Abstract:
Technology education has been a compulsory curriculum subject in New Zealand for twenty years. Is it safe to assume that the majority of people now entering teacher education courses understand what the subject is? In 2013 a national research project began, involving all leading New Zealand universities, investigating initial teacher education (pre-service) student understandings. This paper reports one region’s findings, including whether these understandings varied depending on student age, gender, sector, NCEA credits and degree pathway. This interpretivist large-sample case study involved gathering data from 906 participants over a three year period. On the first day of their technology education course, initial teacher education students were invited to complete a questionnaire investigating their understandings of technology and technology education. Data analysis techniques involved Mann-Whitney U tests, Kruskal-Wallis tests and effect size estimates. Generally students had a positive view of technology, although the strength of this attitude significantly varied with age, whilst the role and importance placed on key aspects of technology varied between sectors. Societal aspects were important especially to those who were older, had less NCEA credits and lower qualifications. Most students understood the differences between science, engineering and technology. Creativity was seen as an integral part of technology but this view also varied significantly with pathway, age and gender. These findings provide an insight into initial teacher education student understandings and values. They will enable course content and emphases to be reconsidered to ensure students’ needs are fully met.
