The Q-sort Technique Used in Identifying the Level of Methodological Skills of the Prospective Teachers

AbstractThe paper presents an empirical study in which the Q sort technique is used to check the validity of the results obtained from the application of a questionnaire survey used as a tool in a broader research on initial training for the teaching career. The purpose of using the Q sort technique was to identify the subjects’ perspective on the methodological skills involved in conducting the pedagogical practice stages by the prospective teachers.The results of the questionnaire are confirmed by the results obtained by the Q-sort technique. Following the interpretation of these results, we noted that the subjects ranked in a somewhat predictable manner the dimensions of the Q-sort technique, “feeling” that they could handle better the classroom management, the roles they can undertake in the process of instruction and the personal qualities a teacher requires. They distance themselves in a large degree from the training design category, probably considering it a time consuming and difficult task.These results show us that there is a relation between the aspects assessed by questionnaire and those assessed by the Q-sort technique, with the Q-sort technique offering a finer investigation of the students’ perception regarding the degree of mastery of the necessary methodological skills for an effective teaching project