National reports of several Western countries indicated not only high attrition rates of beginning teachers but also a considerable proportion of teacher education graduates who do not enter the teaching profession (cf. OECD country background reports, 2005). This phenomenon can be viewed in terms of the economic labour market theory of supply and demand (Guarino et al., 2006; OECD, 2005). Yet, this view neglects any possible relationship between entrance into teaching and experiences during teacher education. Teacher oriented research has indicated that for many student teachers the confrontation with the realities of the profession during practicum experiences, delivers a “reality shock” that for some might be sufficiently severe to terminate their teaching career before they really had a chance to begin (Brouwer & Korthagen, 2005; Cole & Knowles, 1993). In line with studies of student-teacher development (e.g., Bullough, 1997, Knowles, 1992), we assume that the way in which certain situations, events, or conditions in teacher education influence students’ teaching commitment and their intention to enter teaching depends on their individual interpretation process: the way students perceive, interpret and value (critical) events in teacher education. The proposed paper focuses on student teachers’ subjective perception and experience of teacher education in terms of their changing teaching commitment and intention to enter teaching. We sought to produce qualitative data through the collection of individual narratives in order to more fully understand the forces that influence and shape the teacher education graduate‘s decision (not) to enter the teaching profession. The conceptual framework for the study is based on Kelchtermans’ (1993) theoretical framework of teachers’ self-understanding and literature on critical incidents/persons in (student) teachers’ professional biographies (Kelchtermans, 1993; Sikes et al., 1985).

The material presented is a part of a larger study on the relationship between teacher education and graduates’ entrance into teaching. 443 pre-service teachers of 6 teacher education institutes in Flanders (Belgium) completed a questionnaire at the end of their teacher education program (a three-year course for teachers in lower secondary education) (see Rots, 2007). Subsequently, we used a qualitative-interpretative approach and developed case studies of 12 students who – based on the quantitative results - indicated a major change in teaching commitment during teacher education. The proposed paper focuses on these case studies. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The interviews followed a protocol designed to learn more in depth about student teachers’ reasons for entering teacher education, their experiences in each year of their teacher education program as well as to reconstruct their self-understanding as a teacher and their future career plans.

We are still in the process of analysing the data. Interpretative data analysis at the level of individual respondents will provide contextualized accounts of student teachers’ (critical) experiences in teacher education and how these have influenced their self-understanding as a teacher and ultimately their intention to (not) enter the teaching profession. The aim for the ECER 2008 presentation is to theorise the implications of these findings for initial teacher education. Acknowledgement: This study is part of a doctoral thesis under supervision of Antonia Aelterman and Peter Vlerick.