Forum Oświatowe (Dec 2015)
The Process of Preparing for The Job of an Early Education Teacher as Perceived by Students of the University of Warmia and Mazury In Olsztyn
Abstract
This paper addresses the issue of preparing students for the job of early education teacher. The first part focuses both on the teacher training as carried out in various European countries according to the Eurydice report prepared for the European Commission in 2013, and on the notion, presented by Sylvia Yee Fan Tang, of the dynamics of students’ turning to teachers. The second part demonstrates the author’s own research. The participants were students of the Social Science Faculty at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. The interpretation of the results is informed by Robert Kwaśnica’s two rationalities theory. The results demonstrate both the students’ attitude of entitlement and their adaptive thinking (rationality) as far as the preparing for the job is concerned. On the other hand, the results also show the participants’ emancipation rationality, which manifests itself in their constructive, though not thoroughly supported, suggestions pertaining to changes in education.