The main aim of this research is to examine basic features of teacher students’ professional identity at different points of their initial professional education. The starting assumption of this analysis is that teacher professional identity is largely dependent upon the teacher beliefs about their teacher and student role as well as their conception about the nature of learning and teaching. These ideas or images strongly determine the way teachers teach and how they support student learning (Beijaard et all., 2004). Recent educational research points out that teaching is not merely a cognitive or technical procedure but a complex, personal, social, often elusive, set of embedded processes and practices that concern the whole person (Olsen, 2008). Feiman-Nemser (2008) describes the complexity of teacher role by assuming  that there are four fundamental aspects in teacher’s learning: learning to think, know, feel and act as teachers. The first one “learning to think as teachers implies a critical examination of one’s beliefs and the development of pedagogical thinking”. The second one “learning to know as teachers concerns the several aspects of knowledge required - including knowledge generated by one’s own practices”. The third one “learning to feel as teachers is linked with professional identity: intellectual and emotional aspects”, and includes attitudes, expectations. The forth one “learning to act as teachers entails integrating thoughts, knowledge and dispositions in practices that are informed by consistent principles” .

Recent research findings in the field of teacher education show that effectiveness of future teachers is not exclusively dependent upon acquisition of specific teaching skills but also upon early professional socialisation during initial education. Various authors have recognised that the key tasks of early professional socialisation during initial education are development of awareness of teacher role complexity and gradual transformation of intuitive beliefs about learning and teaching into professional beliefs and values based in educational sciences/concepts. Pajares (1992) pointed out that presumptions about teaching and learning are formed very early in student’s life as results of educational experiences and socialisation processes in family and school. Raths (2001) also argues that the beliefs which student brings with him/her to the higher education context can hinder the development of the professional teacher identity during initial teacher education. Teacher student is not inclined to change these beliefs spontaneously because of their emotionality and rootedness in personal early experiences. Such beliefs are often resilient to change during teacher education process in spite of the rational argumentation and scientific evidence which might contradict them.

Korthagen (2004) assumes that beliefs about learning and teaching guide teacher’s actions more strongly than acquired knowledge and teaching skills in initial education. Teacher’s perceptions of their own professional role affect their self-efficacy as well as their ability and willingness to cope with professional challenges and to implement innovations in their own teaching practice (Beijaard et all., 2000). If the students’ beliefs are overlooked by teacher educators during initial education they might continue to influence the shaping of prospective teachers' professional identity and later on their behaviour in the classrooms. It is important for teacher educators to monitor evolution of students' beliefs about learning and teaching during their progress through study program in order to plan effective approaches to enhancing their change from pre-professional to professional perspective.

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