Trainee teachers' self-perceptions about their teaching role and job performance

Abstract

Self-perceptions about teaching abilities are an important factor to examine the way in which academic processes take place at university level. In this context, the objective of this research was to analyze trainee-teachers' perceptions, in the last year of their degree, about their training process and the acquisition of strategies to face labor insertion. The research corresponds to a descriptive study, based on a qualitative approach. The sample was intentional non-probabilistic, consisting of 37 Chilean pedagogy students. Information was collected through a questionnaire prepared on a digital platform. In correspondence with the thematic content of the open answers, the categories of academic training, training for working life and teaching role were analyzed. The main results focus on the strengths identified by the student-teachers about themselves: didactic and disciplinary aspects, communicative skills, pedagogical vocation, and integral formation. Little practical experience and classroom management have been identified as some of the weaknesses. Although positive feelings such as trust and commitment or the development of strategies stand out, the findings reveal self-perceptions with a negative value, such fears and concerns related to effective problem-solving skills, employability, job insertion meeting others' expectations their teaching role.