Teachers’ perception of their initial preparation in teaching senior high school physics

Abstract

This study investigated New Zealand (NZ) physics teachers’ and physics educators’ views about their Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Specifically, the study explored how well the ITE prepared physics teachers for classroom practice and to become effective teachers. The study employed mixed methods to answer the questions that were formulated to guide the study. The perspectives of the physics teacher educators and physics teachers nationally indicated that the teachers considered themselves not well-prepared in some content areas including electronics, modern physics, and atomic and nuclear physics. A significant difference in perspective also existed between teachers who were educated in NZ and those gaining initial teaching qualifications from overseas. The findings from the study suggested that the non-education degree which provided the teachers most of their content knowledge was perhaps inadequate for a teaching career. The implications for ITE of physics teachers are discussed in the paper.