Metaphor as a tool for analyzing beliefs (in terms of teacher's sense of his/her work)

Abstract

The present review contains the description of foreign studies concerning teachers' beliefs of their professional experience, the possibility to reflect on these beliefs and to modify them. Metaphor is regarded to be the constructs under which people organize their ideas and beliefs so it is the main object of analysis in the majority of studies. Metaphor analysis makes it possible to disclose interrelations between the roles of a teacher and a student and the teacher's idea of an ultimate goal of teaching in general. Metaphors are the «input points» in the history of teachers' beliefs. They disclose what these beliefs originate from, who influences them and what they result in. Metaphors can be effective tools in elaboration of prevention programs aimed at prophylaxis of professional burnout and providing teachers' self-actualization.

Keywords

• teachers' beliefs
• making sense of experience
• prevention of professional burnout
• teachers' metaphors
• educational metaphors