The paper consists of two parts. In the first part we will present a conceptual framework for a curriculum in preservice teacher education. The second part is empirical and we analyze how well the model fits with the data collected from secondary student teachers.  Exact research questions are presented at the end of this section.

Teacher education is traditionally based on three cornerstones, namely subject matter knowledge, educational theory and practice. In Finland, preservice secondary teacher education, consists of subject studies and pedagogical studies at the university. Students preparing for teacher profession study their major subject(s) for the first three years of their candidate and master level studies at the subject departments. To make the pedagogical studies at the faculty of education the student has to be accepted in an aptitude test.

Pedagogical studies consist of two parts. Theoretical studies consist of courses dealing with issues related, for instance, to society and school, individual development and learning, and curriculum and instruction. Teacher practice is subject specific and it is typically done in a practice school.

Shulman’s (1987) theorizing of the pedagogical content knowledge is important in analyzing the student teacher learning in different domain areas. It contains content knowledge, knowledge of educational goals and purposes (curriculum), and knowledge of teaching methods and didactics. What the lessons in the actual practice school situations are, depend on several contextual, situational and autobiographical factors (Ropo 2004, Connelly & al. 1997; Meijer & al. 1999, Sotto 1994, Grossman, 1995). Also those kinds of contextual and autobiographical issues are important in the students’ actual positioning in the practice teaching situations.

We apply a three-stage model in describing the student learning processes during the teacher education. This model is our curriculum model for the teacher education program. On the first level of the model are the autobiographical and individual identity development processes. The student has to develop a personal teacher identity, applicable knowledge and skills to teach and reflect (cf. Schön 1988). Second level describes social processes of becoming a member of the profession and teacher community (see e.g. Ropo 2004). Third level describes learning processes at the cultural and contextual level. It is necessary to understand why education is needed and schools exist. Enhancing the construction of a ‘global teacher identity’ is a process this curriculum level aims at.

We apply this curriculum model into the analyses of empirical data of student narratives and observations of teacher practice. The studied empirical questions were the following:

1)                  What kind of autobiographical level experiences, beliefs, meanings and positionings can be found in student teacher narratives,

2)                   What kind of social level experiences, beliefs, meanings and positionings can be found in student narratives, and

3)                  What kind of cultural level experiences, beliefs, meanings and positionings can be found in student narratives,

Positioning is understood in this paper as a discursive concept. It is often compared to a person’s role in a situation, but is typically considered more dynamic than a role (see Van Langenhove & Harré 1999).

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