Closing the gap between conceptions and practices of teaching: Implications for teacher education programs

A study using qualitative methods was conducted in the final year of a Bachelor of Education programme to examine the student-teachers’ conceptions of teaching. The results show that (i) most of the student-teachers mentioned student-centred teaching strategies as their ideal and most commonly employed teaching strategies, (ii) three main factors were found to influence their development of teaching strategies. The factors include student teaching experience; past schooling experience; and life experience affected from the Institute, teachers, parents, friends. Teacher educators are suggested to further examine these factors so that they can be incorporated in the teacher education programme accordingly.