A sociocultural framework for exploring pre-service teacher dispositions: the role of experience and situation (Un enfoque sociocultural para el estudio de las tendencias de los profesores en prácticas: el papel de la experiencia y la situación)

Abstract

Teacher dispositions are important to teacher education. Although research recognizes the importance of context and experience in shaping pre-service teachers’ dispositions, the relationship between them and dispositions needs to be conceptualized and elucidated. This paper draws on Vygotsky’s concept of perezhivanie to develop an integrative framework for analysing the development of teachers’ dispositions within social situations. It illustrates the value of this framework by showing how pre-service teachers’ dispositions have been changing in relation to different contexts of practical teaching experience. Data included individual interviews, reflection journals and teaching resources from 11 pre-service teachers during two practicums. The detailed cases of two pre-service teachers are used to illustrate how the main elements of their dispositions — sensitivity, agency and inclination — are mediated by their perezhivanie and interact with each other and specific social situations.