Informal Learning and Transfer of Learning: How New Trade and Industrial Teachers Perceive Their Professional Growth and Development

• Published in: Career and technical education research Vol. 33; no. 1; pp. 3 - 24
• Main Author: Burns, Janet Zaleski
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Association for Career and Technical Education Research 2008
• Subjects: Alternative Teacher Certification; Beginning Teachers; Informal Education; Inservice Teacher Education; Participant Satisfaction; Professional Development; Questionnaires; Teacher Attitudes; Teacher Competencies; Teaching Skills; Trade and Industrial Teachers; Transfer of Training
• DOI: 10.5328/CTER33.1.3
• ISSN: 1554-754X

This study is an examination of the extent to which new inservice trade and industrial (T&I) teachers, enrolled in an alternative certification program, engaged in formal learning through structured experiences and informal learning related to 25 core competencies at their school (work) site. The study also investigated the degree to which the new T&I teachers transferred each of the 25 core teaching skills on the job. The study found that while T&I teachers-in-training reported learning most competencies formally, they perceived that they use those competencies learned informally more often than those learned formally. New perspectives are offered regarding the importance of alternative certification programs acknowledging and integrating informal learning in teacher education programs. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)