A longitudinal study of the concerns of students becoming science teachers in the Yemen Arab Republic

Abstract

The process of becoming a teacher is an area of a great deal of research. Different researchers have focused on different parts of the process. This study examines the concerns and their development for a group of Yemeni student-teachers as they become science teachers. After discussing the context of teacher training in the Yemen Arab Republic, the different arguments put forward by researchers who investigated the process of becoming a teacher, were examined. The field work was conducted in the Yemen between March 1983 and January 1985. Two different interview schedules with open-ended questions were used: one was general and the focus of the another was teaching-a-lesson. The former was conducted at three different occasions: during the second term of the third year i.e. before teaching practice, during the second term of the fourth year i.e. after teaching practice, and during the first few months of the first year of teaching. The latter was conducted during teaching practice and during the first few months of the first year of teaching. Both interviews were conducted for thirty-one Yemeni student-teachers at Sana'a University as they become science teachers. A further interview was conducted for the Faculty of Education staff to know their reactions to their students' views of their training. The concerns' development of the group and some individuals was followed, and the relationship of the findings of this research to the different theoretical arguments was considered. The research shows the stability and change of student teachers' concerns as they become science teachers in the Yemen. In examining this phenomenon the research points out the importance of: the kind of concern investigated, when they are investigated, and the situational and the personal factors which all have bearing on the process of concerns' development during the process of becoming a teacher.