RECONNOITRING DECISION MAKING PROCESS OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS

This study explores the decision making process of pre-service teachers in an action research course. The study was conducted amongst 80 special education teacher trainees undergoing an undergraduate teacher education programme. A survey method, with 31 items, was used in this study to explore the decision making process of these pre-service teachers. The results revealed that 75.6% of the trainees had already made their decision on their action research topic. 30.5% made their decisions by consulting their classmates while 7.3% from senior students and 12.2% from lecturers. A statistical method known as factor analysis was used to further analyse the data. Three prominent factors extracted from this study are intuition, rational and consultation. This study reveals that consultation with classmates play an important role in decision making. Hence, teacher educators also play a vital role in helping their students make right decisions. In conclusion, it is prevalent that teacher educators could facilitate pre-service teachers by forming learning communities and linking theory to practise.