ABSTRACT

This inaugural Saudi Arabian-based (SA) study explored how social media images and cartoons can influence the professional identity of pre-service teachers (PSTs) measured by their reflections on self-selected images of teachers and teaching in Saudi media. PSTs (n = 30) were enrolled in a teacher education program in a faculty of education in a public university in the Eastern province of SA (convenience sampling). Findings from thematically analyzing 30 reflective assignments, nine semi-structured interviews, and a focus group (n = 9) revealed four themes: (a) a pervasive negative stereotype; (b) violence associated with male teachers and students; (c) criticism of the education and administrative system; and (d) suggestions of eroding teacher authority. Findings affirm the imperative that teacher education programs intentionally sensitize PSTs to the benefits of critically deconstructing media images. This will help stave off negative connotations of teachers and make teaching become part of future teachers’ professional identities and the SA collective memory.

摘要

这项基于沙特阿拉伯的就职研究（SA）探索了社交媒体图像和卡通作品如何影响职前教师（PST）的职业身份，这一点通过对沙特媒体中教师和教学的自我选择形象的反思来衡量。PST（n = 30）被纳入了东部SA省的一所公立大学的教育学院的教师教育计划（便利性抽样）。通过专题分析30项反思性任务，九次半结构化访谈和一个焦点小组的调查结果（n= 9）揭示了四个主题：（a）普遍存在的负面刻板印象；（b）与男教师和学生有关的暴力行为；（c）对教育和行政制度的批评；（d）削弱教师权威的建议。研究结果肯定了教师教育计划必须使PST敏锐地意识到破坏媒体图像的好处是当务之急。这将有助于消除教师的负面涵义，并使教学成为未来教师的职业身份和SA集体记忆的一部分。