Professional Readiness Level of Candidate Teachers: A Qualitative Evaluation

Abstract

The study investigates novice teachers’ self-perceptions of their professional readiness. The study has a qualitative research design, adopting the phenomenology pattern. The study group comprised subject matter teachers employed at different educational stages (primary, secondary and high schools). The participants were selected according to the criterion sampling within the purposive sampling methods that are frequently used within the qualitative research tradition. Data collection method was focus group discussions. Then, “content analysis” was used to analyze the data. The study showed that the teacher candidates could not practice their theoretical knowledge and, therefore, were not ready to perform their occupation to the expected level. Thus, there is a need for improved training programs that integrate theory with practice to promote the professional readiness of teachers.