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Article

Student Teachers' Professional and Personal Development through Academic Study of Educational Transactional Analysis

Pages 253-271
Published online: 28 Dec 2017
 
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The aim of this study was to investigate student teachers' personal and professional development following academic study of educational transactional analysis. Students from two countries, 21 from Finland and 15 from England, participated in the study. Members of both cohorts each made an action plan and a personal growth plan with regard to their personal and professional growth on completion of the two-day Introduction to Transactional Analysis (TA 101) course. Approximately 6 months after their respective transactional analysis courses, the students completed a follow-up questionnaire. The first-stage results showed how the students thought they would apply certain transactional analysis concepts and gave evidence of their reasons, intentions, and goals for achieving increased effectiveness as a teacher. In the second stage, the results showed the students' estimations of their increase of awareness and skill with respect to six key areas of personal and professional growth. These results indicate a need to strengthen psychosocial studies in teacher education and also that transactional analysis might be a useful theory and instrument for the personal and professional development of student teachers.

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Author information

Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen

Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen, Ph.D., has worked at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, since 1989 in the Department of Teacher Education as a senior lecturer in initial teaching pedagogy. Her research interests are learning and instruction in preschool and primary school contexts as well as the professional development of student teachers. She can be reached at PO Box 35, 40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland; email: .

Susannah Temple

Susannah Temple, Ph.D., is a Provisional Teaching Transactional Analyst (educational). At the time of this study, she was teaching transactional analysis in the Integrated Master's Programme of the Faculty of Education, University of Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom. She is currently involved in educational research at the Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, United Kingdom. She can be reached at 10, Berry Lane, Bristol BS7 9SA, United Kingdom; email: