UNDERSTANDING TRAINEE TEACHERS’ EXPERIENCES THROUGH VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE: EVIDENCE FROM A QUALITATIVE CASE STUDY

Abstract

Teacher wellbeing and resilience are important for educational quality, yet little is known about how Malaysian trainee teachers develop emotionally during their training. This study explores how trainee teachers experience emotional development through perezhivanie, felt sense, and felt shift using the Focusing-Oriented Art Therapy–Trauma-Informed Model (FOAT-TIM) developed by Laury Rappaport and grounded in Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory. A qualitative case study was conducted with two final-year trainee teachers from a Teacher Training Institute in Kuala Lumpur. Data were generated across four FOAT-TIM phases and supported by artwork, observations, semi-structured interviews, researcher field notes, and participants’ personal reflections. The data were analysed thematically using Vygotsky’s concepts of perezhivanie, the Zone of Proximal Development, and the role of the More Knowledgeable Other. The findings indicate distinct emotional development experiences between the two participants.  participant A (“the Preacher”) demonstrated resilience through faith-based symbols and stable meaning-making. In contrast, participant B (“the Remorseful”) initially expressed emotional vulnerability and socio-cultural shame but gradually reframed these experiences as gratitude and emerging hope through structured support. FOAT-TIM supported both participants in expressing, reflecting on, and reorganising emotional experiences through symbolic activity. This study contributes to teacher education by extending the application of perezhivanie in qualitative research, demonstrating FOAT-TIM as an art-based mediational approach, and identifying culturally meaningful symbolic resources such as faith, hope, and gratitude that support trainee teachers’ resilience. The findings provide contextually grounded insights for strengthening teacher wellbeing within Malaysian teacher training settings.