Pre-service Teachers’ Conclusive Principles for Teaching Technology Education

Abstract

What enduring knowledge and understanding from tertiary education study will learners remember most that will contribute to their on-going performance and understanding for effective teaching? This paper is based on research undertaken to identify what third-year initial teacher education students in a course including Technology Education curriculum development conclude as important principles for teaching that discipline effectively in their classrooms. Their course-concluding principles should be seen as first steps or thoughts as they transition from university into their first appointments and begin teaching. Literature on personal epistemologies (Brownlee, Schraw & Berthelsen, 2011) identifies that preservice teachers’ awareness will also be reflective of prior experiences they have had in the community and from teachers they have been exposed to and that their naïve epistemologies will give way to more sophisticated beliefs and practices as their confidence and understanding develops. The students’ conclusive principles were analysed to identify the nature of their understanding and as a guide to what teaching in this discipline might look like as they begin their teaching career.