The Course of Pre-Service Teachers’ Expectations in School Practices and the Factors Affecting Their Expectations

Abstract

It is known that expectations of pre-service teachers will change during the process of the school practice especially depending on the interactions they establish with practice teachers and supervisors. The study was conducted at a faculty of education in a big city with pre-service teachers in senior science class using split-plot design. Data were obtained through three measurement levels including initial, intermediate, and final stages in the study which was carried out with 44 preservice teachers 27 of whom were female. Qualitative data were obtained through focus group interviews made with 6 pre-service teachers, 3 of whom were females following measurement levels. Descriptive statistics were used for analyzing the quantitative data while the ANOVA statistic of Friedman which is a nonparametric test was used for analyzing the point differences. Descriptive analysis was used for analyzing the qualitative data and the data were interpreted together with the findings obtained from the quantitative data. It was detected that the initial expectations of the pre-service teachers were higher in the collegiality and leadership categories compared to guidance but their expectations tended to drop dramatically over time. Among the factors that are considered to be the potential factors of the decrease, whether the practice school, which is a new structure, was introduced to the pre-service teachers at the beginning of the academic year and whether they were welcomed in a positive or negative manner at the practice school constituted the most critical turning points.