A Longitudinal Assessment of the Affective Impact of Preservice Training on Prospective Teachers

This study was designed to determine whether or not teacher training, in accord with various models of teacher development, has a predictable and theoretically desirable impact upon the affective attributes of prospective teachers. Measures of anxiety, attitude, concerns, and confidence about teaching were administered to a sample of 153 prospective teachers upon commencement of training and again upon completion of their student teaching experience. It was found that as these aspiring teachers progressed through teacher training they became less concerned about their self-survival as teachers, more concerned about the task of teaching, less anxious about teaching, and more assured about their decisions to become teachers. In addition, it was found that they maintained high and relatively stable self-ratings of their success as future teachers, attitude about teaching as a career, and concerns about their impact on pupils.