Civic purposes in teaching: A study among Finnish and German student teachers

Abstract

This study explored Finnish (n = 379) and German (n = 477) student teachers’ professional purposes – meaningful long-term intentions to contribute beyond the self through the teaching profession. Due to global crises and calls for social reconstructionism in teacher education, we were especially interested in how civic purposes manifested in student teachers’ thinking. Qualitative content analysis of written responses showed that student teachers mentioned mostly pedagogical and instrumental purposes. Rarity of civic purposes, especially environmental purposes, demonstrates a gap between student teachers’ understanding of their future profession and academic and policy discourses emphasising teachers as transformative agents, key societal actors and future makers.