The paper we present is aimed at analyzing the transition from High School graduates towards responsible professionals in those who chose to become teachers for Preschool and Primary Education level. The theoretical framework of the paper includes an overview on the international research related with teachers` didactic beliefs[i]. Then, we synthesize information from the European research on Preschool and Primary School Pedagogy. The consulted sources offer us issues about the European High European Higher Education as seen through Bologna process[ii] in Finland[iii], France[iv], Romania and other South Eastern European countries[v]. Our comparative overview continues with the second section of the paper by presenting the initial Teacher Training process for Preschool and Primary school teachers in Romania. We focus on the expected professional and transversal skills as they are defined in the National Higher Education Registry (RNCIS)[vi] and we also analyze the theoretical and practical approaches as they are designed for various teacher training programs in Romanian universities. We pay particular attention to how the necessary knowledge and specific skills of “Man and Society” curricular domain are addressed to the future teachers for kindergarten and for the first grades. We do like this, as we consider “Man and Society” curricular domain as being a case study in the context of this paper and particularly for the research which ends the paper. The third sequence of the paper represents a brief research conducted on a sample of students preparing to become teachers for preschool and primary education in Romania. We organize the research around the main question whether the initial teaching beliefs and convictions which have motivated the students` choice of university study-program are still maintaining or are changing during the years of study. Some research objectives aim to identify the initial teaching beliefs of the subjects who become students in Preschool and Primary School Pedagogy, to assess the students` initial knowledge and specific skill level in “Man and Society” curricular area, and to assess and self-assess the knowledge progress in the field and the teaching competence level proved during the student practice activities.

[i]Heather Davis, Carey Andrejewski, Teacher Beliefs, 23 dec 2009, available at http://www.education.com/reference/article/teacher-beliefs/. Marla Johnson, Janice L. Hall, Impact of One Science Teacher`s Beliefs on his instructional Practice, in “ Journal of Education and Human Development”, vol 1, Issue 1, 2007, available at http://www.scientificjournals.org/journals2007/j_of_edu.htm. Fakhri R. Khader, Teachers` Pedagogical Beliefs and Actual Classroom Practices in Social Studies Instruction, in “ American International Journal of Contemporary Research”, vol 2, No 1, January 2012, available at https://www.uop.edu.jo/download/Research/members/111_2027_fakh.pdf [ii] Ruth Keeling, The Bologna Process and the Lisbon Research Agenda: the European Commission`s expanding role in higher education discourse, in “ European Journal of Education”, vol 41, No 2, 2006 available at http://www.utwente.nl/bms/cheps/summer_school/Literature/Keeling%20EJE.pdf. [iii] Pasi Sahlberg, The Secret to Finland`s Success: Educating Teachers, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education- Research Brief, sept. 2010, available at https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/secret-finland%E2%80%99s-success-educating-teachers.pdf. [iv] Taguma Miho, Litijens Ineke, Makowiecki Kelly, Quality Matters in Early Childhood Education and Care Quality Matters in Finland, OECD, 2012, available at https://books.google.ro/books?id=PI3KsAlMihQC&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=Training+the+Preschool+and+Primary+school+teachers. [v] Constantin Petrovici, Gianina-Ana Masari, Aligning the Academic teacher Training Curriculum to the Requirements of RNCIS, in ”Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences”, vol 142, Aug. 2014, available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814045352. Per-Olof Erixon, Gun-Marie Frånberg &Daniel Kallos, Postgraduates Studieas and Research in Teacher Education within the European Union, European Network on Teacher Education Policies. Proceedings of the Conference on the Role of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies and research in Teacher Education reform Policies in the European Union, Umeå, Sweden, June 10-11, 2001, available at http://entep.unibuc.eu/documents/publications/RoleOfStudies/2001UmeaConference.pdf. [vi] Pedagogia Învățământului Preșcolar și Primar (The Preschool and Primary School Pedagogy) in National Higher Education Registry, available at http://www.rncis.ro/portal/page?_pageid=117,1&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL.