Teacher attrition is a widespread phenomenon in many European countries today. One of the contributing factors to teachers choosing to leave the profession is a mismatch between expectations, i.e. unrealistic or idealized perceptions of teaching, and reality (Chambers, Coles and Roper, 2002; Roness, 2010). A question that comes to mind is how relevant the teacher education studies are in terms of preparing students for this diverse reality? An important aspect when it comes to determining the success of a teacher education programme is whether it manages to address and meet the students’ expectations as well as their current and future needs as both students and teachers. Teacher education also needs to be sensitive to the fact that the process of becoming a teacher is, in many ways, an individual process, as it is influenced by e.g. previous educational experiences (as learners and/or teachers), personality, beliefs about the teacher’s work as well as beliefs about teaching and learning.

The overall aim of my study is to deepen the understanding of the professional development process from student teacher to newly qualified teacher. I will look at the process from the learners’ (i.e. the teachers’) point of view. More specifically I aim to describe how the teachers experience and view the teaching profession at different phases of their early career and how these views and experiences differ over time.  The aims materialize into the following research questions (RQ):

1)      How do the teachers describe the teacher’s work? (views)

2)      What are the teachers’ concerns? ( experiences)

3)      What kind of differences can be discerned between the

       different phases? (professional development)

The theoretical frame consists of two different but intertwined strands, i.e. theories of teacher cognition (Borg, 2006) and theories of professional development and teacher learning (e.g. Day 1999, 2004; Eraut, 1994; Loughran, 2006; Richards, 2008, 2010).

Teacher cognition, in this case what the teachers think, understand, know and believe about the teacher’s work, influence how and what teachers learn about teaching and being a teacher. Theories of teacher cognition are thus especially relevant when it comes to connecting and analyzing the result of RQs 1 and 3. Furthermore, since teacher learning is a very complex process influenced by many different factors there are also many different ways of approaching and analyzing the phenomenon. Different theories of teacher learning thus provide a useful framework for organizing and reflecting on the findings.

 The presentation will give an overview of the study but the main focus will be on RQ2, i.e. the teachers’ concerns during different phases.

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