Student teachers’ ways of experiencing the teaching of health education

The aim of this phenomenographic study was to identify student teachers’ ways of experiencing the teaching of health education, and to determine the aspects that are educationally critical in gaining a deeper understanding of the teaching. Qualitative data (written essays, semi‐structured interviews) were gathered twice during health education teacher training. Teaching was seen as transferring knowledge and skills, supporting the active processing of knowledge, supporting transformation of conceptions, supporting holistic personal growth and building a learning community with the students. The teaching was reflected through five themes: the nature of the knowledge, the source of the knowledge, the teacher’s role, the pupil’s role and the direction of the interaction. The findings support earlier studies but also bring new perspectives to discussions of teaching conceptions. The study also confirms that, although some conceptions seem to be parallel across different educational settings, other conceptions appear to vary over different contexts.