engleski

“Abandoned to ourselves”: Challenges and experiences of professional socialization of junior researchers into teaching at universities in Croatia

The research results indicate a strong resistance of academic community in Croatia to education in the field of teaching, as well as the perception of teaching at universities as "less important and prominent". The aim of this paper is to present the research results on the experiences of junior researchers regarding teaching at public universities in Croatia. For the purpose of the research, 7 focus groups were conducted consisting of 65 junior researchers from Croatia. The analysis focused on: 1) the challenges of teaching that junior researchers encounter at the beginning of their career ; 2) personal feeling of readiness for teaching and 3) teaching-related support. The results indicate that the process of professional socialization of junior researchers into teaching at universities is mostly marked by the insecurity, fear and stress. Junior researchers generally feel unprepared for teaching, mostly due to the lack of adequate education and of necessary teaching competencies. Particularly alarming are the results indicating an insufficient or inadequate teaching-related support. In relation to that, it was emphasized that junior researchers at the beginning of their career are mostly "abandoned to themselves" and "thrown into the fire".

higher education teaching ; professional socialization ; junior researchers ; Croatia

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