Discussion Paper 22. Primary Teacher Trainees in Trinidad and Tobago: Characteristics, Images, Experiences and Expectations

Abstract

This paper considers the characteristics, images, experiences and expectations of primary teacher trainees in Trinidad and Tobago. It draws on data collected from a survey of one cohort of trainees in training, and qualitative interviews with a balanced sample selected from that group. It notes from a review of research in this field that trainees' prior knowledge is often ignored by trainers despite the fact that it can have a significant impact on perspectives on teaching. Certain key metaphors for making sense of teaching emerged. They were: \'teachers as responsible for everything\', \'teaching as one's life\', \'teaching as caring\', and \'teachers as experts\'. The origins and understandings of these metaphors are then explored in depth in the paper. In the conclusion, the implications of these findings are considered in relation to the teacher education curriculum and the chief recommendation is that there is a need to engage more with views of teaching that trainees bring to training and perhaps a need to restructure teacher education to give it more of a developmental focus by giving more attention to in-service once trainees begin teaching