Student teachers’ experiences of academic writing in teacher education– on moving between different disciplines

Abstract

This study focuses on a selection of student teachers’experiences of academic writing in different disciplines in teacher education. By studying two different learning and writing environments at a Swedish university – teacher education for preschool teachers and for secondary school teachers – we distinguish different forms of writing ideals resulting from disciplinary shifts during the first two years of teacher education. In the preschool group, all the student teachers express the idea that writing ideals change during their education, as if they move between different worlds of writing. The student teachers specializing in secondary school education express the view that, overall, the writing ideal remains the same, and have a sense of staying in the same neighbourhood. These different experiences most likely create different barriers and possibilities in their formation as writers and future teachers. The results also indicate that, in their writing during the first two years, the participating students’ focus is on becoming students and adapting to different disciplines in higher education.