2. “STUDENT VOICE” AS TOPIC
4. EXPECTATIONS AND MOTIVATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE TRAINING
PROGRAMME IN EDUCATION
4.1. The goal of the inquiry
The necessities, expectations and non-professional convictions of the students are starting points for the teachers, they can become part of the content of the training, and can defi ne the new learning environment that higher education represents. Expectation inquiries are processes applied primarily in the fi eld of quality assurance, with the goal of revealing the implicit or explicit needs of partners and assuring the fulfi lment of these, and this way keeping partners and increasing their contentedness. Such inquiries typically target employers in higher education. So it is necessary to clarify what functions the expectations and students’ prior image of the professional career connected to the training programme can have in the accredited curricular framework of higher education. Interpreting the BaBe research as action research in itself justifi es the identifi cation and diagnosis of the starting point of the action. Also the increasing concentration on learning results that appear more and more signifi cantly in higher education, can only start with the identifi cation the necessities and expectations present in the learning process. However, in the course of the action research the investigation of entering students was motivated rather by the fact that we wanted to gain information on that image of professional career and career motivation, the conscious shaping of which is as much the task of a training, as enriching scientifi c knowledge, or developing professional competences.
Based on all these, the goal of the investigation was to reveal:
• Based on what considerations do students choose the training programme in Education? Can we speak of a real or a constrained choice?
• How defi ned is their image of the professional career, and what prior experience shaped their attachment to Education?
• To what extent is the structure of their expectations in connection with the chosen training programme motivated by personal, social, intellectual or specifi cally pedagogical features?
The fi rst-year students of the bachelor training programme in Education were surveyed by questionnaires in autumn 2006 and spring 2007. The questioned 27 students applied for the daytime course, 3 of them had two majors. Proportions may be important as the high ratio of those who selected Education as their exclusive major obviously increases the importance of
prior expectations in connection with the training programme. 11 students applied in the year of graduating from secondary school (in 2007), 14 of them passed their school leaving matura examination within the preceding 5 years and 1 student left secondary school more than 5 years before that. One answer was non-interpretable.
Out of the 27 students only 2 indicated Education exclusively on their application form, 6 students chose one of the humanities, 8 students chose Andragogy and 6 students chose Psychology as their second major besides applying for Education. As we do not know the priorities of their university applications, we cannot identify the primary or secondary attractiveness of Education, but based on personal remarks it is possible that there were students who primarily intended to learn Psychology (which has been a characteristic motivation of students entering the Education training programme for years).
4.2. The motives of selecting the training programme
We examined the motives in connection with selecting a training programme by open and closed ended questions in the questionnaire. We asked students to end the following sentences “I applied for the Education training programme because...” and “I hope that completing this major will help me in...” Additionally, we investigated their agreement with possible motives by applying an estimation scale.
As the Figure 2 indicates the basic motive for applying is being interested, which appears in 63% of the answers. In reality, the mentioning with the largest ratio, almost a third of the answers of the students (30% of the whole sample), is diffi cult to interpret, as in these answers being interested appears without mentioning any concrete subject, i.e. a fi eld of Education. In the answers that determine the subject of interest: children, becoming adult and other humanities are mentioned. One quarter of the students (26%) would like to teach (which is a typical misconception in connection with the training programme), and 7% would like to acquire knowledge that can be utilised.
Figure 2: The motives of applying for Bachelor training programme in Education in relative frequency distribution
The answers indicate that choosing the training programme is not characterised by carefully considered, clearly defi ned motives. The subject of interest is undefi ned, general or can be redirected to the investigation fi elds of other disciplines of humanities in many cases. The psychological interest of students can be highlighted and motives connected to self-knowledge. The analyst (and even more the teacher of the fi rst-year students) has the impression that primarily what appear emphatically in their answers in connection with selecting this training programme are understanding themselves, the process of becoming adults and the problems of adulthood.
In the light of the data, it is also probable that in some of the fi rst-year students the concept system of the Education training programme and becoming an educator is mixed up, and in reality they selected the major in preparation of becoming a teacher. We believe it is an important question whether the youngster possesses relevant knowledge of the chosen career, as the lower the information level, the more probable it is that students made a spontaneous or constrained type of career choice. As a consequence, we may evaluate the undefi ned motives connected to the training programme in a way that it is our priority task in the fi rst phase of the training to clearly defi ne the science of Education and mediate the learning contents connected to the training programme as precisely as possible. These goals
are served by the Learning, communication, socialisation or the Effective learning courses in the fi rst term. On these courses students refl ect on their own and their peers’ learning, aiding them in the development of their self-knowledge. Students get to know the most important pieces of information in connection with the training programme (e.g. what is the portfolio and what is the role of the competence grid) at the briefi ng organised for the fi rst-year students, additionally, they receive a booklet titled Guide (KÁLMÁN
& LÉNÁRD 2008) which was compiled by the BaBe research team based on the most frequently asked student questions the team got to know (see Foreword and Chapter 3). We use these in an attempt to aid the students in fi nding their way in the training programme ever since. We make an effort to inform students about the labour market potentials of the Education degree by the event called Trademark of our Profession. In the framework of this event students can present the competences they possess and around which tasks and activities their learning is organised on the one hand, on the other hand, employers can tell which competences they expect from the applicants and in terms of which tasks they count on employees with a degree in Education. By getting to know the expectations we assumed that the specialisation options of the Master training programme are similarly unclear for students, so on the initiative of the BaBe research team the Institute of Education organises briefi ngs about specialisation, where teachers present specialisations and what they train the students for, and by choosing a given specialisation, which competences can be developed.
These events proved to be successful among students, and ever since they have been organised each year.
The attitude scale in the questionnaire also contributed to understanding the motives of selecting the training programme. Students could indicate their agreement with possible motivations on a seven-point scale (1= the least characteristic, 7= the most characteristic). Students agreed to the least extent with the statements that they were motivated by the opportunity of easily obtaining a degree or by a pedagogic role model present in the family. There was a low level of agreement with the statement: “I do not want to be a teacher, I am interested only in the science of Education”.
Among the most characteristics motives were that the issue of education is an exciting and important social factor, to get children go to school with more esteem and that the pedagogic profession is attractive (Table 2).
Table 2: Mean values and standard deviation of answers provided on the factors that motivate the selection of the training programme in Education
Statements Mean Standard
deviation I applied for this training programme because I believe that the issues in connection with education are very important in a
society. 5.667 1.305
I would like to contribute to getting students go to school with more esteem once. 5.630 1.494
I selected this training programme because I fi nd the pedagogic profession attractive. 5.259 1.713
I selected this training programme because in my opinion dealing with the issue of education can be exciting. 5.074 1.331 When I was a pupil I had a teacher whom I owe a lot. I would like to become a teacher like him/her. 4.370 2.093
I don’t want to be a teacher, I am interested only in the science of Education. 4.222 2.200
I selected this training programme because I have the feeling that I can teach others Education. 3.963 1.551 In the beginning I did not wish to become an Education major, but now I am considering that it may be the one for me. 3.889 1.641
When I had the opportunity, I taught and helped my peers. 3.741 1.797
I would like to be an Education major, because I had a lot of negative experiences in connection with my ex-teachers. I’m sure
this can be done in a different way. 3.593 2.182
When I had the opportunity, I taught and helped younger students. 3.481 1.932
I have never wanted to do anything else in my entire life but dealing with Education. 3.000 1.721
I selected this teacher training institute, because I had the biggest chance of being accepted. 2.000 1.089 I did not want to become an Education major at all, however, it is a good thing if one has a degree. 1.778 0.994
I selected this training programme because I thought it is easy to obtain a degree here. 1.778 0.994
There is a teacher in our family, so nothing else occurred to me that I may become. 1.556 1.165
I did not want to become an Education major at all, but this is where I was accepted. 1.444 0.875
This topic can be further elaborated by the opinions of students about why Education can be viewed as an important discipline. Almost half of those who provided answers (48%) think the importance of Education lies in dealing with people and children, 30% of them think it helps in becoming a good parent. The ratio of relevant answers was 15% (it deals with learning:
4%, aids education with research: 11%). The data supports the assumption that their choice is characterised by a less defi ned image of the professional career (image of the major), and the motive for the training programme to support the student’s personal life is of importance. The predicates of the utterances in connection with the importance of Education are telling. On the one hand the outsider’s static wording appears (“it deals with”), on the other hand, an involved, dynamic element (“it helps”), that characterise together the early stage of involvement.
So it can be concluded that students did not primarily apply for the training programme because of bigger chances of acceptance or easier
completion prospects, and the role of family model is not characteristic either. They view education as an important social issue, and take the creation of positive attitudes towards school as a personal goal. Personal student role, school experience appears in the main force of motives. Besides the strong presence of the relationship to school, the role of good or bad teacher models, or the experiences of helping other students beforehand are weaker (see Table 2). So among these motives the generally formulated are more dominant than the concrete ones deriving from personal experiences.
4.3. Expectations in connection with the BA programme in Education
In the course of the examination of expectations in connection with the BA training programme we used open-ended questions and the attitude scale as well. We asked the students to end the following sentences: “I hope that
completing this training programme will aid me in...” and “I hope that after graduation I will be able to...” Additionally, students could mark on a seven-point scale their agreement with those statements that contained factors that are important to them in connection with the training programme.
The highest ration of the expectations among students was training for the career of teachers’ (29%). The need for a secure living (“I would like to get a job”, 19%), and a clear prospect of the future (19%) closely connected to that is also high (36% altogether). Preparation for useful and successful work, with a special respect to helping activity appeared as an expectation in one quarter of the students (26% altogether, see Figure 3).
Figure 3: The relative distribution of the answers provided by students on their own prospect of the future
All this suggests that besides the motives, teacher training has a high ratio among expectations as well. We believe that the linguistic similarity between the Hungarian words for the Education training programme (“Pedagógia”) and teacher (“pedagógus”) has an impact on the motives and expectations of the undefi ned or wrongly defi ned image of this professional career. The uncertain socio-economic environment is strongly detectable, and the impact of the diffi culties in making ends meet on how needs are formulated.
In conclusion, the two most important factors that determine expectations originate from an erroneous identifi cation that is irrelevant for the training programme and the need for a secure living.
Besides the open-ended questions we also asked the students what is important for them at this training programme. They answered this question by marking the relevant values of the seven-point scale (1= the most important, 7= the least important). Results indicated that in terms of all possible answers agreement was somewhat below average (see Table 3).
This means that students agree with the importance of virtually all provided
factors to a medium or low extent, there were neither very low (below 3.0) nor very high (above 4.0) results among the mean values. Besides the mean values we found standard deviations of more than 2 in all cases, which means that in the individual answers there is a lot more diverse picture about expectations, and a pattern cannot be identifi ed in connection with expectations.
Table 3: Mean values and standard deviation of answers provide for the question:
“What is important for you at the Education training programme?”
Statements Mean Standard
deviation
To have good results. 3.185 2.495
To have good relationships with teachers. 3.259 2.065 To have good relationships with my peers. 3.407 2.249 To get a thorough training for the possible employment
positions. 3.407 2.377
To be able to immerse in the topics that I fi nd interesting. 3.407 2.542
Learning to present. 3.481 3.481
Learning to learn. 3.630 2.328
Getting to know a variety of educational practices. 3.704 2.447 Getting to know a number of approaches to Education. 3.704 2.492
Learning to create a piece of writing. 3.741 2.397
To be able to understand and analyse the events of public
education. 3.778 2.315
To have a comprehensive knowledge of the theory of
Education. 3.778 2.079
To be knowledgeable of all important issues of public
education. 3.852 2.337
Preparing for intellectual life. 3.889 2.362
Although it is possible to highlight the most important and the least important expectations from these results with only limited validity, it is worthwhile to examine which these are. The most important for students was to build good relationships with their peers and teachers and to have good results, which indicates that the most important motivating factor for the students are the social learning environment and the sense of success created by their own performance. It is less important for the students to understand the events
of public education, be knowledgeable of the important issues of education, get to know a variety of educational practices and prepare for intellectual life.
All this means that the expectations of students connected to the training programme are less professional at the beginning of their studies, probably because their knowledge in connection with the science of Education is quite narrow and superfi cial.
* * *
We can conclude of the motives of fi rst-year students in Education that beyond general interest they are not characterised by specialised professional needs. Their image of the professional career is undefi ned, their vision of the future is based on irrelevant knowledge in many cases, the erroneous conceptions are highly characteristic, primarily in terms of identifying with the teaching profession. The ratio of social motives and expectations are low (which is understandable as the social network is just forming in the fi rst year), and the role of models is less dominant, contrary to the fi nancial security (employment) motives. The effect of the prior student role and typically the secondary school experience are detectable. Students are divided in terms of formulating their expectations in connection with the training programme, and typical or dominant expectations are not detectable in connection with their studies at the training programme in Education.