In this study we follow seven students in their writing in preschool teacher education during two and a half years: From their second semester in higher education, to a finished essay in the end of their sixth semester. The study is conducted at a Swedish University with the aim to capture the formative impact of writing over time, with a specific focus on how writing in teacher education influences students' understanding and view on their future profession as preschool teachers. Three research questions are in focus in this paper: a) how student teachers look at the function of writing during their education, b) how the student teachers develop as writers over time, c) how their future identity as teachers is visualized and gicven character in their writing.
Theoretically we take our point of departure in academic literacy, in the sense that we understand academic writing as a social and cultural practice in higher education (cf. Ivanic 1998, Lea & Street 1998, Lillis 2001; Blåsjö 2004; Macken-Horaik et al 2006). In contrast to research that consider academic writing as a pre-defined set of rules that student teachers need to adapt to, an academic literacies approach focuses on writing as a social practice where students take part in and develop different literacies, implying its formative impact.