”Jag är bättre på det praktiska”: Förskollärarstudenters perspektiv på den akademiska utbildningen

Abstract

This article examines how students in preschool teacher education at the University of Gothenburg describe their expectations and experiences of academic education. Based on guidelines and policies concerning widening recruitment and widening participation the question of academic culture and academic insideship are relevant. However, in this respect, a student perspective has more rarely been considered. The preschool teacher education is one of the university educations where the student group has a low educational background, which makes them an under-represented group in relation to the entire higher education sector. The article is based on a small interview study with seven students who were currently studying their last semester of preschool teacher education. The results show that the students have had the practical parts of the profession as their starting point in the choice of becoming preschool teachers and did not expect such a theoretical education. Students describe the theoretical elements of the education, such as reading scientific text and writing academically, as challenging. Furthermore, the students describe that the requirements from the education are unclear and differ between courses. The students position themselves primarily as practitioners, both in relation to the profession and to the education as preschool teachers.