Pre-Service Teachers’ Changes in Perspective: A Transformative Learning Experience During Teaching Practice in Remote Areas

Abstract

Experiencing unfamiliar environments tends to foster transformative learning. However, limited studies investigate how experiencing contrasting localities fosters transformative learning, such as teaching practice in remote areas by pre-service teachers who are from elsewhere. This study focuses on revealing pre-service teachers’ transformative learning experiences during their teaching practice by investigating the changes associated with their teaching practice and how these changes occur. Using semi-structured interviews, we questioned forty-one pre-service primary teachers about their 1-year teaching experiences in remote areas of Indonesia. The findings show that pre-service teachers undergo changes in perspective, which indicate a transformative learning outcome. Three elements of the transformative learning process—disorientation, exploring new roles, and reflection—are also identified in the data. These three elements of the transformative learning process influence pre-service teachers’ perspectives. This implies that teaching practice in remote areas stimulates pre-service teachers to experience transformative learning.