Å henge teorien på praksisknaggen

This master thesis focuses on students at the kindergarten teacher program, and their experience of practice as part of the study. I have completed a qualitative study, where nine students in their final year at the kindergarten teacher study have been interviewed. One of the goals for the reform of the study in 2013 was to make the study more oriented towards the profession, and practice should be included as an integral part of the teaching. The students in this master thesis find that practice is a particularly important part of the study. During the practical periods, they get real life experience in kindergarten, and this is where the whole of the study is linked together. While the students describe the importance of the practical periods, they tell about the experience of how theory helps in understanding the practice. They are not critical that the theory does not "fit" in practice, they find that the theory helps to give a new look at practice. The theory becomes like a "spectacle for practice". However, in the encounter with practice teachers, they experience that he or she does not seem keen to associate actions with theory. Practice teachers' knowledge is largely evident through action. The study also shows that it varies how practice is integrated into teaching at the university college. When practice is not integrated into the teaching, the students experience it as problematic, in the sense that they find it easier to understand the theoretical content if the teachers help to link the teaching to practical examples. When it comes to sharing and reflecting on their own experiences in the classroom, the students, as they approached the completed study, find that this was something that was done less often. The findings in this study may indicate that reflecting in common is something that is not used to a large extent. If one sees this in light of how the students experience the teaching at the university college, it may seem that the absence of "thinking loudly", both at the university college and at the kindergarten, reinforces each other. And maybe both the study and the profession can benefit from being aware of this