scholarly journals A COVID-19 Re-envisioned Teaching Practicum Curriculum

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-266
Author(s):  
Carisma Nel ◽  
Carolina Botha ◽  
Elma Marais
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
School Partnerships ◽  
Teaching Practicum ◽  
Alternative Placement ◽  
University School Partnerships ◽  
Faculties Of Education

The changes taking place in the schooling landscape because of the coronavirus are real and meaningful and have implications for the training of preservice teachers, especially the teaching practicum component of their initial teacher education programs. The havoc caused by COVID-19 forced many faculties of education into a state of ‘panic-gogy’ to ensure that student teachers could complete their teaching practicums. In this paper we argue that consideration should be given to core teaching practices and practice-based teacher education pedagogies (i.e., representations and approximations) that can be used in alternative “placement contexts” that will supplement and harness the authenticity of school-based experiences. We provide two conceptual tools, collaboratively developed by teaching practicum educators and mentor teachers, that can be used as heuristic by other university-school partnerships when considering teaching practicum redesign efforts.

Informing Teaching Through Community Engagement

2018 ◽  
pp. 278-298
Author(s):  
Trish Lewis ◽  
Letitia Hochstrasser Fickel ◽  
Glynne Mackey ◽  
Des Breeze
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
Lower Socioeconomic

Preservice teacher education programs prepare teachers for a variety of educational settings that serve a diverse range of children. Research suggests that many graduates lack confidence and the capability to teach those from backgrounds different from their own, including children from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and children with additional learning needs. In the bicultural, and increasingly multicultural, New Zealand context, preservice teachers are overwhelmingly from White, middle-class, monolingual backgrounds. This chapter offers a case study of the development of a community engagement course within an initial teacher education degree program. Based on Kolb's model of experiential learning and Moll's notions of funds of knowledge and identity, the course aims to enhance preservice teachers' knowledge of the lives of children they teach, and their dispositions and cultural competence for teaching, through personal and professional interaction with the community.

scholarly journals Developing Professional Identity and Ethos through Research and Practice in Initial Teacher Education: The USW ITE Partnership Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-255
Author(s):  
Caroline Daly ◽  
Jamie James ◽  
Catherine Jones ◽  
Lisa Taylor ◽  
Kelly Wegener ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Professional Identity ◽  
Role Models ◽  
National Level ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
School Partnerships ◽  
Effective Role ◽  
University School Partnerships

Reform of the education sector in Wales has given university-school partnerships of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Wales much to grapple with conceptually and practically, in order to design new programmes of ITE that can attract national-level accreditation in line with the recommendations made by Professor John Furlong in 2015. These reforms have required a system-wide rethink of ITE, based on a philosophy for new provision. This article outlines an approach to ITE inspired by the work of Lee Shulman (2005) who argued that teacher education should prioritise the acquisition of three habits, corresponding to the 'what' the 'so what' and finally the 'who' of teaching, namely an understanding of one's professional identity, ethos and character. We describe a pedagogical model for embedding these principles in ITE, based on the work of Parker, Patton and O'Sullivan (2016). Finally, we consider the implications for mentors and lecturers, noting in particular the need to see all members of the ITE partnership as learners, both to ensure effective role models for beginning teachers, and also to remain faithful to the principle laid down in social development theory (Vygotsky, 1978) that learning is interactive and symbiotic.

Informing Teaching Through Community Engagement

2019 ◽  
pp. 1225-1245
Author(s):  
Trish Lewis ◽  
Letitia Hochstrasser Fickel ◽  
Glynne Mackey ◽  
Des Breeze
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
Lower Socioeconomic

Preservice teacher education programs prepare teachers for a variety of educational settings that serve a diverse range of children. Research suggests that many graduates lack confidence and the capability to teach those from backgrounds different from their own, including children from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and children with additional learning needs. In the bicultural, and increasingly multicultural, New Zealand context, preservice teachers are overwhelmingly from White, middle-class, monolingual backgrounds. This chapter offers a case study of the development of a community engagement course within an initial teacher education degree program. Based on Kolb's model of experiential learning and Moll's notions of funds of knowledge and identity, the course aims to enhance preservice teachers' knowledge of the lives of children they teach, and their dispositions and cultural competence for teaching, through personal and professional interaction with the community.

scholarly journals Professional Experience in Australian Initial Teacher Education: An Appraisal of Policy and Practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Susan Ledger ◽  
Christine Ure ◽  
Madeline Burgess ◽  
Chad Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Professional Experience ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
School Partnerships ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Competing Demands ◽  
University School Partnerships ◽  
School Supervision

Legislative guidelines regulate professional experience within initial teacher education (ITE) but little is known about teacher educators’ perspectives on how these guidelines are operationalised. ITE providers, in collaboration with school partners, implement a range of programs designed to develop pre-service teachers’ ‘classroom readiness’. We examine how current legislation influences the delivery of professional experience, the provision of funding, and support for university-school partnerships and in-school supervision. This analysis highlights ambiguities in the interpretation of the legislative guidelines, creating a disconnection between policy and practice, an over-reliance on the ‘good will’ of key stakeholders, and competing demands between the ‘actual’ and ‘hidden’ costs of professional experience. Without reform of both policy and practice ITE providers will continue to be constrained when attempting to meet regulatory expectations. These findings demonstrate a need for government departments and ITE regulators to work more closely to improve integration of policy and practice for professional experience.

Formative Assessment via Video Feedback on Practicum

2017 ◽  
pp. 158-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Dann ◽  
Beverly Dann ◽  
Shirley O'Neill
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Video Feedback ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Program Leaders ◽  
Teaching Position ◽  
Practice Opportunities

University program leaders in conjunction with accreditation bodies, create Initial Teacher Education programs. These programs provide the knowledge and practice opportunities that preservice teachers need to learn and develop as teachers, and provide evidence of attaining the requisite standard required for obtaining a teaching position. This places the Initial Teacher Education programs in a unique position to lead much needed systemic change to transform the learning experiences of preservice teachers in schools. However, at the same time, there are challenges involved in creating innovative programs that align with the requirements of stakeholders, which in the first instance involve: accreditation authorities, universities, early childhood agencies and government. This chapter discusses how video feedback might act as a catalyst for change. First it addresses how it provides the conditions necessary to stimulate focused reflective dialogues that align to the graduate standards and lesson objectives, and second the implications for the field.

Formative Assessment via Video Feedback on Practicum

2018 ◽  
pp. 818-836
Author(s):  
Christopher Dann ◽  
Beverly Dann ◽  
Shirley O'Neill
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Video Feedback ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Program Leaders ◽  
Teaching Position ◽  
Practice Opportunities

University program leaders in conjunction with accreditation bodies, create Initial Teacher Education programs. These programs provide the knowledge and practice opportunities that preservice teachers need to learn and develop as teachers, and provide evidence of attaining the requisite standard required for obtaining a teaching position. This places the Initial Teacher Education programs in a unique position to lead much needed systemic change to transform the learning experiences of preservice teachers in schools. However, at the same time, there are challenges involved in creating innovative programs that align with the requirements of stakeholders, which in the first instance involve: accreditation authorities, universities, early childhood agencies and government. This chapter discusses how video feedback might act as a catalyst for change. First it addresses how it provides the conditions necessary to stimulate focused reflective dialogues that align to the graduate standards and lesson objectives, and second the implications for the field.

The Development and Use of Improvised Science-Teaching Models: A Case of Natural Science Pre-Service Teachers

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 18-37
Author(s):  
Wiets Botes
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Science Teaching ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Teaching Practicum ◽  
Teaching Models ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Practicum Experience

The study aimed to describe how a team of final-year pre-service teachers followed the process of improvisation to develop and utilise improvised science-teaching models during a teaching practicum experience. Guided by a conceptual understanding of the process of improvisation, this purposeful qualitative case study sought to respond to a series of research questions. These research questions are: “What are the issues that necessitate the need to develop science-teaching models for a teaching practicum experience?”, “How could the process of improvisation enable Natural Science pre-service teachers to develop improvised science-teaching models for a teaching practicum experience?” and “To what extent do the Natural Science pre-service teachers utilise the improvised science-teaching models in their teaching practicum?” Data collection methods such as spontaneous free-response e-mail communications, a focus-group discussion, and the use of photo-voice methodology yielded rich empirical data. The findings revealed how the Natural Science pre-service teachers ultimately engaged with the improvisation principles to develop improvised science-teaching models from low-cost and recycled materials. The paper further describes how the improvised science-teaching models were introduced in the pre-service teachers’ Natural Science lesson delivery as part of a model-based teaching approach. Findings from the study suggest that initial teacher education programs render environmental and contextual consciousness in shaping pre-service teachers for the diverse schooling contexts. The study further suggests that initial teacher education programs be intentional towards structuring module course material to make the skill of improvisation accessible to pre-service teachers as part of their teacher development.

scholarly journals Preservice Teachers’ Sense of Belonging During Practicum Placements

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (11) ◽  
pp. 17-33
Author(s):  
Yvonne Dewhurst ◽  
◽  
Michelle Ronksley-Pavia ◽  
Donna Pendergast ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Preservice Teacher ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Preservice Teacher Education ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Hermeneutic Phenomenological

Practicum placements in schools are keystone features of preservice teacher education, yet inconsistencies in their nature and quality are pervasive. This phenomenon was explored in two cultural contexts, with a focus on ‘belonging’, which the literature reveals may impact practicums and commitment to the profession. Interviews were conducted with six primary school preservice teachers in Australia and Scotland, about their lived experience of belonging/non-belonging during practicum. Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis revealed four themes in both cultural contexts: 1. Being welcomed; 2. Settings and procedures; 3. Interpersonal interactions; and, 4. Strategic behaviours. This study indicates belonging as crucial to preservice teachers’ cognition, wellbeing and learning during practicums, with ‘non-belonging’ inhibiting their development. Preservice teacher and mentor preparedness for practicums is highlighted, alongside challenges for initial teacher education programs and schools in addressing the fundamental need to foster a sense of belonging for preservice teachers during this crucial aspect of their teacher preparation.

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