduates want in teacher education

Abstract

ABSTRACT To understand what to improve in initial teacher education to better prepare teachers for their profession, we asked alumni (N = 93) from three Swedish initial teacher education programs, what in their education they thought had benefited them the most in preparing them for a teaching career, and what they thought was lacking given their professional needs. Questionnaire responses yielded seven categories: leadership, practicum, didactics, teaching methods, assessment, and personal development. Our results show that the practicum is seen as very valuable and that alumni wish they had been taught more about leadership in the classroom, and teaching methods. On the other hand, there is little evidence that the alumni value the theoretical parts of their programs, including scientific inquiry, in contrast to what research says is essential and what national regulations demand. Differences in replies between the three programs are also discussed and related to the features of the programs.