How Do Pre-Service Teachers Understand and Experience Participation in Teacher Education?

Abstract

Teacher education (TED) alone cannot save democracy, but it can prepare teachers to teach their pupils about, for, and through democracy. One of the crucial preconditions for qualifying teachers who can work in a democratic society is the ability to foster teacher students’ participation in their education. This study explores Norwegian second-year teacher students’ understanding and experiences of participation in the planning of seminar activities during one of the courses in their TED. Throughout the semester, the teacher students evaluated seminar activities and suggested activities for the next seminars. At the end of the course, the teacher students wrote reflection notes, in which they expressed their understanding of participation in general and described their experiences of participation in planning seminars. Thus, this study is based on the thematic analysis of 38 reflection notes. The results of this study demonstrate that students understand participation as an influence on seminar content and illustrate that their experiences of participation lead to a feeling of being valued. Further, participation is possible only when teacher educators take the initiative and teacher students themselves are willing to engage in decision-making.