The development and alignment of pedagogical conceptions of health education

•Conceptions did not develop in a more complex direction during teacher training.•After the gaining of work experience a positive conceptual change could be detected.•Students had a fairly coherent picture of health education.•Students' prevailing conceptions should be addressed better during teacher training.•More complex conceptions were expressed in interviews than in essays.

This study examined the development and alignment of conceptions of health education as a subject, and of its teaching and learning, among Finnish health education student teachers (n = 20). Longitudinal phenomenographic data (essays, interviews) were collected at two time points during health education studies, and at one time point after the participants had gained 1–3 years of work experience. The proportion of participants expressing the most sophisticated pedagogical conceptions decreased during teacher training, but increased after the gaining of work experience. Moreover, fewer than half of the participants expressed pedagogical conceptions that advanced in broad alignment with regard to the subject, the teaching, and the learning. Some methodological considerations and suggestions for teacher training are presented.