THE METAPHORICAL PERCEPTIONS OF STUDENTS ON A TEACHER-TRAINING COURSE TOWARDS THE CONCEPTS OF 'TEACHER' AND 'TEACHER TRAINING'

Problem Statement: Two different teacher training programs have been implemented in Turkey over recent years. In addition to attending faculties of teacher training (on traditional educational degree programs), graduates from different faculties have the right to become teachers by way of the ‘pedagogical formation certification programs’. Given such a situation, it has become a question of great interest to what extent the teacher candidates participating on such a program perceive the concepts of ‘teacher’ and ‘teacher training’. Metaphors are frequently used to elicit the ideas of teachers and teacher trainees with respect to certain elements that constitute the education system.

Purpose study:  This research was conducted to elicit by means of metaphor the perceptions of teacher candidates participating on ‘pedagogical formation certification program’ towards the concepts of ‘teacher’ and ‘pedagogical formation’.

Method: The participants in this research consisted of 280 mathematics teacher candidates who were undertaking pedagogical formation certificate program at four different universities. Having employed open-ended questions, the date collected was then exposed to a process of data content analysis.

Findings and results: At the end of the research, the metaphors created by teacher candidates for the concept of ‘teacher’ were then grouped under four main themes: a constructivist teacher, a teacher that is regarded like a family (member), a behavioralist teacher and a negative attitude towards the teacher’. As for the metaphors used by the teacher candidates for the concept of ‘teacher training’, these were evaluated under four main themes headings; ‘what is perceived as a compulsion’, ‘what is perceived as unnecessary’, ‘what is perceived as a mistaken application’ and ‘what is perceived as necessity’.

Discussion, conclusions and recommendations: Finally, while the metaphorical perceptions of participant teacher candidates towards the metaphor of ‘teacher’ displayed similarities to a great degree, a number of negative metaphors were also encountered. It was established that approximately one half of the metaphors generated with regard to teacher training encompassed negative meanings. The metaphors generated by teacher candidates were partially elicited with regard to the quality of the pedagogical formation certificate programs.