Clinical practice has long been an integral component of teacher education. In the past two decades, however, the call has intensified for more purposeful, inclusive, integrated, and reflective clinical experiences for teacher candidates learning how to teach and, more broadly, what it means to be a teacher. This article aims to offer a conceptual…

There is a paucity of research on what constitutes an ideal special education field experience, and it is not clear which components or activities within a field experience impact a teacher's growth to the greatest extent. Reviewing past research will assist in categorizing the components typically included in field experiences and may assist in…

This article extends prior research seeking to identify preparation features related to better workforce outcomes. To our knowledge, it is the first to link many dimensions of preparation to graduates' first-year observation ratings. It follows 305 preservice teachers (PSTs) who student taught in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) in 2014-2015 and were…

Faculty in an Educator Preparation Provider developed a system of instruction and assessment of professional dispositions that spans the teacher candidate's academic career. The system includes a quantifiable rubric to measure professional dispositions, with actionable behavior indicators for candidates and their supervisors to follow. This system…

The student-teaching experience is the most noteworthy experience for a teacher candidate (TC) in a teacher preparation program. University supervisors play a crucial role in this experience through feedback, support and maintaining congruency between the student teaching environment and the teacher preparation program. Due to issues related to…

The role of the cooperating teacher is an integral component of field-based teacher education because the cooperating teacher can bridge the gap between the knowledge developed on campus during physical education teacher education and preservice teachers' field-based learning experiences leading up to and including student teaching. In order to…

The purpose of this article was to examine the use of a gradual release of responsibility (GRR) model (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983) embedded in a coteaching framework (Heck & Bacharach, 2016) during the student-teaching portion of an alternative teaching licensure program. The goal was to improve an already existing student-teacher field…

We present results of a case study in which we analyzed the impact of problem-based learning (PBL) and cognitive scaffolding techniques introduced in our secondary social studies methods course on the perceptions and practices of 12 preservice teachers (PSTs) during their fall practicum and spring student teaching. Our PSTs reported teaching 54…

This research examined the critical incidents of 10 United States (US) early childhood student teachers during a three-week university-sponsored international field experience conducted in three urban preschools in Kathmandu, Nepal. The purpose of employing the critical incident technique was to allow the US student teachers to reflect critically…

School-based agriculture teachers (SBAE) hold many roles inside and outside of the school. Identifying and understanding the many roles an agriculture teacher may have in their career is an important part of an early field experience (EFE). In this study, EFE students (n = 18) submitted written reflections focused on the role of an agriculture…

Today's schools are more culturally and linguistically diverse than ever before, prompting the need for teachers with the requisite expertise for work with emergent bilingual learners. As students grow in numbers and fill seats in classrooms spanning grades and disciplines, teacher educators must consider ways to prepare an increasing number of…

Our recent research study investigated an international field experience for preservice teachers, labelled as a service-learning internship, a term often used to refer to a student teacher in a Bachelor of Education (BEd) program. Relying on what we know to be advantages and benefits of similar international field experiences for preservice…

Field experiences play a significant role in teacher preparation. Having a variety of authentic interactions in real classrooms gives teacher candidates experiences that can connect course theory and discussion with practice, creating a repertoire from which to draw and use in their future classrooms. With that background in mind, in this study,…

Worldwide, scholars and policymakers have called for teacher education to link fieldwork and coursework. This article examines teacher candidates' opportunities to talk about field placement within their campus coursework as one way of doing so. It reports on survey data (n = 270) and observation data (n = 52 hours) from 3 teacher-education…

Studying to be a teacher in their local community is not normal practice for student teachers in New Zealand initial teacher education (ITE) programs. This paper argues that student teachers in a distance ITE program who are familiar with the local school community can benefit from the experience. This qualitative study centered on a distance…