Socialization of Student Teachers

In this study of organizational socialization, student teachers became more controlling in their perspectives as they completed their practice teaching. They became significantly more custodial in pupil-control orientation as well as more controlling in their orientation toward social problem solving. Student teachers also became less confident that they could overcome the limitations of home environment and family background. It is surprising that these same student teachers did not temper their optimistic belief that they had the personal ability to motivate and be effective with difficult students; in fact, their sense of personal teaching efficacy improved as their sense of general teaching efficacy declined. Similar students who were preparing to teach but had not yet enrolled in student teaching did not experience these changes in perspectives during the same time.