Secondary Preservice Teachers' Perspectives on Teacher Self-Disclosure as Citizenship Curriculum

Source: Action in Teacher Education, 32 no2, p. 82-96, (Summer 2010).
(Reviewed by the Portal Team)

This study aimed to explore preservice teachers' attitudes toward teacher self-disclosure as part of citizenship curriculum.
The study also investigated the challenges for teachers to integrate self-disclosure into their teaching.
The study focused on the examination of teachers' sharing their religious beliefs and political perspectives to enhance students' civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

Six preservice teachers participated in this study.
The participants had completed their undergraduate program and were working on their graduate licensure for secondary education.
The participants had different religious backgrounds, content areas, genders, and ethnic backgrounds. The six preservice teachers were teachers other than social studies: three English teachers, two science teachers, and one foreign language teacher.
The data were collected through face-to-face interviews in April 2009.

The present study showed that preservice teachers are not willing to talk about religious issues.

All six preservice teachers agreed that teachers can use self-disclosure for students' citizenship education.
Nonetheless, their understanding of citizenship curriculum seemed to be confined to civic engagement, such as community services.
However, the results of the study indicate that preservice teachers do not recognize the potential to integrate self-disclosure, as related to religious beliefs and political perspectives, into the cultivation of students' civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

The findings demonstrate a fear of using self-disclosure.
One reason is that they were concerned about the negative consequences that self-disclosure may bring to the students.
The preservice teachers were also affected by anxiety stemming from a lack of experience and self-efficacy in a classroom.

Implications
This research provided evidence that field experience is a tool for preservice teachers' learning through observation and experimentation and may influence their dispositions about citizenship curriculum and education.
Teacher education programs need to consider making the field experience a good opportunity for preservice teachers to develop their knowledge, skills, and disposition of citizenship education.