Principals’ image of newly graduated teachers

This project is a collaboration between Malmö University, Kristianstad University and Lund University. The project group consists of researchers who represent the teacher education programmes at the involved higher education institutions.

The purpose of this project is to gain a better understanding of how well teacher education programmes prepare future teachers for their upcoming professional tasks. Based on principals’ image of newly graduated teachers, the project examines the possible gap between the content of teacher education and the profession's actual competence requirements.

The project's study design is based on the application of Q-methodology, which intends to provide an in-depth picture of a group of informants' views of a specific topic through both quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and analysis. In this project’s case, a diverse group of about 30 principals in compulsory school (K – 9), will first take a stand on the perceived competencies of newly graduated teachers, by sorting a number of statements. Those statements stem from previous research, popular science, policy documents and statements obtained from a pilot study. In a second step, more qualitative data will be added through individual or focus groups interviews. At a later stage, new data stemming from informants representing preschool and upper secondary school will provide an even more comprehensive picture of principals' image on the competence of newly graduated teachers.

The results from the project are expected to contribute to the understanding of the requirements and expectations placed on teachers in practice, and in the long run for the design of teacher education at each higher education institution.