AUTHOR=Corcoran Roisin P. , O’Flaherty Joanne 

TITLE=Personality Development during Teacher Preparation

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 7 - 2016

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01677

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01677

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Objective: The purpose of this three-year longitudinal study was to examine student teachers’ trajectories of personality as measured by the IPIP Big-Five factor markers and to what extent are there intra-individual and inter-individual changes in personality during this developmental period. The relationship between students’ personality traits, social desirability and prior academic attainment was also examined.
Method: This three-year longitudinal study invited participants from the first year of a four-year undergraduate (UG) pre-service teacher education program, the class of 2017. The sample consisted of 305 students.
Results: The results suggest that extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience were best represented by a non-significant longitudinal change in means. Results also suggest that social desirability predict agreeableness, and emotional stability, with small to moderate effect sizes.
Conclusions: The study concludes that the data presented does not support the view that academic attainment is a good predictor of personality traits. Implications for educational research, theory, and practice are considered.