Role Perception among Faculty Members at Teacher Education Colleges

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine how faculty members at academic colleges of education perceive their role and to consider elements of their work that need to be included in a professional profile definition. All faculty of one college of education were asked: "What are the tasks/obligations of a faculty member at a college of education? Please list the ones important to you." Content analysis yielded eight themes which were used for construction of a closed questionnaire containing 61 items describing teacher educator tasks. This questionnaire was distributed to all teacher-training colleges nationwide. The faculty members were found to perceive their role as composed of four major components: member of an organization; researcher; teacher; person. The findings will help formulate a clear role definition that will enable faculty members to understand the scope of their work at colleges of education and develop a professional profile definition.