Second-career teachers’ workplace learning and learning at university

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine career-change student teachers’ practice-based learning in teacher training, with a special focus on the support they received. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on a qualitative content analysis of 15 group interviews, including 58 career-change student teachers and focuses on their learning at university and the workplace. Findings This paper indicates that career-change student teachers’ learning is task-related and based on interactions. It benefits from the support provided by actors at the university and workplace. Their learning is highly self-regulated and built on skills from prior professional and life experience. However, behaviourist learning and trial-and-error learning strategies are more often mentioned than constructionist learning and goal-oriented learning. Practical implications The findings underline the fact that universities and schools can enhance career-change student teachers’ learning by providing professional support, helping them to form links between experience from their prior profession, as well as their knowledge acquired at the university and experience from the workplace. Originality/value Until now, few studies have addressed workplace learning in teacher education. The present study aims to address this lack. Moreover, the study shows how career-change student teachers deal with the challenge of bridging the gap between theoretical and practical knowledge acquired during practice-based teacher education.

Trainers’ learning conditions, informal and formal learning and barriers to learning

“…While facilitating factors for learning at work have been well investigated over the past decade (Jeong et al , 2018; Kyndt et al , 2018), less is known about the barriers that occur when approaching a learning activity (Boeren, 2016). Barriers to learning are often wrongly acknowledged as a lack of positive learning conditions or their insufficient presence, as well as missing facilitating factors (Keck Frei et al , 2021; Louws et al , 2017). In fact, barriers to learning can be internal or external or fitting problems that in turn affect formal and informal learning activities.…”

Learning barriers at the workplace: Development and validation of a measurement instrument

“…Learning facilitators and barriers can be opponents (Cerasoli et al, 2018), such as when more equipment is regarded as a facilitator and current equipment at the workplace as a barrier to learning activities (Louws et al, 2017;Keck Frei et al, 2021). This indicates that facilitators and barriers to learning are not of universal application.…”

Investigation of Sense-making of New Teachers With Prior Professional Experience (SCT) in Switzerland: an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

“…For example, cultural perceptions of the social status vary by country (such as what is a desirable or stigmatised profession), as well as labour market dynamics (such as the demand for teachers). There were only two peer-reviewed papers on the SCT phenomenon from Switzerland Keck-Frei et al, 2020), meaning further research from Switzerland is warranted to expand the knowledge of cultural and contextual differences in this area. Additionally, as mentioned in Chapter 1 (section 1.2, p. 1), the SCT phenomenon is a growing phenomenon in Switzerland that remains underresearched.…”

“…In addition to this dedicated path, SCTs may also participate in the standard teacher education programmes at universities together with FCTs . Second-career teacher education at teacher education colleges in Switzerland consists of two phases: research-oriented (university studies) and practice-based (workplace learning) (Keck-Frei et al, 2020). In the practice-based phase, the new teachers are supported by "mentoring teachers, school principals, job-sharing partners and teacher colleagues" (Keck-Frei et al, 2020).…”

“…Specific transferable skills and experiences include avoiding or managing conflict, communication skills, the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, work ethic, analytic thinking, a wider perspective, problem-solving skills, contextualisation of theoretical classroom knowledge in the world of work, familiarity with ICT, administration, working with teams, pedagogical experiences, and presentation skills (Alharbi, 2020;Anthony & Ord, 2008;Keck Frei et al, 2020). Since the claim that previous experiences are generally transferable relates to perceptions and beliefs and was found mainly in studies about SCT motivation (Alharbi, 2020;Hunter-Johnson, 2015), it is not surprising that a more nuanced perspective has been provided by researchers (Anderson et al, 2014;Anthony & Ord, 2008;Priyadharshini & Robinson-Pant, 2003;Tan, 2012; who more deeply explore the transfer of previous experiences to look for advantages and disadvantages.…”