Building of the adult students' expertise and identity in the teacher's work which precedes the teacher education

Abstract

This research describes adult students’ significant learning experiences in teacher’s work prior to teacher studies. The research material comprises of 39 essays written by the students of class teacher programme for adults in the beginning of the programme. The experiences at work has opened up the positive and tense sides of teaching and offered a realistic mirror to assess their own suitability for the profession. What was learned through practice created a bridge to studying the new theoretical material in teacher education. However, adult’s learning in a school context and at the teacher education is different. Education should utilize and examine critically the knowledge of adult students they have acquired before the teacher studies.