Stimulating teachers’ inquiring attitude in academic and professional teacher education programmes

Abstract

This study investigated differences between the inquiring attitudes of student teachers who followed an academic programme and student teachers who followed a professional programme in teacher education. Differences between students were assessed through a survey among 260 students and interviews with nine students. Differences between the curricula of both programmes were explored through a curriculum analysis. In particular, academic students appeared to have a more inquiring attitude than professional students. They had a more critical attitude towards classroom situations and a higher motivation to use and perform research. Teacher research was integrated in the curricula of both academic and professional programmes. However, the academic programme addressed a larger variety of forms of research and the focus on research was more consistent throughout the programme than in the professional programme.