scholarly journals TEACHER EDUCATION AS A PROMOTER OF HEALTH: TEACHER STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ABOUT MEDICINE EDUCATION

2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-98
Author(s):  
Sirpa Kärkkäinen ◽  
Katri Hämeen-Anttila ◽  
Kirsti Vainio ◽  
Tuula Keinonen

Being a part of health education from primary school to the university level, medicine education is a fairly new opening in the field of education. The purpose of this study was to clarify Finnish primary school teacher students’ (N=21) perceptions about medicine education. Data was collected in several ways: a questionnaire, shared blog writings and group discussions. Teacher students’ perceptions about the content of medicine education were quite limited. Although they were well aware of the importance of the proper use of medicines, they also highlighted the discussion of misuse, which is not in accordance with the aims and methods of medicine education. Teacher students only mentioned a few methods on how to teach the proper use of medicines, having themselves had few experiences of medicine education from their own time at school. In teacher education, medicine education could be developed using teaching methods that particularly concentrate on the critical search for information, also emphasizing the importance of modeling, and co-operation with parents and health experts. This study increases and broadens researchers’ and teacher educators’ knowledge about the challenges of medicine education both in teacher education and in schools. Key words: health education, medicine education, proper use of medicines, teacher education

Author(s):  
Sarita Ramsaroop ◽  
Nadine Petersen

In this article, we report on a study of two South African primary school teacher education cohorts undertaken to investigate and understand their readiness to succeed in higher education and to plan support accordingly. Using the methodology of portraiture, we generated data from a combination of student questionnaires and examination results. Qualitative content analysis enabled the construction of six personas and three main themes. The portraits helped with an understanding of the complexity of the themes, in particular with how an identification of both the malleable and non-malleable elements affecting students' lives could inform and shape interventions for successful transition into university. More specifically, the dominance of particular characteristics in the personas provided information about which student groups required the most psychosocial and academic support and where it was required. The portraits also helped us to gauge the value of existing first-year initiatives, such as the educational excursion, for promoting student enculturation and in overcoming their initial anxieties and preconceptions. We argue for more nuanced information about students to inform a multi-pronged approach to student support that may extend much longer than teacher educators anticipate.


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