Teaching Practicum assessment in post-apartheid teacher education: Is it self-serving or serving students?

This article investigates common understandings and practices of a group of supervisors assessing students during the Teaching Practicum in South Africa. In the light of this context and the need for a constructivist approach to develop students to be able to teach in diverse contexts, the question that the research intends to answer is as follows: What are the common foci of supervisors as reflected in their teaching practicum assessment reports? A randomly mixed sample of 33 narrative reports, taken from 5 supervisors was analysed to gain insight into the assessment report. Findings are presented as five assessment discourses and an argument is presented for the Teaching Practicum assessment to shift towards a student-oriented developmental approach that is neither hierarchical nor judgmental but aims at serving students’ professional development that meets the challenges of culturally diverse societies.     

新加坡师范生实习评价与启示

面对21世纪全球教育变革,新加坡开始革新师范生教育实习。在其实习阶段的各个环节中,实习评价体系呈现以下特征：以全面育人为导向的评价标准,由专业人员构成的评价共同体,科学设计评价工具以辅助教学反思与探究,完整详实记录实习全过程作为评价证据等。新加坡实习评价体系可帮助其师范生主动改进教学行为、塑造专业教师角色、明确未来职业发展方向,帮助新加坡加强实习指导、完善培养体系,对我国完善师范生实习考核制度、落实新时代教师培养目标具有借鉴意义。     

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.     

Weekly self-efficacy and work stress during the teaching practicum: A mixed methods study

The purpose of this longitudinal mixed methods study was to examine the development of self-efficacy and work stress of pre-service teachers during a teaching practicum. Participants were 150 pre-service teachers who completed eight weekly electronic surveys during their two-month final practicum in a Canadian teacher education program. The study investigates the patterns of self-efficacy and work stress during a critical period in the formation of new teachers. Latent growth curve analysis revealed a pattern of significantly increasing self-efficacy and significantly decreasing stress, although the trajectories were independent of each other. Qualitative analysis of multiple collective cases highlighted the variability of self-efficacy and stress patterns within the practicum experience, and underscored the critical influence of relationships with mentor teachers on self-efficacy and stress.     

Exploring practicum: student teachers’ social capital relations in schools with high numbers of pupils living in poverty

The complexity of practicum in initial teacher education, in terms of the range of diverse social relations and differing school contexts, provides a challenge for teacher educators worldwide, aiming to guide and shape opportunities for student teachers learning to teach. This challenge is further compounded by societal problems linked to child poverty. Drawing from social capital theory, this paper explores the kinds of social relations that are currently associated with student teachers’ practicum experience in schools located in areas of social and economic deprivation or with significant proportions of pupils living in poverty. The paper brings to the surface types of social relations that are beneficial to mitigating the effects of poverty on educational outcomes. The case is made that practicum does not currently support the principles of social capital theory by enabling student teachers to develop an understanding of how to make connections, and develop the social relationships required to support positive educational outcomes for the children and young people in such contexts. Findings indicate that more effective ‘joint practice’ is required to better support student teachers’ professional learning.     

Supervising the Teacher Education Practicum: A Self-Study with a Critical Friend

ABSTRACT

If the practicum is the most valued element of a teacher education program, how good is each teacher candidate’s learning and how well is it supported by the university supervisor? While most self-studies of teacher education practices focus on practices in the university classroom, this article reports an analysis of a supervisor’s practices, with special attention to underlying assumptions of the supervisor. Data permitted identification of patterns in the supervisor’s pedagogy and in teacher candidates’ responses to that pedagogy. The supervisor’s underlying assumptions and the contribution of conversations with a critical friend were identified. A table was constructed to contrast the assumptions in two stances toward supervision, one characterized as transmission and the other as interpretation. Conclusions emphasize the importance of listening to each candidate’s voice and including a metacognitive element in a supervisory conversation after a lesson observation.     

Distributed practicum supervision in a managed learning environment (MLE)

This evaluation‐research feasibility study piloted the creation of a technology‐mediated managed learning environment (MLE) involving the implementation of one of a new generation of instructionally driven management information systems (IMISs). The system, and supporting information and communications technology (ICT) was employed to support collaborative approaches to practicum supervision in a ‘borderless’ manner. The generation and utilization of information by student teachers and their supervisors was monitored and evaluated in order to ascertain how teaching competence development and reflective practice could enhance professional decision‐making in information‐rich settings involving the use of IMIS technology. Patterns of communication across the triad of the university tutor‐supervisor, school‐based cooperating teacher and student teacher were investigated using a multi‐site case study involving two schools and one university. The efficacy of the instructional information management system in supporting evidence‐based practice by student teachers, and those who supervised them was also evaluated.     

Tools that come from within: Learning to teach in a cross-cultural adult literacy practicum

We report on a study of preservice teachers who tutored adults learning English in a free evening class while simultaneously taking a course titled Community Literacy. Exploring their participation, we wondered in what ways pedagogy developed within this context. Drawing on a close discourse analysis of preservice teachers’ written work, we found that each preservice teacher constructed pedagogy differently but in ways that drew on students’ funds of knowledge, interests, ways of learning, and political interests. Moreover, through reflections on practice, preservice teachers sedimented their identities as teachers who see diversity as a resource in teaching.