Teacher Students’ School Memories as a Part of the Development of Their Professional Identity

Abstract

Finnish teacher education is highly esteemed since Finnish pupils’ success in international PISA comparisons and teacher education is very popular among university applicants. Childhood school experiences are part of the development of a teacher’s identity. In this research, the connection between the school memories and the development of teacher students’ professional identity is studied in the light of teacher students’ memories and narratives. The research was a qualitative research where teacher students were interviewed through theme interview with a narrative approach. The research questions set to this study were: (1) How are teacher students’ school memories connected to the development of professional identity? (2) How are their school memories exploited in teacher education? According to the results, little time is devoted to analyzing teacher students’ school memories. Teacher education does not highlight school memories and the significance of teacher students’ former teachers and yet, these issues occupy teacher students mind. Teacher education should offer a place where teacher students could reflect their experiences and understand their developing teacher identity.