Beliefs and motivation to teaching in pre-service teachers A reasearch within the students of the pre-service university degree course for pre-school and primary school teaching in the University of Bologna

AbstractThis survey is part in the research field that highlights the strong links between the renewal of schools and both pre-service and in-service teacher training. Italian research works show how teachers constantly try to maintain a balance between the reproduction of traditional models and innovation in implementing quality in schools. The international debate on Teacher Change points to two macro-variables that appear to be very important in promoting innovation in teaching practices: the individual path of each teacher and the organizational context of the school. This research aims to analyze the motivations for teaching and the beliefs on “good teachers” held by the students attending the pre-service University Degree Programme for Pre-school and Primary School Teaching at the University of Bologna, in order to understand the attitude of the new generation of teachers and obtain useful information for orienting their curriculum. In this research work, it has been hypothesized that motivations and beliefs may be correlated to other variables concerning previous personal and training paths. The survey is a descriptive research work involving a broad sample of students. A questionnaire was used, containing some previously validated attitude scales and many structured items on personal data and the characteristics of each student's training experiences. The survey was implemented in continuity with other previous research, making it possible to compare different groups of graduates who are currently working as teachers (novice teachers).© 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd