Sonja Lutovac
Biographic Data
| ID | 5399159 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sonja Lutovac |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sonja |
| FAMILY NAME | Lutovac |
| SIGNATURE | LUTOVAC S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oulu |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3909-525X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 6 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
“I hope that it comes across to the children that I am there as a human being”
Although teachers’ work is embodied, embodiment has not been widely discussed with reference to teachers’ work or teacher education. The digital era has changed teachers’ work in many ways, including their embodiment, as digital technologies are part of everyday life in schools. Hence, teachers’ embodiment in the digital era requires critical reflection. This study contributes to this reflection in three ways. First, we explore teachers’ embodime…
Becoming a safe adult for pupils
This article focuses on first-year student teachers’ emotions as part of their narrative identities. Alongside narrative research, arts-based methods were employed. The research material consists of 36 Finnish student teachers’ autobiographical writings based on their self-chosen photographs. Narrative analysis methods were used. The key aspect in student teachers’ narrative identities was their hope of becoming safe adults as teachers for their …
Expectations, disillusionment and wishes
Teacher turnover and shortages remain pressing global concerns, influenced in part by the characteristics of teacher education and teachers’ satisfaction with its quality. While discussions about pre-service teachers’ perspectives on teacher education are scattered across a multitude of studies in teacher education research, relatively little has explicitly focused on how pre-service teachers make sense of the preparatory role of teacher educatio…
The emergence of work-related pressure in pre-service teachers’ identity co-construction through visual narratives
This study focuses on work-related pressure emerging in pre-service teachers' identity co-construction through visual narratives. Five Finnish pre-service primary school teachers engaged in identity co-construction involving narrative and arts-based activities. Analysis of the visual narratives and the conversations they elicited revealed three sources of pressure: 1) the work environment and the expectation of “being everything to everyone,” 2) …
The sense of inadequacy and uncertainty arising from teacher work
This study is based on the notion that teacher work has changed rapidly in recent decades. Teachers all over the world face students with diverse needs, and increased duties beyond actual teaching. Thus, teacher work has become more complex and demanding, with in-service teachers experiencing stress stemming from their work in general and different relationships, in particular. Simultaneously, pre-service teachers experience inadequacy and uncert…
Preservice subject teachers’ beliefs about teacher subject interest
This study explores preservice teachers’ beliefs about teacher subject interest and its impact on teaching and learning, which has received little attention in research in initial teacher education. To form an understanding of their beliefs, we examined the writings produced by 47 preservice subject teachers of mathematics, physics and chemistry about teacher subject interest. All participants expressed that teacher subject interest, or lack ther…
Examining peer group mentoring in teaching practicum and its impact on the process of pre-service teachers’ joint reflection
This case study examines joint reflection in the context of peer group mentoring during the teaching practicum, involving three pre-service teachers and a mentor engaging in discussions supported by the video recorded lessons taught by the pre-service teachers. The approach to joint reflection was non-prescriptive and pre-service teacher-initiated. The roles of the peer group and the mentor are explored in the light of their impact on pre-service…
‘A teacher’s work is many things, but one thing it is not is easy’
To prepare for their future profession, pre-service teachers need to develop an understanding of the realities of teachers’ work during initial teacher education. In this study, we examined narratives written by 22 pre-service subject teachers to identify their conceptions of teachers’ work today. The narratives highlighted key conceptions, including the multifaceted nature of teachers’ work requiring a multiskilled professional, the responsibili…
Teachers’ experiences of being unsettled within their relationships with parents
In this study, we focus on exploring teachers' stories of their relationships with parents in times of digital communication. Employing the concept of teachers' professional knowledge landscape, we inquire into Finnish teachers' experiences with WILMA, a digital system used for teacher-parent communication in Finland. We discuss how teachers' experiences shaped by WILMA may disrupt their stories to live by, their identities, in relation with pare…
Understanding teachers' perceptions of geomedia
This study examines Finnish geography teachers' (n = 16) perceptions of the significance of geomedia and geomedia teaching. Thematic analysis was applied. The findings reveal teachers' concerns about students' cursory critical geomedia literacy as well as the potential of geomedia to enhance students' management of information overflow. Teachers' perceptions of digital geomedia teaching were diverse. The significance teachers associated with geom…
Research on teacher educators’ teacher identities
Research has suggested that teacher educators’ profession and the process of identity formation are poorly understood. Moreover, attempts to clarify the terminology are rare. While research has addressed teacher educators’ professional identities holistically, discussion on teacher educators’ teacher identities is very rare, even though these specific sub-identities are at the core of their work. In this study we apply meta-ethnography to provide…
Teachers' work today
This study employs narrative as a theoretical perspective and methodological approach, looking at the current nature of teachers' work from the viewpoint of 25 Finnish basic education teachers. Several categories such as multiple teacher roles and fragmentation of teachers' work, teamwork and multi-professional cooperation, pupils' diverse backgrounds, changed learning skills and behaviour, opportunities and challenges of digitalization, schools'…
Conceptions of assessment in pre-service teachers’ narratives of students’ failure
Published online: 13 Jul 2021
Towards conceptualising failure in mathematics as an autobiographical experience
Studies have shown that failure experiences play a role in pre-service teachers’ development. Given that autobiographical experiences are a foundation of learning and that failure is a wide-spread experience, particularly in mathematics, we need further insight into what kind of experience failure actually is. This paper draws on 59 pre-service teachers’ written experiences of failure in order to map them out and provide insight into what counts …
The change in pre-service primary teachers’ possible selves in relation to science teaching
This study examines pre-service primary school teachers’ (PSTs’) possible selves in relation to science teaching and the ways in which these possible selves change over time. This longitudinal study adds to the body of knowledge by examining PSTs’ possible selves at various time points throughout their teacher preparation: three PSTs, selected from a wider sample, were interviewed three times about their future aspirations as science teachers. Na…
‘Those who fail should not be teachers’
Personal experiences and histories shape teacher identities to a great extent. In the domain of personal experience, however, little is known about how experiences of failure shape the process of becoming a teacher. Gaining this insight, however, is important as failure may define teachers and their work, which can further undermine their resilience. This study examines how 45 pre-service subject teachers make sense of failure with regards to the…
From fragmented toward relational academic teacher identity
How failure shapes teacher identities
This study explored pre-service teachers’ possible teacher selves with respect to how they have been shaped by their experiences of math failure. The study contributes to identity research by applying the theory of possible selves and by comparing and contrasting narrated possible teacher selves of pre-service elementary school teachers and pre-service mathematics teachers. Three categories of possible selves were identified: teacher traits and a…
How failure shapes teacher identities
This study explored pre-service teachers’ possible teacher selves with respect to how they have been shaped by their experiences of math failure. The study contributes to identity research by applying the theory of possible selves and by comparing and contrasting narrated possible teacher selves of pre-service elementary school teachers and pre-service mathematics teachers. Three categories of possible selves were identified: teacher traits and a…
Teachers' work today
This study employs narrative as a theoretical perspective and methodological approach, looking at the current nature of teachers' work from the viewpoint of 25 Finnish basic education teachers. Several categories such as multiple teacher roles and fragmentation of teachers' work, teamwork and multi-professional cooperation, pupils' diverse backgrounds, changed learning skills and behaviour, opportunities and challenges of digitalization, schools'…
How failure shapes teacher identities
This study explored pre-service teachers’ possible teacher selves with respect to how they have been shaped by their experiences of math failure. The study contributes to identity research by applying the theory of possible selves and by comparing and contrasting narrated possible teacher selves of pre-service elementary school teachers and pre-service mathematics teachers. Three categories of possible selves were identified: teacher traits and a…
‘Those who fail should not be teachers’
Personal experiences and histories shape teacher identities to a great extent. In the domain of personal experience, however, little is known about how experiences of failure shape the process of becoming a teacher. Gaining this insight, however, is important as failure may define teachers and their work, which can further undermine their resilience. This study examines how 45 pre-service subject teachers make sense of failure with regards to the…
From fragmented toward relational academic teacher identity
Conceptions of assessment in pre-service teachers’ narratives of students’ failure
Published online: 13 Jul 2021
Towards conceptualising failure in mathematics as an autobiographical experience
Studies have shown that failure experiences play a role in pre-service teachers’ development. Given that autobiographical experiences are a foundation of learning and that failure is a wide-spread experience, particularly in mathematics, we need further insight into what kind of experience failure actually is. This paper draws on 59 pre-service teachers’ written experiences of failure in order to map them out and provide insight into what counts …
The change in pre-service primary teachers’ possible selves in relation to science teaching
This study examines pre-service primary school teachers’ (PSTs’) possible selves in relation to science teaching and the ways in which these possible selves change over time. This longitudinal study adds to the body of knowledge by examining PSTs’ possible selves at various time points throughout their teacher preparation: three PSTs, selected from a wider sample, were interviewed three times about their future aspirations as science teachers. Na…
Research on teacher educators’ teacher identities
Research has suggested that teacher educators’ profession and the process of identity formation are poorly understood. Moreover, attempts to clarify the terminology are rare. While research has addressed teacher educators’ professional identities holistically, discussion on teacher educators’ teacher identities is very rare, even though these specific sub-identities are at the core of their work. In this study we apply meta-ethnography to provide…
Teachers' work today
This study employs narrative as a theoretical perspective and methodological approach, looking at the current nature of teachers' work from the viewpoint of 25 Finnish basic education teachers. Several categories such as multiple teacher roles and fragmentation of teachers' work, teamwork and multi-professional cooperation, pupils' diverse backgrounds, changed learning skills and behaviour, opportunities and challenges of digitalization, schools'…
The sense of inadequacy and uncertainty arising from teacher work
This study is based on the notion that teacher work has changed rapidly in recent decades. Teachers all over the world face students with diverse needs, and increased duties beyond actual teaching. Thus, teacher work has become more complex and demanding, with in-service teachers experiencing stress stemming from their work in general and different relationships, in particular. Simultaneously, pre-service teachers experience inadequacy and uncert…
Preservice subject teachers’ beliefs about teacher subject interest
This study explores preservice teachers’ beliefs about teacher subject interest and its impact on teaching and learning, which has received little attention in research in initial teacher education. To form an understanding of their beliefs, we examined the writings produced by 47 preservice subject teachers of mathematics, physics and chemistry about teacher subject interest. All participants expressed that teacher subject interest, or lack ther…
Examining peer group mentoring in teaching practicum and its impact on the process of pre-service teachers’ joint reflection
This case study examines joint reflection in the context of peer group mentoring during the teaching practicum, involving three pre-service teachers and a mentor engaging in discussions supported by the video recorded lessons taught by the pre-service teachers. The approach to joint reflection was non-prescriptive and pre-service teacher-initiated. The roles of the peer group and the mentor are explored in the light of their impact on pre-service…
‘A teacher’s work is many things, but one thing it is not is easy’
To prepare for their future profession, pre-service teachers need to develop an understanding of the realities of teachers’ work during initial teacher education. In this study, we examined narratives written by 22 pre-service subject teachers to identify their conceptions of teachers’ work today. The narratives highlighted key conceptions, including the multifaceted nature of teachers’ work requiring a multiskilled professional, the responsibili…
Teachers’ experiences of being unsettled within their relationships with parents
In this study, we focus on exploring teachers' stories of their relationships with parents in times of digital communication. Employing the concept of teachers' professional knowledge landscape, we inquire into Finnish teachers' experiences with WILMA, a digital system used for teacher-parent communication in Finland. We discuss how teachers' experiences shaped by WILMA may disrupt their stories to live by, their identities, in relation with pare…
Understanding teachers' perceptions of geomedia
This study examines Finnish geography teachers' (n = 16) perceptions of the significance of geomedia and geomedia teaching. Thematic analysis was applied. The findings reveal teachers' concerns about students' cursory critical geomedia literacy as well as the potential of geomedia to enhance students' management of information overflow. Teachers' perceptions of digital geomedia teaching were diverse. The significance teachers associated with geom…
“I hope that it comes across to the children that I am there as a human being”
Although teachers’ work is embodied, embodiment has not been widely discussed with reference to teachers’ work or teacher education. The digital era has changed teachers’ work in many ways, including their embodiment, as digital technologies are part of everyday life in schools. Hence, teachers’ embodiment in the digital era requires critical reflection. This study contributes to this reflection in three ways. First, we explore teachers’ embodime…
Becoming a safe adult for pupils
This article focuses on first-year student teachers’ emotions as part of their narrative identities. Alongside narrative research, arts-based methods were employed. The research material consists of 36 Finnish student teachers’ autobiographical writings based on their self-chosen photographs. Narrative analysis methods were used. The key aspect in student teachers’ narrative identities was their hope of becoming safe adults as teachers for their …
Expectations, disillusionment and wishes
Teacher turnover and shortages remain pressing global concerns, influenced in part by the characteristics of teacher education and teachers’ satisfaction with its quality. While discussions about pre-service teachers’ perspectives on teacher education are scattered across a multitude of studies in teacher education research, relatively little has explicitly focused on how pre-service teachers make sense of the preparatory role of teacher educatio…
The emergence of work-related pressure in pre-service teachers’ identity co-construction through visual narratives
This study focuses on work-related pressure emerging in pre-service teachers' identity co-construction through visual narratives. Five Finnish pre-service primary school teachers engaged in identity co-construction involving narrative and arts-based activities. Analysis of the visual narratives and the conversations they elicited revealed three sources of pressure: 1) the work environment and the expectation of “being everything to everyone,” 2) …
Mathematics education (16 works) · Pedagogy (16 works) · Psychology (16 works) · Teacher education (15 works) · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies (15 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Narrative (6 works) · Collaborative Teaching and Inclusion (5 works) · Professional development (5 works) · Engineering (4 works)