SUPPORT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROFESSIONALISM FOR STUDENT TEACHERS IN EARLY TEACHER TRAINING

This paper by members of the Institute of Educational Sciences of the University of Tallinn (Estonia) describes the process and reports the results of an exploration of student attitudes to professionalism using interviewing and feedback as tools. The aim of the process was to encourage the use of reflection and self-assessment by students. The objectives were: 1. To give students the opportunity to reflect on their understanding of the teaching profession in the modern world 2. To give students a better understanding of the Teacher's Standard of Professional Competence of Estonia 3. To give the researchers experience of feedback, e.g., how to conduct interviews and what to discuss 4. To identify issues that require the attention of the university pedagogues in order to sustain and develop the quality of teaching. The authors tested their proposal that the provision of teacher training students with feedback about their knowledge, skills and attitudes helps to develop a sense of professionalism. By assessing their performance with their supervisors, fledgling teachers can learn to measure progress according to accepted norms, both mechanistic and aspirational. The research described in this paper was done in November 2007.