Contribution
Description: We understand teachers' professionalization as an ongoing process during the whole career. This process can be subdivided into different phases (see Terhart, 1994; Bauer, 2000). We suspect that every phase in this career makes its own contribution to the professional development of teachers. Probably the first phase, academic teacher education, sets the course for a successful career. But there is a lack in the (inter)national teacher training research concerning the effects of academic teacher education on teachers´ professionalism (see Oser & Oelkers, 2001; Schaefers, 2001; Fried, 2003).
In accordance with the Bologna Process, the German Higher Education System currently is changing. There are several universities (amongst others there are the universities of Bochum, Bielefeld, Muenster and Wuppertal) experimenting with new Bachelor and Master Studies (see Thierack, 2003). This also affects the German teacher training system. In future, teacher aspirants will have to study two or more subjects for three years. The same subjects will also be available to those studying for degrees other than teaching. After the first examination (leading to a Bachelor of Arts; Bachelor of Sciences degree) students can decide to continue studying for two years either to graduate in one of these subjects (getting Master of Arts; Master of Sciences) or to graduate in teacher education (getting Master of Education; Master of Arts in Education).
An important, but empirically unanswered question is how the composition of the student population is likely to be affected by the new structure. Will there be different groups of students choosing one or the other way? Is it possible to identify more and less successful students? Which group will decide to become teachers? And will some of them become probably better teachers? In general we do not know to what extent different systems of academic teacher education affect successful teacher professionalization.
The theoretical framework to identify a typology of students is based on two dimensions. One is a sociological view of professionalism represented through Parsons´ system of the pattern variables confined to the distinction between specific and diffuse orientations (see Parsons, 1964; Parsons & Platt, 1990). The other, the pedagogical dimension occurs by differentiating between a more scientific and a more educational teaching orientation (see Caselmann, 1964).
Methodology: The study is based on two sample surveys. The first one started in June 2005 with 464 students participated (47.6% of all persons studying traditional teacher education or so-called Magister studies at the University of Wuppertal). The second one will be started in June 2006. Students of the new system will be tested.
The questionnaire used contains different scales such as Bandura´s self-efficacy (see Schmitz, 1998); a modified version of Holland´s vocational-interests model (see Bergmann & Eder, 1992) and a scale for measuring professional orientations (see von Rosenstiehl & Stengel, 1987). It also contains questions about the social status and the scholastic development of the person asked.
For analysing the data we are using multivariate methods such like factor analysis and cluster analysis.
Conclusions: We expect to detect the variables that account for the variance in students´ decision to become a teacher. Presumably this decision varies with belonging to different types of students. We hypothise that these groups can be identified within the traditional teacher education system and the so-called Magister Studies. Finally we will compare these groups within the composition of students in the new structure.
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