Wellbeing in initial teacher education: using poetic representation to examine pre-service teachers’ understanding of their self-care needs

Creating psychologically safe spaces for pre-service teachers to talk about their hopes, dreams and tensions of becoming teachers is complex work that requires teacher educators to engage with a range of pedagogical practices. A teacher educator must consider how they create this safe space, offering opportunity for vulnerabilities to be revealed. But a teacher educator must also be vulnerable them self; with an awareness for not always knowing what one will be told, will hear or will see. I argue that a mindfulness practice supports being grounded and an ability to hold the space for pre-service teachers as they explore their wellbeing and thus develop, grow, maintain and protect their self-care. In this paper, I draw on reflective and goal setting data to examine pre-service teachers’ understandings of their own wellbeing and self-care needs. I use poetic representation to illuminate practices that provide insight into what resources are drawn upon, and what concerns pre-service teachers have as they prepare for their last professional experience placement before graduation. Poetic representation of data provides opportunity to connect with the experiences of pre-service teachers and reveals where there are gaps that can provide us opportunities to consider where we locate pre-service teacher wellbeing in initial teacher education.