(1702) ROAD TO REDEMPTION: PROMOTING EMOTIONAL RESILIENCE IN PRE-SERVICE COMPUTER SCIENCE TEACHERS

摘要

Resilience is mooted as one of the characteristics of a successful teacher therefore even from the interview stage applicants are tested and interrogated about their ability to handle stressful situations. Research has shown that from a young age males exhibit higher levels of resilience than females however on teacher training courses this appears not to be the case. Emotional resilience is an under-explored variable in studies of pre-service teachers. Notably, year on year pre-service teachers especially males, are ill equipped to manage the valley and mountain top experiences encountered during their study on postgraduate teacher education courses. The journey to becoming a newly qualified teacher includes dealing with the rigor of national teaching standards, skills test and varied school placements. All these aspects of a teacher training course present increased pressure on pre-service teachers to master the knowledge, understanding and skills required. Even more so in subject areas where shortfalls of in-service teachers have been identified. In Computer Science, for example, pre-service teachers grapple with addressing subject knowledge deficits by completing Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses before starting post- graduate training programmes therefore in effect lengthening the duration of study. Once the SKE has been completed, they then embark on professional or postgraduate qualifications for teaching. It is not surprising, as recent research shows that over seventy percent of training places in Computing remain unfilled. Furthermore, indications from empirical evidence reveal that although both male and female preservice teachers negotiate the academic components of the course successfully, male pre-service teachers struggle more to cope with the demands of teaching than their female counterparts on a similar course. How then can this shortfall be addressed? By examining the experiences of preservice teachers the fundamental differentiator identified between a successful and unsuccessful trainee is their ability to bounce back from myriad trials faced in their academic and personal lives. This qualitative study evaluates the emotional resilience of pre-service teachers and hones in on the emotional resilient enhancing interventions introduced to help male pre-service teachers successfully negotiate the uncertainties of a postgraduate teacher education course.