Emergence and dimensions of undergraduate-students’ perceptions of themselves as teachers through teaching practice: an exploratory study

Abstract

This paper examines the empirical data of a broader study concerning the views of the undergraduate students of the Department of Educational Science and Early Childhood Education (DESECE) of the University of Patras, Greece (n=144) in regards to how they perceive and describe themselves as teachers during their teaching practice at schools. The paper analyzes the challenges that the students have dealt with, through an experiential approach of the teacher's profession, which appears to influence and shape their perception as teachers. The findings span nine axes and the analysis further indicates that these axes relate with both how closely the undergraduate students perceive themselves as teachers and how the teaching practice itself influences and contributes to how the undergraduate students perceive themselves as teachers.