Teaching Competencies of Pre-service Primary School Teachers to Use an Integrated Approach in Teaching Science, Art, and Mathematics

Abstract

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) as a form of integration of different disciplines is recognized as a field that teaches twenty- first century skills since it incorporates many hands-on activities focused on solving problems, development of creativity, innovative and critical thinking, encouragement of social competences through cooperation and sharing results. Teacher education programs predict that preservice primary teachers acquire knowledge of separate scientific disciplines and develop pedagogical skills of subject specific didactics during their studies. On the other hand, integration of different subject contents takes up only a small part, if any, of the curriculum. The purpose of this study is to examine the self-reported teaching competences of final year preservice primary teachers for using an integrated approach in their future work. By using questionnaire technique, qualitative data was collected from 55 pre-service primary teachers. The results showed that although student teachers have a positive attitude towards an integrated approach, they do not possess optimal level of teaching competences to teach it. The results indicate that existing teacher education programs need to be improved and modernized in order to prepare the pre-service primary teachers of the twenty-first century.