Question
Explain the purposes and significance of teaching practice in the teacher education curriculum.
Course: Teacher Education in PakistanCourse code 8626
Level: B.Ed (1.5 Years)
Solved Assignment
Answer:
Teaching practice is an essential component of becoming a teacher. It grants student teachers experience in the
actual teaching and learning environment (Ngidi & Sibaya, 2003:18; Marais
& Meier, 2004:220; Perry, 2004:2). During teaching practice, a student teacher
is given the opportunity to try the art of teaching before actually getting into
the real world of the teaching profession (Kasanda, 1995). Student teachers
also know the value of teaching practice. As remarked by Mentor (1989:461),
they perceive it as 'the crux of their preparation for the teaching profession'
since it provides for the 'real interface' between student hood and membership
of the profession. As a result, teaching practice creates a mixture of
anticipation, anxiety, excitement, and apprehension in the student teachers as
they commence their teaching practice (Manion, Keith, Morrison & Cohen,
2003; Perry, 2004:4).
Marais & Meier (2004:221)
assert that the term teaching practice represents the range of experiences to
which student teachers are exposed when they work in classrooms and schools.
Marais and Meier (2004:221) further argue that teaching practice is a
challenging but important part of teacher training, especially in developing
countries such as South Africa, where the effectiveness of the teaching
practice can be diminished or eroded by a range of challenges, such as
geographical distance, low and uneven levels of teacher expertise, a
wide-ranging lack of resources as well as a lack of discipline among a wide cross-section
of learners and educators.
These challenges, if not
addressed, may affect student teachers' performance during teaching practice
and may in the long run affect their perception of the teaching profession
(Quick & Sieborger, 2005). mentor (1989:460) notes that there has been a
shift in the literature from the concept of teaching practice (associated with
an apprenticeship model) to the concept of field/school experience (associated
with an experiential model). Lave & Wenger (1991) point out that however
way it may be envisaged, the notion of teaching practice is entrenched in experience-based
learning initiated by Dewey (1938), Vygotsky's (1978) social cognitive theory,
and founded in the premise of situated learning. Consequently as suggested by
the South African Norms & Standards for Educators (Republic of South
Africa, 2000:12),
teaching practice is meant to
provide an authentic context within which student teachers are exposed to
experience the complexities and richness of the reality of being a teacher.
This process allows the student teacher an opportunity to establish whether the
right career choice has been made or not. However, despite its importance,
Killen & Steyn (2001) note that teaching practice sometimes becomes a
demoralizing and sometimes very frightening experience.
Several studies have been
conducted on student teachers' experiences and anxieties during teaching
practice (Ngidi & Sibaya, 2003; Marais & Meier, 2004)to mention but
two. However, a review of the literature indicates that there are limited
studies that have been conducted regarding ways in which students' experiences
during teaching practice influence their perception of and attitudes towards
the teaching profession The study examined the experiences of Vaal University
of Technology (VUT) Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) student
teachers during their teaching practice in the Vaal Triangle. The study was
prompted by a class discussion where students were requested to give reasons
for choosing the teaching profession.
The majority of the students in that class indicated
that they were doing the course by default. The students saw it as a stopgap
while they waited for better career opportunities in other fields. Most of the
students were from other countries and had been offered government bursaries to
enroll for the PGCE program. These students enrolled because they had no
alternative since they were not able to get jobs after their undergraduate
qualification and because there was funding available for them to do the PGCE
course. The majority of student teachers indicated that they had no intention of
teaching after the course. During the year, some students main- tained the same
attitude while others felt that teaching was "not such a bad thing after
all".
All students continued with
the course until the time they had had to go for teaching practice. While
curriculum specialists, administrators, and outside educational companies spend countless
hours developing curriculum, it is the teachers who know best what the curriculum
should look like. After all, they work directly with the students meant to
benefit from the curriculum. In order to create a strong curriculum, teachers
must play an integral role in every step of the process.
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