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Contribution
The topic of this research lies in providing a profile of the mature student teachers in the initial teacher education in Greece. More specifically it seeks to identify the profile of mature student teachers in university department preparing primary school teachers. Teaching profession has been an attractive field for professional life due to the secure image it has in the Greek state: the majority of schools are goverment owned and ruled, therefore, state teachers are permanent official workers. Also, in the last six years the shortage of primary school teachers due to the extention of the school day, meant employing all graduates from four-year university departments of primary education (BA in Education). Thus, primary school teaching is one of the professions with the highest numbers of recruitment in state schools and attracted the elite of the final year students of secondary education in order to conduct their higher education studies. This also meant that primary school teaching attracted graduates of a bachelor degree in any other field with low numbers of recruitment. University departments of primary education as all other university departments accept also a limited number of mature students (5-10% of the total student number) after succession in written exams conducted internally in each department. Therefore, graduates of bachelor degrees are entitled to sit internal exams at the university departments of primary education and succeed in entering to study for a BA in Education.Based on the above the objective of this study lies in providing new insights in teacher education programmes in Greece and give a framework of how mature student teachers cope with the multiple demands around them and become effective classroom teachers.The research questions of the study are as followsWhat is the profile of those mature student teachers in the Greek university departments of primary education?Why do those graduates of bachelor degrees decide to study primary education and become primary school teachers? What is the family and/or any other support they may have in order to meet study expectations and demands? How do they cope with the study demands?What are their expectations from the university departments of primary education?Attempting to answer these questions What are the implications for initial teacher education in general, how mature students have the potential to become effective classroom teachers and how could they contribute to a high standard of academic studies provided by university departments of primary education? Even though this is a topic which has been examined in different educational systems, nevertheless, it has not been investigated in the Greek context and will provide insights for educators in initial teacher education concerning mature student teachers some of whom bring rich experiences as students and adults. The theoretical framework of this study lies in adult learning and initial teacher education.Qualitative paradigm. Biographical in-depth interviews in the form of 'structured conversation', self-records of achievement and observations during mature student teachers' teaching practice. Two types of mature student teachers are present in initial teacher education in Greece: a) the ones who are seeking a better and more secure professional life compared to other professions (this category includes the majority of the mature student teachers) and b) the ones who are seeking their own professional development being already in the teaching profession (this category includes the minority of the mature student teachers). Their coping strategies to study demands include: a) collaboration mainly amongst them, b) use of previous study skills from their first degree or of any work experience, c) extended hours of study and work, sacrifying leisure compared to their 'novice' coursemates, as most of them are also full-time or part-time working. Moreover, gender issues do not seem to make cry voices in the present study as male and female mature student teachers undergo similar experiences, struggles and successes.Some of the references used in this paper are the followingBritton, C. & Baxter, A. (1999) "Becoming a Mature Student: gendered narratives of the self" in Gender and Education, 11(2), 179-193.Duncan, D.M. (1999) Becoming a Primary School Teacher: a study of mature women, Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books. Duncan, D.M. (2000) "The Socialisation of Mature Women Student Teachers: the importance of ethnographic accounts to educational research" in Teaching in Higher Education, 5(4), 459-474Edwards, R. (1993) Mature Student Women: separating or connceting family and education, London: Taylor & Francis. Egerton, M. (2001) "Mature Graduates II: occupational attainment and the effects of social class" in Oxford Review of Education, 27(2), 271-286. Griffiths, V. (2002) "Crossing boundaries: the experiencees of mature student mothers in initial teacher education" in International Journal of Inclusive Education, 6(3), 267-285. Hammond, M. (2002) "Why Teach? A case study investigating the decision to train to teach ICT" in Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, 28(2), 135-148. Hollis, L. & Houston, W. (1991) "Recruiting mature adults as teachers" in Teacher Education and Practice, 6(2), 29-36. Johnston, J., Mckeown, E. & Mcewen, A. (1999) "Choosing Primary Teaching as a Career: the perspectives of males and females in training" in Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, 25(1), 55-64. Karach, A. (1992) "The politics of dislocation: some mature undergraduate women's experiencees of higher education" in Women's Studies Educational Forum, 15(2), 309-317. Klausewitz, S.K. (2005) How prior life experiences influence teaching: Multiple case studies of mature-age elementary student teachers, Unpublished EdD Thesis, Amherst: University of Massachusetts, p. 256. Moyo-Robbins, M. (1999) The experiencees and perceptions of mature student teachers: a study with particular reference to gender and ethnicity. Unpublished PhD Thesis, uce Quintrell, M. & Maguire, M. (2000) "Older and Wiser or Just at the End of the Line? The perceptions of Mature Trainee Teachers" in Westminster Studies of Education, 23, 19-30. Priyadharshini, E. & Robinson-Pant, A. (2003) "The Attractions of Teaching: an investigation into why people change careers to teach" in Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, 29(2), 95-112.Roberts, J. (2003) Personal and Professional Identity Re-Construction of Young Mature Student-Teachers in the Context of a PGCE Course, Unpublished PhD Thesis, England: University of Reading. Reay, D., Ball, S. & David, M. (2002) "'It's Taking Me a Long Time but I'll Get There in the End': mature students on access courses and higher education choice" in British Educational Research Journal, 28(1), 5-19. Sewell, P. (2000) "Mature Students in Part-time Higher Education - Perceptions of Skills" in Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 37(4), 304-313. Younger, M., Brindley, S., Pedder, D., Hagger, H. (2004) "Starting points: student teachers' reasons for becoming teachers and their preconceptions of what this will mean" in European Journal of Teacher Education, 27(3), 245-264.
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