The Impact of Teaching Practice on Female Students’ Preparation for Mathematics Teacher Education Programme in Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria

This small sample study was conducted to investigate the impact of teaching practice on female students’ preparation for mathematics teacher education programme. The design adopted was a descriptive survey research design. A sample of 30 female students was selected from 50 students who have participated in teaching practice programme for the degree programme at Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria. Data were collected through closed-ended and open-ended questionnaires administered to the sampled students, and teaching practice supervisors, co-coordinators, and heads of Departments from the school where the students did their teaching practice respectively. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and by categorising the responses of the participants according to the theme of the study. The findings include, amongst others that teaching practice beyond enhancing the students’ preparation for mathematics education programme, it helps female students to develop more interest and confidence in studying and teaching mathematics. Following the findings, recommendations for mathematics teacher education programme were made. It was recommended amongst others, that there is need to continue to use teaching practice programme to prepare pre-service teachers in mathematics education.

TEACHER EDUCATION IN THE TIME OF COVID AND BEYOND

The Covid-19 pandemic has shattered the lifestyle, daily routine, and especially the education system of the globe. The academic fraternity has been badly affected by this pandemic. Teacher educators across the different universities in India have been abruptly pushed into the charted online classes since India went into lockdown on March 25, 2020.The traditional teacher training practices created chaos in the online teacher preparation and practice procedures. The first part of this paper focuses on the challenges of teacher educators and prospective teachers during online teacher education programme and the second part envisages the need for an updated curriculum and a few feasible solutions to the problems highlighted.

Exploring Awareness for Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPAC) in Pre-Service Teacher Education Programme

The purpose of the present study is to explore the prospective teacher’s awareness about Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework in their ongoing teacher education programme. The sample comprised 80 B.Ed. students from two colleges of Jammu division and 20 M.Ed. students from one prominent university of the Jammu division. The investigator employed a self-constructed semi-structured tool as per the objective of the study. The study employed a descriptive exploratory design. The findings revealed that both at UG and PG level, students have individualised knowledge about technology, pedagogy and content but, the least number of students were familiar with this framework. The study included some concrete suggestions and recommendations for meaningful integration of Technology-mediated pedagogy in the ongoing teacher education programme at the regional and national level. The findings of the study help in strengthening the policy formulation for teacher education in the current perspective.

Teachers’ Standards in Ghana’s Initial Teacher Education Programme: Some Implementation Issues and Challenges

Ensuring high standards in the preparation of teachers is critical for the effective professional practice of the Ghanaian teacher. This study examines the National Teachers Standards (NTS) for teachers in Ghana with particular focus on the initial teacher education (ITE) programme, and how tutors and student teachers (mentees) apply the NTS. Adopting a mixed methods approach to the collection of data from participants (368 tutors, 3,600 students of whom 408 are mentees), the findings of this study show that not all of the tutors apply the NTS in their practice as expected. The study also found that few of the student teachers (mentees) demonstrate application of the NTS. In terms of policy, there is a need to deepen further training for tutors if they are all expected to implement the NTS as intended.