A Practicum Turn In Teacher Education

Challenges to practicum! The authors have explored professional practice knowledge and the ways practicum is dealt with in teacher education. They report from Research and Development projects based on collaboration between universities and school communities. Empirical studies have been carried out in Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Communication about practicum is reframed. Preservice teachers’ experiences during practicum serve as a point of departure for improving teacher education. The book is a must for everyone committed to quality in initial teacher education, including preservice teachers, school leaders and local supervisors. “This volume explores new and different ways to think about the construction and evaluation of the practicum that students encounter. Contributors ask the reader to consider the assumptions that the practicum is based on, question these assumptions and strive to find new and better ways to contribute to the autonomy, professionalism, and moral development of emerging teachers. The focus is clearly on creating conversational and learning spaces for students that encourage them to think explicitly about theory and its application to practice and vice versa. The book not only challenges our thinking but also provides rich examples of research and evaluation in this area, which help us to hear the voices of those involved in the practicum in fresh and insightful ways.” Reflections by Roslin Brennan Kemmis, Head of the School of Education, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia

Learning to teach is complex. Teacher candidates begin a preservice program with powerful tacit assumptions about how teachers teach based on lengthy apprenticeships of observation over many years as students. Virtually all teacher education programs provide a mixture of coursework and classroom experience. Much has been written about the theory-into-practice approach in teacher education, an approach that assumes teacher candidates who have been provided with instructions about how to teach will be able to recall and apply them in a school setting. In reality, teacher candidates report considerable difficulty enacting theory in practice, to the point that many question the value of coursework. This book takes an in-depth look at five future teachers in one teacher education program, analyzing and interpreting how they and their teacher educators learn from experience during both coursework and practicum experiences. Many assumptions about the complex challenges of teaching teachers are called into question. Is the role of a teacher educator to synthesize research-based best practices for candidates to take to their field placements? Does the preservice practicum experience challenge or reinforce a lifetime of socialized experiences in schools? Must methods courses always be seen by most teacher candidates as little more than sites for collecting resources? Where and how do candidates construct professional knowledge of teaching? The data illustrate clearly that methods courses can be sites for powerful learning that challenges tacit assumptions about how and why we teach.

Dimensions and Emerging Themes in Teaching Practicum establishes a forum to identify the characteristics of good practices of teaching practicum and debates key concepts and emerging themes in the field. The book takes a closer look at practicum from various dimensions and aims to obtain a deeper understanding of how it is perceived and whether the stakeholders in the practicum triad –university based teacher educators, pre-service teachers and school-based mentor teachers – share a common view in the same context. It provides opportunities for personal and professional growth for teacher candidates and an increased familiarity with international employment settings. With contributions throughout from the USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Finland, Norway and Turkey, the book begins with a critical review of teaching practicum studies and goes on to consider such important topics as: pre-service teachers’ views of developing professional practice, virtual tools for teacher training, internationalization and creativity in teacher education programs. The book clarifies these key issues from the lens of research and practice by taking a closer look at practicum from various angles including new trends and practices as a response to changing needs in teacher education. Dimensions and Emerging Themes in Teaching Practicum will be of great interest to researchers and students in the teacher education field and will also appeal to teacher educators, policy makers in education and pre-service teachers.

This international handbook provides a sophisticated re-examination of self-study of teaching and teacher education practices research 16 years after the publication of the first edition by Springer (2004). Through six sections, it offers an extensive international review of research and practices by examining critical issues in the self-study field today. They are: (1) Foundations of Self-Study, (2) Self-Study Methods and Methodologies, (3) Self-Study and Teaching and Teacher Education for Social Justice, (4) Self-Study Across Subject Disciplines, (5) Self-Study in Teacher Education and Beyond, and (6) Self-Study across Cultures and Languages. Exemplars, including many recent studies, illustrate the impact of this well-established research movement in teacher education in the English-speaking world and internationally. Readers of the handbook will benefit from a comprehensive review of the field of self-study that is accessible to a range of readers; theoretically and methodologically rich; highly practical to both novices and experienced practitioners; and offers a vision for self-study internationally over the next two decades.

The development and implementation of effective teacher education programs requires evaluating current processes and optimizing them for future improvements. This ensures that a higher quality of education is delivered to the next generation of students. Formative Assessment Practices for Pre-Service Teacher Practicum Feedback: Emerging Research and Opportunities is an innovative source of academic information on the establishment of formative feedback processes in teacher education programs. Including perspectives on relevant topics such as video feedback, accreditation, and student literacy, this book is ideal for students, researchers, academics, and professionals actively involved in the education field.

This book takes a fresh look at 'professional experience' in initial teacher education in Australia. Using collaborative narrative methodologies, the authors critically explore the ways in which one faculty of education engages with schools, industry, the teaching profession and government policy to deliver an innovative professional experience program. It includes chapters offering new perspectives on more traditional practicums in schools, as well as those reporting on exciting partnership initiatives where pre-service teachers, teacher educators and practitioners work together to teach and learn in new and mutually beneficial ways. There is a particular focus on the professional learning of all stakeholders from across the professional experience program. The book allows readers to gain a new understanding of the experiences and learning opportunities available to all stakeholders when a professional experience program makes a priority of boundary work, relational work and identity work. With the critical and creative power of narrative to convey what other research methodologies cannot, it shows how one institution has developed a variety of innovative approaches and structures in response to on-going debates on quality in teacher education, the role of educational partnerships in teacher preparation and the personal and professional insights gained from such opportunities.

In Practical Knowledge in Teacher Education, expert contributors from across Asia and Europe explore and reflect upon the innovation and creativity in teacher education programs. Specific focus is given to the internships that provide students an opportunity for intensive, hands-on experience in schools. Different approaches to internship provide comprehensive information on a diversity of ways of organising and managing internship programmes within teacher education courses, and equip future teachers with real-world knowledge within a global context. This book focuses on approaches to internship in teacher education programmes in Europe and Asia. It explores the idea that a consideration of the rich variation in approaches and experience across Eurasia will foreground critical aspects of successful internship. Each chapter provides a different focus from Asian and European perspectives on aspects of the teacher education practicum or internship, and what can be learned from school placement. This book is an invaluable resource for all those involved in teacher education, educational policy and anyone who has a stake in ensuring effective teacher education for the 21st century. It offers a far reaching overview of the teacher internship phase across a number of countries, and contributes to identifying distinctive features of teacher education in European and Asian universities.