Abstract:
This study investigated New Zealand (NZ) physics teachers’ and physics educators’ views about their
Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Specifically, the study explored how well the ITE prepared physics
teachers for classroom practice and to become effective teachers. The study employed mixed methods to
answer the questions that were formulated to guide the study. The perspectives of the physics teacher
educators and physics teachers nationally indicated that the teachers considered themselves not well prepared in some content areas including electronics, modern physics, and atomic and nuclear physics. A
significant difference in perspective also existed between teachers who were educated in NZ and those
gaining initial teaching qualifications from overseas. The findings from the study suggested that the non education degree which provided the teachers most of their content knowledge was perhaps inadequate
for a teaching career. The implications for ITE of physics teachers are discussed in the paper.
