This study explored the metaphors of schooling generated by prospective teachers (N ¼ 157) in Turkey who were attending a teacher training program to be certificated for the teaching profession. The schooling (teacher, learner, school) metaphors of certificated teachers were collected by using concept prompts such

This study examines and classifies the metaphors that prospective teachers formulated to describe the concept of “teacher”. 485 male (39.7%) and 737 female (60.3%) teacher candidates (n = 1222) participated in the study. Specifically, the following questions guided this study: (1) What metaphors do prospective teachers use to describe the concept of “teacher”? (2) What conceptual categories can be derived from these metaphorical images? (3) How do these themes differ across participants’ program type and gender? Participants completed the prompt “A teacher is like . . . because ...” by focusing on only one metaphor to indicate their conceptualization of teaching and learning. The data were analyzed both qualitatively (i.e, inductive analysis) and quantitatively (i.e., chi-square test). According to the results, 111 valid personal metaphors and 10 main conceptual categories, based on the participants’ metaphorical images, were identified. Also, significant differences were detected between participants’ gender and program type with regard to the six dominant conceptual themes. The study concludes that metaphor is a powerful research tool in gaining insight into prospective teachers’ professional thinking about teaching and learning.

Teaching metaphor is an important phenomenon which can be used to determine teachers’ perceptions regarding their job and their workplace (Turunen, 2003). This study was aimed to explore the metaphors of junior and senior teacher educators to get insights of what teaching was for them. A comparative analysis between the junior and senior teacher educators helped to understand how these metaphors changed over time. Data for the qualitative study were collected from the districts of Sargodha, Khushab and Mianwali situated in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Fifty teacher educators teaching at postgraduate level participated in the study and filled in the survey questionnaire. The data were coded and analysed qualitatively. Six themes emerged from the data: religious obligations, economic activities, nature compatibility, life processes, emotional affiliations, and thought provoking activities.These themes were compatible with Chen’s (2013) classification of teachers’ personal metapho...

This study aimed to examine the prospective teachers’ metaphors regarding the concepts of teacher, teaching, learning, instructional material, and evaluation. A total of 389 prospective teachers voluntarily participated in the study. The results revealed that the prospective teachers’ metaphors regarding the concepts of teacher, teaching, learning, instructional material, and evaluation constituted meaningful and discernible categories each of which has both cognitive and affective aspects, with the exception of the categories regarding learning concept. Results of the current study lead to three major conclusions. First, prospective teachers’ metaphors regarding the teacher, teaching, learning, instructional material, and evaluation constituted meaningful and discernible categories. Second, these categories, with the exception of the categories regarding learning, contained prominent cognitive and affective aspects. Finally, the affective aspects of these categories differed in ter...

The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the metaphors a foreign language teacher used to describe her teaching experience and the role she adopted. The study tries to follow the conceptualizations of an experienced EFL teacher in regard to her teaching experience and the role she adopted. The data for the present study were collected by means of metaphor elicitation sheet, interview, and diary. The data were collected every month over a period of 24 months. The results revealed that during the first period of data collection (12 months), the participant teacher developed 10 different metaphors with regard to the concept of “teacher”. The number of new metaphors developed in the second period of data collection (the second 12 months) was 7, most of which implied the democratic teacher. Even though the same metaphor was used at different times, the rationale behind using the same metaphor always yielded differences. Keywords Teacher beliefs; Teacher perceptions; Metaphor; ...

This study aimed to determine pedagogic formation students' metaphorical images of "students, teachers, and schools." The study sample consisted of 101 pedagogical formation students of the University of Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal in the 2019-2020 academic year. Participants were recruited using convenience sampling. Metaphors were used as a means of qualitative data collection. Data were collected using a semi-structured metaphor form and analyzed using content and descriptive analysis. Participants generated 48 different (80 in total), 45 different (86 in total), and 42 different (82 in total) metaphors for "students, teachers, and schools" respectively. Conceptual categories concerning students, teachers, and schools were developed based on literature and participants' justifications for their metaphors. Conceptual categories were ranked based on their frequency. The categories for students were "Students as individuals who are molded, Students as information providers/receivers, Students as developing individuals, Students as obedient individuals, Students as unique individuals, Students as inhibited individuals, Students as individuals who are on their way/looking for a way, and Students as selfless individuals." The categories for teachers were "Teachers as guides, Teachers as sources and transmitters of knowledge, Teachers as sources of love and trust, Teachers as sources of authority, Teachers as role models, Teachers as molders, Teachers as self-sacrificing individuals, and Teachers as sources of improvement." The categories for schools were "Schools as sources of information, Schools as part of life, Schools as places of change, development, and maturation, Schools as places of trust and happiness, Schools as places of inclusion, Schools as places of inhibition, Schools as places of molding, Schools as places of guiding and leading, Schools as indispensable places, Schools as complex places, Schools as places of socialization, and Schools as places that have lost their purpose." The following are suggestions based on the results: Prospective teachers' metaphoric perceptions of students, teachers, and school should be used to develop better teacher training policies. Possible causes of negative metaphors should be addressed to reform education policies. Future studies should use different research methods and recruit larger groups of participants from different cities to analyze the concepts of student, teacher, and school.