Institutional Capital and the Questions of the Professionalization Among TE Students

Author(s):

Mihály Fónai(presenting / submitting)Veronika Bocsi(presenting)Agnes Engler Gabriella Pusztai

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 08 A, Teaching, Learning and Assessment in Higher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-04

09:00-10:30

Room:

B020 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Christine Teelken

Contribution

In our presentation we intend to chart the social and institutional background of students studying to be teachers in the border region of the European Higher Educational Area. This is a higher educational region with international attraction in Eastern part of Hungary and the Western part of Romania and Ukraine. Higher social inequalities than the EU average causes significant regional disparities in participation rates across social groups in the investigated region: students from the lower strata choose the nearer institutions, and the attraction of farther institutions effect mainly students from higher and upper-middle strata. This is because in most families the parents of students’ had no experience with HE and students have difficulties combatting the problems of attendance and persistence. We pointed out that the structure of the organization and the behavior of the faculty still work as the old elite education (Pusztai 2011). We also wish to survey the image of the teaching profession that under- and postgraduate students in teaching subjects have. It is necessary to research these issues as the number of students who apply to teacher training institutions has diminished considerably over the past few years. In our study we point out that there is a well-defined group of students who are committed to the teaching profession despite the rather low level of social appreciation of the job. However, they tend to be integrated into the world of their respective institution of higher education to a lesser degree than other students and they often have a fragmented social capital, and these factors may adversely affect their educational career (Bocsi – Fényes 2012, Fónai 2012, Pusztai 2012, Pusztai – Fónai 2012, Engler 2013).

Research of the institutional contribution to the progress of students has made it clear that it is not primarily the structural and infrastructural conditions of an institution of higher education that effectively support the success of a student. Instead, it is the interactional force field offered by the institution that backs up the progress of the students. The structural- infrastructural elements proved to be mere variables in relaying the professional competences to students (Pascarella & Terenzini 2005). When the success of students is explained, the related special literature focuses on the differences in the cultural and economic resources of the students concerned, and relatively little attention is paid to the network of interpersonal connections and cooperation, in the framework of which the objectives of the students and their images of the profession are analyzed. Tinto (1993) believes that the student’s integration in the society of institution is a major predictor of the success of the individual. As a result of our former research findings, we give priority to the effects of the informal ties (Pusztai 2009, 2011). While in Tinto’s interaction model it is the network of interpersonal links that forge students into a community, in Coleman’s functional community concept shared values accomplish the same and maintain integration.

The theories above claim nothing less than that social integration at the institution may support the commitment of students to their goals and their perseverance in their selection of a career. The combination of professionalization and integration as we see it may afford a new potential approach. In this paper we only draw up the outline of the new approach. One of the most important statements that we make is that the image of the profession of students learning to be teachers is shaped by the process of deprofessionalization clearly detectable in the communities of students (Toren 1975, Oppenheimer 1973).

Method

Our analysis is based upon three data bases and we used the empirical findings of the data collection we carried out by circulating inventories among students in postgraduate courses during the three years following the restructuring of tertiary training. We distributed the inventories among the students of Hungarian colleges and universities in the border regions of three countries (Hungary, Romania and the Ukraine). We collected data among postgraduates (studying for a master’s degree) in 2010, then among both undergraduate and graduate students in the spring of 2012. In the first year we had 602 respondents, in the second year their number was 1,471. Less than twenty percent of the latter studied for a master’s degree. Data collection was done with a stratified cluster sampling. In order to make the data thus obtained representative of the faculties, a weighting was calculated. The third data base is that of DETEP (the Talent Care Program of the University of Debrecen). The program was launched in 2000 with the purpose of supporting talented students through tutorial assistance, scholarship and other professional means. Before 2009, students were able to enter the program through three steps. First, the faculty recommended the upper twenty percent of the students, according to their study results. At stage two, the students completed a motivation questionnaire and a psychological test. The faculties selected the students for stage three according to the results of the motivational and psychological tests (Balogh & Fónai 2003, Márton et al. 2006). 3,183 participated in the tests of stage two, and out of them 304 were studying to be teachers. In our presentation we demonstrate the results of these 304 students.

Expected Outcomes

In our presentation we intended to survey the specific ideas and images that students in teacher education system have concerning social status, institutional integration and profession. We found that in teacher education women outnumber men, and their overall social status is lowerthan that of other students. Since their cultural background is considerably different from the background of students pursuing other careers, we had assumed that they were detached from the inter- and intragenerational institutional networks. Our hypothesis has only partially been justified, because students at the different levels of teacher education possess an outstandingly rich network of intergenerational connections, but their need for relationships with peers on campus remain largely unsatisfied. What is more, their needs for memberships in various specific groups and communities are also met only in part, so they position themselves at a distance from their fellow students. As for the macro-social situation of the future students, outside the campus, these days their situation is strongly characterized by the processes of deprofessionalization and the loss of social status. Our findings clearly indicate that our students are fully aware of the position of their chosen profession It is obviously positive, as they do not have any illusions; they do not have any false ideas about the reality surrounding them. It has, however, some negative dimensions as well; students do not have any ideals and attractive images of the profession that would support their career orientation in the period of their studies. This is a great challenge for the entire system of teacher education. It is to be noted that the root of the problem consists not in the fact that students have ambivalent and incongruent ideas about the profession, but rather in the situation of the profession itself; in lowering social status and in many ways, in semi-professional characteristics.

References

Balogh László – Fónai Mihály (2003): Tehetséggondozási formák a Debreceni Egyetemen. Magyar Felsőoktatás 13: (4-5-6) 13-15. Bocsi, Veronika – Fényes, Hajnalka: Values and the Motivations of Higher Education Students’ Volunteering in a Borderland Central Eastern European Region. In: Pusztai, Gabriella – Hatos, Adrian – Ceglédi, Tímea (eds): Third Mission of Higher Education in a Cross-Border Region. Debrecen: Center for Higher Education Research and Development – Hungary University of Debrecen, pp. 160-178. Engler, Ágnes (2013): Career Path and Private Life in the Context of Lifelong Learning. In: Gergely Angyalosi-Ákos Münnich-Gabriella Pusztai (eds.): Interdisciplinary Research in Humanities. Nitra, Constantine the Phiosopher University in Nitra, Faculty of Central European Studies, 2013. pp. 119-133. Fónai, Mihály (2012): The Relationship Between Socio-economic Status and Educational Progress. In: Kozma, Tamás – Bernáth, Krisztina (ed): Higher Education in the Romania – Hungary Cross-Border Area. Oradea - Debrecen: Partium Press–CHERD, pp. 13-32. Jancsák Csaba (2012a): A tanárképzésben részt vevő hallgatók formálódó világa. In: Ercsei K Márton Sándor – Mező Ferenc – Balogh László – Fónai Mihály (2006): A Debreceni Egyetem Tehetséggondozó Programja és beválogatási szempontjai. In: Balogh László – Mező Ferenc – Tóth László (szerk.): A Debreceni Egyetem Tehetséggondozó Programjának II. Konferenciája. Tanulmányok. Debrecen: Debreceni Egyetem. pp. 7-12. Oppenheimer, Martin (1973): The Proletarianization of the Professional In: Halmos, P. (ed.): Professionalization and Social Change. Sociological Review Monograph, 20., University of Keele (p.213–217.) Pascarella, Ernest T. – Terenzini, Patrick T. (2005): How College Affects Students. A Third decade of research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Pusztai Gabriella (2009): A társadalmi tőke és az iskola. Budapest: Új Mandátum Pusztai Gabriella (2011): Láthatatlan kéztől a baráti kezekig. Hallgatói értelmező közösségek a felsőoktatásban. Budapest: Új Mandátum Könyvkiadó Pusztai Gabriella (2012): „Befogad és kitaszít…”? A tanárszakos és más pedagógusjelölt hallgatók felsőoktatási integrációjának sajátosságai és problémái. In: Pusztai G. – Fenyő I. – Engler Á. (szerk.): A tanárok tanárának lenni… Debrecen: CHERD-Hungary pp. 88-112. Pusztai, Gabriella – Fónai, Mihály (2012): Assymetric Students’ Relations and Deprofessionalization. The Case of Teacher Training. In: Pusztai, Gabriella – Hatos, Adrian – Ceglédi, Tímea (eds): Third Mission of Higher Education in a Cross-Border Region. Debrecen: Center for Higher Education Research and Development – Hungary University of Debrecen, pp. 114-133. Tinto, Vincent (1993): Leaving college. Rethinking the Causes ad Cures of Student Attrition. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago-London. Toren, N. (1972): Social Work: the Case of a Semi–Profession. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications Inc.

Author Information

Mihály Fónai (presenting / submitting)

University of Debrecen, Faculty of Law; Center for Higher Education Research and Development - Hungary

Debrecen

Veronika Bocsi (presenting)

University of Debrecen

Faculty of Child and Adult Education Department of Institutional Management and Leadership

Mikepércs

Agnes Engler

Center for Higher Education Research and Development - Hungary, University of Debrecen

Debrecen

Gabriella Pusztai

University of Debrecen; Center for Higher Education Research and Development - Hungary

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