‘An Eye-opening Experience‘: Providing Opportunities for Pre-service Teachers to Apply their Knowledge and Skills in Diverse Educational Settings
Keywords:
Teacher education, Teaching practicum, Pre-service teacher, Practicum placement, Practicum setting, Pedagogical approachAbstract
Without any doubt, the classroom placement model of focusing on skill development, mastering lesson plans, and classroom management is, and will continue to be, an important component of pre-service teachers‘ preconceptions of teaching; however, there is a need for a consideration of other attributes of the teaching and learning process such as enthusiasm, caring, open-mindedness, cultural sensitivity and/or critical thinking. This paper is based on a qualitative study developed by the researchers to examine pre-service teachers‘ perceptions of their practicum experiences in a range of educational spaces that included international school placements and non-school placements such as museums and hospitals. The findings demonstrate how teaching in unfamiliar environments can challenge and broaden pre-service teachers‘ understanding of the core attributes of a teacher, raise their awareness of the links between theory and practice, and increase their understanding of the teaching and learning process.
References
Abrahams, F. (2009). Examining the preservice practicum experience of undergraduate music education majors: Exploring connections and dispositions through multiple perspectives: A critical grounded theory. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 19(1), 80-92.
Anderson, D., Lawson, B., & Mayer-Smith, J. (2006). Investigating the impact of a practicum experience in an aquarium on pre-service teachers. Teaching Education, 17(4), 341-353.
Association of Canadian Deans of Education. (2005). Accord on initial teacher education. Retrieved from http://www.csse-scee.ca/docs/acde/acde_teachereducationaccord_en.pdf
Atputhasamy, L. (2005). Cooperating teachers as school based teacher educators: Student teachers‘ expectations. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 30(2), 1-11.
Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (1972). The social construction of reality. London: Penguin.
Borko, H., & Mayfield, V. (1995). The roles of the cooperating teacher and university supervisor in learning to teach. Teaching and Teacher Education, 11(5), 501-518.
Brown, A., & Danaher, P. (2008). Towards collaborative professional leaning in the first year of early childhood teacher education practicum: Issues in negotiating the multiple interests of stakeholder feedback. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 36(2), 147-161.
Chandler, P., Robinson, W. P., & Noyes, P. (1994). Is a proactive student teacher a better student teacher? Research in Education, 45, 41-52.
Chin, C. (2004). Museum experience: A resource for science teacher education. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 2, 63-90.
Chin, C., & Tuan, H. (2000). Using museum settings to enhance pre-service science teachers reflect their student teaching in a methods course. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of National Association of Research in Science Teaching in New Orleans, LA, USA.
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Darling-Hammond, L., & Bransford, J. (Eds.). (2005). Preparing teachers for a changing world. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Furlong, J. (2000). School mentors and university tutors: Lessons from the English experiment. Theory into Practice, 39(1), 12-20.
Gallego, M. A. (2001). Is experience the best teacher?: The potential of coupling classroom and community-based field experiences. Journal of Teacher Education, 52(4), 312-25.
Janzen, M. D. (2014). Beyond schools: Connecting teacher candidates to our community. Manitoba Association of Curriculum Development Reflections, 14, 39-43.
Jugović, I., MaruŠić, I., Ivanec, T. P., & Vidović, V. V. (2012). Motivation and personality of preservice teachers in Croatia. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 40(3), 271-287.
Koc, I. (2012). Preservice Science teachers reflect on their practicum experiences. Educational Studies, 38(1), 31-38.
McDonald, M. A., Bowman, M., & Brayko, K. (2013). Learning to see students: Opportunities to develop relational practices of teaching through community-based placements in teacher education. Teachers College Record, 115(4).
Metz, D. (2005). Field based learning in science: Animating a museum experience. Teaching Education, 16(2), 165-173.
Middlebrooks, S. (1999). Preparing tomorrow‘s teachers: Pre-service partnerships between science museums and colleges. Washington, DC: Association of Science and Technology Centres.
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Moody, J. (2009). Key elements in a positive practicum: Insights from Australian post-primary pre-service teachers. Irish Educational Studies, 28(2). 155-175.
Onslow, B., Beynon, C., & Geddis, A. (1992). Developing a teaching style: A dilemma for student teachers. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 38(4), 301-315.
Pitt, A., Dibbon, D., Sumara, D., & Wiens J. R. (2011). Deans speak out. Education Canada, 51(1). Retrieved from http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-Canada
Reinharz, S. (1992). Feminist methods in social research. New York: Oxford University Press.
Ristock, J., & Pennell, J. (1996). Community research as empowerment: Feminist links, postmodern interruptions. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
Schulz, R. (2005). The practicum: More than practice. Canadian Journal of Education, 28(1 & 2), 147-167.
Smith, K., & Lev-Ari, L. (2005). The place of the practicum in pre-service teacher education: The voice of the students. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 33(3), 289-302.
Tal, R. (2001). Incorporating field trips as science learning environment enrichment: An interpretive study. Learning Environments Research, 4, 25-49.
Tang, S. Y. F. (2003). Challenge and support: The dynamics of student teachers‘ professional learning in the field experience. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19, 483-498.
Turnbull, M. (2005). Student teacher professional agency in the practicum. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 33(2), 195-208.
Zeichner, K. (1996). Designing educative practicum experiences for prospective teachers. In K. Zeichner, S. Melnick, & M. Gomez (Eds.), Currents of reform in pre-service teacher education (pp. 215-234). New York: Teachers College Press.
Downloads
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
