State of the literature
• Critics of teacher education programmes suggest
there is a mismatch between what the student
teachers have learnt and can apply in the
classroom.
• Conversely, there is evidence that supports the
view that new teachers have a positive impact on
their students’ learning when student teachers
implement the practices they have learnt during
initial teacher education (ITE) programmes.
• It is suggested that ITE programmes need to teach
subject matter knowledge, general pedagogical
theory, and pedagogical content knowledge.
Contribution of this paper to the literature
• This study takes the perspective that teacher
confidence and knowledge influence classroom
practice.
• We undertook to gauge the effectiveness of a
teacher education course that focused on subject
matter knowledge and pedagogical content
knowledge.
• We investigated how teacher graduates perceived
themselves as teachers of science in the first two
years of their secondary teaching.
• All participants reported being well prepared by
their pre-service science course.