Perceptions of pre-service teachers on mentor teachers’ roles in promoting inclusive practicum: case studies in U.S. elementary school contexts

This case study examines a Chinese and Korean-Chinese pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their mentor teachers’ role in supporting inclusive practicum experiences in USA elementary school contexts. The findings demonstrate that a mentor teacher’s open conversations and willingness to host those students bring positive influence on their learning and growth. The findings also indicate that the facilitative roles of mentor teachers in the promotion of inclusive environments are intersected with the socio-cultural and political contexts of practicum schools and universities. The study concludes with implications for enhancing the inclusion of diverse pre-service teachers through collaborative roles of multiple practicum stakeholders, including pre-service teachers, mentor teachers, practicum schools, and universities.     

Why volunteer? The complexities of international pre-service teachers’ intercultural adjustment experiences through community service engagement

Anecdotal evidence suggests that pre-service teachers who have volunteered in schools demonstrate greater awareness of the general operational aspects of a school and, thus, are better prepared for the teaching practicum. However, there is little documented evidence about the cross-cultural challenges of international pre-service teachers volunteering in the host community. Drawing on the preliminary findings of a larger study, this paper offers a hermeneutic view of the adjustment experiences of five international pre-service teachers who have volunteered to be tutors in schools and unpaid helpers within local community centres. The findings highlight a range of cultural and personal dimensions associated with the process of pre-service teacher professional development and their intercultural engagement with members in the host society. Hence, adjustment through community service engagement is viewed as an opportunity to increase the intercultural and intracultural awareness of the international pre-service teachers.     

Genuine conversation: the enabler in good mentoring of pre-service teachers

This study confirms the role of genuine conversation as the enabler in good mentoring of pre-service teachers. The practicum plays an essential role in moving the pre-service teacher beyond learning about teaching to the practice of teaching. Yet the benefit of the practicum is often constrained by relational tensions, disappointment and frustrations for both the pre-service teacher and the mentor. The authors report on the findings drawn from stories and experiences of pre-service teachers and mentors as they participated in a final practicum in a range of Australian secondary schools. This paper uses social learning theory as a framework for understanding the key aspects of pre-service teacher mentoring: specifically, Wenger’s three interrelated concepts of mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared repertoire. Conversation plays a critical role in these areas and hence enables successful practicum experiences. Recommendations to enhance professional conversations focus on strengthening the relationship through considered pre-service teacher placement, close school/university partnerships, mentor programmes and the selection of appropriate mentors.     

Could Practicum Placements in Contrasting Contexts Support the Preparation of Pre-Service Teachers for an Envisaged Inclusive Education System? A South African study

In contexts where inclusive education is nascent, teacher educators face the challenge of preparing pre-service teachers for a system that does not yet exist. While this might be possible through university-based coursework, difficulties arise when so few sites that model inclusive pedagogies are available for practicum placements. This article investigates whether practicum placements in contrasting contexts may prepare pre-service teachers for teaching in an envisaged inclusive education system. We analyse the reflections of South African pre-service teachers who have conducted practicum sessions in two contrasting contexts, neither of which offered ideal models of inclusion. We explore the extent to which moving between contexts enabled pre-service teachers to develop orientations towards teaching and learning that Black-Hawkins and Florian identify as essential for promoting and sustaining inclusive pedagogic practices. With reservations, we conclude that practicum placements over contrasting contexts potentially support the preparation of pre-service teachers for inclusive education.     

Understanding legitimate teacher authority in a cross-cultural teaching context: pre-service Chinese language teachers undertaking teaching practicum in international schools in Hong Kong

Legitimate teacher authority is fundamental to effective teaching, but is often a thorny issue that teachers need to grapple with when teaching in cross-cultural teaching contexts. By interviewing 18 pre-service Chinese language teachers on their understanding of legitimate teacher authority throughout teaching practicum at international schools in Hong Kong, this study revealed that the teachers changed their perception about the essentiality and the nature of the pedagogical and interpersonal components of legitimate teacher authority. They developed a more nuanced and balanced understanding about legitimate teacher authority over time. However, their abilities in reaching the balance were constrained by their cultural knowledge and skills in achieving positive interpersonal dynamics when implementing student-centred pedagogies.     

Out of the book and into the classroom: The experiences of Korean social studies pre-service teachers in an international teaching practicum in the United States

Despite the growing interest and importance of pre-service teachers’ cross-cultural experiences, a review of the literature shows that few studies have discussed the international teaching practicum experiences of pre-service teachers from Asian countries. Bridging this gap, this qualitative case study examined the perceptions and experiences of 15 Korean social studies pre-service teachers who participated in an international teaching practicum in the United States. The findings of the study demonstrated that although participants encountered difficulties in speaking a foreign language and adjusting to a different culture, they also gained confidence and self-efficacy by negotiating and actively participating in the teaching and learning process. This international teaching practicum also helped participants promote their own understanding of multiculturalism and their different perspectives of the teachers’ roles, teaching pedagogies, and local education systems. This study offers implications for future multicultural professional development in teacher education and contributes to developing a body of research and scholarship on international teaching practicums from Asian contexts that have, to date, been largely underexplored.     

Cooperating Teachers' Perspectives Under Scrutiny: A comparative analysis of Australia and Canada

The ways in which cooperating teachers give shape and meaning to their work in practicum settings is one of the most critical elements of initial teacher education. This international comparison draws upon surveys of Australian and Canadian cooperating teachers. The global contrast highlights taken‐for‐granted assumptions in local settings that in some instances are cause for celebration and in other instances concern. The comparison of the two settings illustrates, among other things: some striking similarities in the profiles of cooperating teachers; important differences with respect to the cooperating teachers' preparation and remuneration for their role in practicum settings; and deeper complexities regarding the relationship between schools and universities.     

美国PDS与教师专业化发展及其对我国的启示

美国在20世纪80—90年代逐步建立了一批PDS(Professional Development School，专业发展学校)。PDS是美国大学的教育学院与地方的公立中小学或学区合作成立的一种师资培训学校。这种学校融教师职前培养、在职培训和学校改革为一体，为大学教师和中小学教师提高自身素质，改善自身专业发展提供了一条有效可行的途径。教师专业化现已成为国际教师教育改革的一大趋势，研究PDS这一实现教师专业化发展的有效模式，对我国当今的教师教育改革仍具有重要的启示与借鉴价值。     

Practicum pairs: an alternative for first field experience in early childhood teacher education

This paper focuses on partnership between pairs of students in early childhood education during a teaching practicum in preschools and kindergartens. One hundred students enrolled in early childhood pre‐service teacher education programs at a large metropolitan Australian university were paired and placed in kindergartens and preschools with host teachers. The project aimed to explore the perceptions and experiences of host teachers and students involved in the paired practicum which was evaluated qualitatively using semi‐structured surveys of host teachers and students. This paper identifies eight practices and two principles making this paired practicum successful or not successful.     

You've Met Your Match: Using Culturally Relevant Pairing to Cultivate Mentoring Relationships during the Early Practicum Experience of Community College Preservice Teachers

Abstract

This work explores mentoring triad relationships between pre-service teachers, school-based cooperating teachers, and professors at a community college. Using cultural historical activity theory, we provide a retrospective analysis of the factors influencing the success of the mentoring relationships. We assessed 60 mentoring triads with a rubric focused on how triads established intersubjectivity and the activity systems of practicum and college course were able to intersect and establish common goals. Results showed that highly successful triads were most likely to have culturally matched student/cooperating teacher pairs and culturally diverse practicum placements. Qualitative analysis showed that an equal exchange of power among the triad was foundational for enabling intersubjectivity. Therefore, equal power exchange between the triad during early practicum experiences are supported by and support cultural responsiveness. We argue for further research on this population of pre-service teachers as well as greater attention to issues of power and cultural responsivity during mentorship.     

It's not all about school: Ways of disrupting pre-service teachers' perceptions of pedagogy and communication

Many pre-service teachers enter teacher education with problematic or unexamined assumptions about learners and teaching. This article reports on an authentic learning opportunity offered to 22 pre-service teachers in their first year at university, which attempts to disrupt these perceptions about learning and pedagogy. Using a new application of Butin's conceptual framework we show that during the project these participants developed more complex notions of learners and ways of making meaning. We argue that these ‘real-world’ experiences, when offered before pre-service teachers begin practicum in schools, provide more ‘resources’ to problematise the practices and institutional discourses encountered in schools.     

Reshaping Primary Teacher Education in New Zealand: compressed courses and school partnership

In response to a serious shortage of primary teachers the New Zealand Government introduced competitive contracts for new and established providers to develop initial teacher education programmes which could be completed in a 12‐18 month timeframe. The University of Auckland reacted by developing a January to December post‐graduate programme taught in partnership with a consortium of primary schools. A mentor teacher from each of the selected primary schools was accredited at post‐graduate level to co‐ordinate and deliver the school‐based practicum component of the programme utilizing an associate teacher to host each student teacher. The programme was founded on a continuous placement model with student teachers attending one school per term for three days of each week, and university lectures for the other two days, throughout the year. Mentor teacher roles included in‐school seminars, assessment of the practicum component and assisting lecturers in planning and delivering university papers. Seven postulates which underpin the University of Auckland approach are advanced and the extent by which they can be generalized is discussed.     

Boundary Crossing and the Professional Learning of Teacher Educators in New International Contexts

In this collaborative self-study, two teacher educators examine their experiences of working in new international contexts and the impact of those experiences on their professional learning and identities. Mandi moved from a major research university in one country to another, while Judy co-led a group of pre-service teachers on an international practicum for three weeks each year for three years. Using the concept of boundary crossing as a theoretical and analytical framework, each teacher educator identified a boundary-related critical incident or experience that occurred during her work in new international contexts. Through individual and collaborative analysis of their critical incidents, they found that working as a teacher educator in new international contexts involves the crossing and re-crossing of multiple personal, professional, linguistic and cultural boundaries. Working in these boundary spaces involved learning how to negotiate new kinds of relationships with colleagues and students, manage changed roles and responsibilities and, ultimately, a search for a renewed sense of self, as each sought to understand herself differently within a new professional context.     

When rural meets urban: the transfer problem Chinese pre-service teachers face in teaching practice

Traditional teacher education’s supposed failure to prepare prospective teachers for classroom realities (the transfer problem) is a widely discussed topic in the teacher education literature. Previous studies have focused on causal relationships between teaching and such factors as pre-service teacher education programmes, contextual factors in the practicum school, and transition shock; however, most of these studies have been set in developed countries, and have paid little attention to the interactions among such factors. This study, involving 35 East China Normal University pre-service teachers, explores the transfer problem in a rural/urban divide context, discusses the possible impacts of pre-service teachers’ previous educational experience (i.e. before teacher education) on their teaching, and examines the interactions among teachers’ previous education experience, teacher education, and practicum schools.     

Learning to teach across the boundary: A cultural historical activity theory perspective on a university-school partnership in Vietnam

Featuring a fundamental component in initial teacher education (ITE), the practicum also presents pre-service teachers (PSTs) with challenges arising in the process of crossing the boundary between the university and school. This paper draws on the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) to analyse case study data on a university-school partnership in Vietnam. Findings reveal a ‘separatist’ partnership, characterised by marked division of labour, and insufficient communication between the partners. In light of CHAT, the paper offers a renewed understanding of partnership, whereby contradictions are viewed as valuable for learning as consistent ideas and values held by the partners.     

We train,but what do they think? Preservice teachers’ perceptions of the adequacy of their teacher education in Turkey

The study aimed to assess the adequacy of pre-service teacher education in Turkey as perceived by preservice teachers. Specifically, the researchers investigated preservice teachers’ perceptions of the adequateness of their education in terms of developing teaching skills and the major components of teacher education. The factors affecting their perceptions were also examined. In total, 1856 preservice teachers participated in the study. A questionnaire was prepared to collect data from the participants. According to the findings, teacher education should be enhanced in terms of preparing candidates for skills such as teaching in different contexts and cooperating with parents; and practicum hours needed to be improved for more effective preparation of preservice teachers. Moreover, it was also found that the preservice teachers’ subject, college, orientation towards teaching and the perceived adequacy of program components played significant roles in affecting their perceptions of teacher education.     

Designing for Critical,Relational, Practice-Immersed Teacher Preparation: Weaving Threads into Tapestry in a Critical Project-Based Literacy Partnership

As teacher educators located in K–12 and university contexts, we had experienced the often-highlighted disconnections between university teacher education and preservice apprenticeships in schools. Thus, calls for innovations in preparation programs aimed at deeper immersion in practice spoke to our desires to move literacy methods preparation into schools in ways that allowed teacher candidates, children, classroom teachers, and university instructors to be together in practice. A central goal of our work was to use our partnership as a path toward deeply intertwining practices of literacy teaching with critical lenses and pedagogies centered on justice. In this article, we situate our partnership in the landscape of research on practice-based teacher preparation and critical scholarship in teacher education. We describe our partnership, including its layers of contexts, relationships, and opportunities for critical, mediated practice, and our methods of studying our work over time. Our findings illustrate how the design of our partnership has afforded opportunities to (a) trace how critical ideas and practices thread across contexts of participants’ learning and (b) critically reframe problematic language, policies, and practices with novice teachers. We end by highlighting implications of our work for others invested in critical project-based partnerships.     

Induction and Mentoring of Beginning Researchers at Academic Colleges of Education in Israel

This study focuses on similarities and differences in expectations of cooperating teachers and student teachers in the initial stage of the mentor relationship in the context of an Israeli practicum program for pre‐service student teachers. These expectations, particularly when they conflict, can serve as major obstacles to the formation of contexts for learning. A focus group technique was used to bring the expectations of the participants concerning the role of the cooperating teacher to awareness and articulation. The theoretical framework of Calderhead and Shorrock (1987) was used to analyze the participants’ expectations into categories of educational orientations. Expectations of a practical and technical nature were found to be prevalent among members of both groups, whereas the student teacher group held more expectations for a personal relationship than the cooperating teacher group. Suggestions are given for bridging the gap in expectations between cooperating teachers and student teachers in the initial stage of the practicum program.     

Preservice teachers’ inquiry in a professional development school context: Implications for the practicum

Professional development school (PDS) contexts are increasingly being viewed as powerful sites for the preparation of future teachers in the USA. One of their documented strengths is in the fostering of preservice teachers’ inquiry within collaborative frameworks that result from the partnerships between university teacher education programmes and schools. This article focuses on one inquiry-based PDS programme, describes five inquiry projects carried out by interns in the programme, and presents interns’ perceptions on engaging in inquiry during their yearlong internship. The discussion that follows explores the potential of the inquiry approach in PDS contexts to reform the teacher education practicum.