Challenges in the Process of Training Citizen Educators: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

Undergraduate education endeavors to impart fundamental proficiencies; nevertheless, it falls short of adequately fulfilling the requisites for adept personnel. Conversely, graduate education strives to cultivate the aptitude for generating scholarly knowledge and executing research. The governmental authorities aspire to escalate the enrollment of educators pursuing advanced degrees and deploy varied incentives to this end. Nevertheless, numerous obstacles manifest in the course of advanced education. Given the pivotal role of graduate education in augmenting teacher competencies and potentially influencing the overall educational caliber, it is imperative to recognize and redress these challenges. This investigation aims to comprehensively scrutinize the predicaments and origins thereof encountered within the realm of graduate education. Accordingly, the research employs a case study design, a qualitative research methodology. A cohort of twelve educators engaged in advanced studies within the domain of social studies partook in the study. Data were gathered via semi-structured interviews and subjected to content analysis. As a result of the data analysis, five main themes emerged, including factors influencing success, sources of problems, problems, suggestions, and purposes of pursuing graduate education. It was revealed that participants engaged in graduate education primarily to pursue an academic career and personal development, and their success throughout the process was primarily influenced by supervisors, faculty members, and financial and personal challenges. The problems faced by participants mainly originated from the curriculum, supervisors, and faculty members. The suggested remedies forwarded by the participants constituted a distinct theme.