Student Voice: how student remember their teachers. A qualitative analysis of autobiographical writings

Abstract

This article analyses the point of view of university students on teaching, as they undertake the training path (24 ECTS) to become secondary school teachers.
Consistent with the theoretical framework of the Student Voice (Czerniawski & Kidd, 2011), this paper presents qualitative data taken from the autobiographical writings of twenty-four students, focussed on the memories of their “favourite” teachers. Starting from the informative value that students’ perspective can contribute to research in the field of teaching, the thematic analysis (Braun &
Clarke, 2006) highlighted some elements characterizing a “favourite” teacher, capable of opening students’ minds and supporting their learning process. According to these data, corporeity, the erotic of teaching, and relationships are key dimensions around which a teacher builds her/his quality of teaching, thus creating a learning experience that goes beyond the acquisition of notions, to become a crucial experience for the growth of the person.