Why do I want to become a preschool teacher? The perspective of qualitative research
Vol.24,No.4(2014)
The paper reports on investigation of motives of choosing preschool teacher profession by young people. The sample consisted of 29 students of bachelor programme in preschool education at a university in Moravia who did thematic writing on motives of wanting to be a preschool teacher, on circumstances that influenced their decision as well as about their notion of the child and childhood and conception of performance of the preschool teacher. The thematic writing was conducted twice, in the first and the third semesters of the study. The texts were analysed to obtain concepts and themes that explained the research questions. The findings show that the decision of becoming a preschool teacher is the result of previous complex interactions between personal characteristics of the subject and external factors which, however, are not perceived passively but are filtered through previous attitudes and beliefs. The two most important personal factors are feminity and emotionality. As concerns the external determinants, a strong factor is the subject´s family which provides opportunities for participation in plays with children of family members and others, as well as role models. These pre-professional experiences resulted in the concept of preschool teaching as a prolonged childhood. The educational philosophy of the subjects rests on three teacher’s roles, i.e. protector of the childhood, usher of the child to life, and guide of the child to school life.
preschool teacher; decision to become a teacher; feminity; emotionality; pre-professional experiences; concept of teaching
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