The Role of Previous Workplace Learning in the Development of Adult Teacher Students’ Professional Expertise

Abstract

This research describes and seeks for more understanding of the role of previous workplace learning for adult teacher students and its relationship to the development of their professional expertise. Previous refers here to earlier months or years of work in schools for adult students who are now starting their teacher education studies. This research aims to answer the following questions: In what kinds of work situations and contexts have teacher students learnt? How does this learning manifest in teacher students’ working life stories? The research material includes 80 working life stories of adult students who are just starting their teacher training to become Finnish class teachers, physical education teachers or special needs teachers. The results of thematic analysis showed that teachers have learnt individually or collectively and by actively searching for learning situations or by passively arriving at them. New problem-solving situations and working environments facilitated workplace learning. The narrative analysis produced nine typical learning stories. Within the school context, the teacher’s formal qualifications and reflective orientation defined their learning opportunities. The postmodern theoretical perspective on expert learning offers a conceptual tool for structuring the learning processes of teacher students in their previous workplaces.