Informationssökning och lärare
En studie av 4-9-lärare i övergången från utbildning till yrkespraktik
The main purpose of this Masters thesis is to contribute to the understanding of high school teachers information seeking behaviour in the transition from university studies to occupational practice. The theoretical framework encompasses theories of professional socialization, the sociology of knowledge, of professions, and of library and information science. The empirical material has been collected through interviews with six recently qualified high school teachers in different subjects. The interviews have been analysed on two different levels; first on a descriptive level and then on a theoretical level. The major findings are that the academic context limited the student teachers information seeking and they did not have the opportunity to choose cognitive authorities on their own initiative. Through their education the student teachers learned which sources to use in order to succeed in their studies and it was mainly the use of scientific material that was rewarded. Academic libraries were used to a large extent. In occupational practice the pupils together with colleagues constitute new important conditions for the teachers information seeking. A great deal of information seeking is related to the pupils and colleagues become important as new cognitive authorities. Selection criteria change in occupational practice: it is considered more important that a material is useful in classroom situations than that it is scientific. An unexpected problem area also arose: the teachers felt unprepared for the responsibility of facilitating the development of pupils information seeking.