Work-In-Progress:

Becoming a teacher at Teacher Training Colleges in

Kenya- Motives, competencies and

professional identity formation of teacher students.

Ken Justus Ondoro & Kari K. B. DahlUniversity of Nairobi, Kenya

&Research Programme for Environmental and Health Education

School of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark

Aim

To investigate formation processes & outcomes of teacher students’ two years’ participation during at TTC (by entry / exit of the study):- Motivation for teaching.- Professional identity.- Feelings towards the teaching profession.

Theory - inspiration• Newer anthropological/social psychological

theory about schooling, learning and becoming.– E.H.Erikson (2003): Identity as a two-stringed process.– James & Prout (1997): ”Contextual learning” - a

broader view on people, learning, and schooling:– Lave & Wenger (1991): ”Legitimate pheriperal

participation”.

• Research in professional and institutional pedagogy.– Research in teacher professional formation: Teachers:

Social, personal and professional formation.

Methods• Focused group discussions:– 10 FGD’s regarding teaching profession 1st year students (1st

semester) and 2nd year students (5th semester) at three TTC’s.

• Individual interviews:– 17 semi-structured open-ended interviews with selected 1st

and 2nd year students at three TTC’s.

• Observation: – Followed four teacher students during a full academic year at

two TTC’s – during class hours, freee time at college & weekends outside college.

• Questionnaire:― 5 TTC’s in Central and Eastern Province― 3.145 1st and 2nd year students in 76 classes.― 21 students (0,67%) refrained from participation.

Qualitative data: Five different ”paths” of appropriating teacher profession

• ”Teaching as a calling”– Students who feel teaching is a calling from above and their personal dream

come through. Not only classroom work, but also identity work.• ”Teaching as a stepping stone”

– Teaching is a mean to something else – either further studies or another career. ”Academic” and ambitious approach to teaching.

• ”Teaching as passing through/time”– Relative young students, some ”pushed” to TTC by more well off parents -

”Better start something than being iddle”.• ”Teaching as a last resort”

– Many of the older students, some with past personal and professional hardship & personal disappointements, enter TTC as ”last education possibility”.

• ”Teaching as a second chance”– Tried but not succeeded in other careers. Arrive desillusioned toTTC, but find

out during their stay at TTC to include teaching in personal life career.

Professional formation and ways of becoming ”a teacher”

Start of TTC End of TTC”Calling” ”Calling”

”Second chance”

´”Last resort” ”Passing through”

”Passing through”

”Stepping stone” ”Stepping stone”

Questionnaire1. Background information about the students (n=2.784)2. What is your main reason for entering TTC?– Cluster of 21 reasons into categories:

• ”Intrinsic”, ”extrinsic”, ”altruistic”, ”other”.

3. How do you feel about teaching right now?– 16 statements: Indicate on 5-point Likert-scale from

”Strongly Agree” to ”Strongly Disagree” about various statements re. teaching professions.

4. Competencies for teaching– 7 perspectives: 5-point Likert scale ”agree/disagree”

about: • Teaching resources, punishment, knowledge, authority, social

skills, personality work, critical conscioussness raising.

Data from the questionnaire: Reasons for entering TTC & feelings about teaching

profession /1

• ”Extrinsic”– Not being iddle at home– Financial reasons– Stable income– Job security– Family wanted– Role model– Teacher respected persons– I become learned– ”Stepping stone” to another career or further education

Data from the questionnaire: Reasons for entering TTC & feelings about teaching

profession /2• ”Intrinsic”

– Feel ”fit for the job”– Subject love/like a specific subject– Teaching is enjoyable– Love children/young people

• ”Altruistic”– Meaningful job– Change society/ ”a mission”– ”Calling” from above

• ”Other” – Wanted to try something else.