Pre-service teachers' perceptions of technology and technology education

Abstract

Technology teachers’ perceptions and understanding of the nature of technology heavily influences their perceptions of technology education and consequently shapes their teaching practice. Understanding the nature of technology is also an important component of technology education and in 2007 the New Zealand technology curriculum introduced a new strand called the Nature of Technology. An important part of initial teacher education programmes is therefore to help student teachers develop their concepts and philosophies of technology and technology education. This paper reports findings from a survey of New Zealand student teachers’ perceptions of technology and technology education before and after their involvement in a compulsory course in technology education. The findings reported here are some of the initial results from one institution but are part of a larger project aimed at brining together similar data from across the country to inform development of pre-service technology education programmes.