A team of teacher educators conducted a phenomenological study to explore the perceptions of teacher candidates (TCs), their cooperating teachers (CTs), and university supervisors (USs) during and after they participated in a redesigned seven-week practicum that led directly into seven weeks of student teaching. Data were collected via two surveys…

This study examines the experiences of teachers enrolled in an online certificate program for K-12 online teaching. Participants blogged weekly regarding their experiences developing and facilitating an online course. Qualitative analysis of the data shows that teachers face many challenges in developing and facilitating an online course; however,…

This study sought to understand the process of providing on-campus practical experience to teacher trainees in preparation for practicum in basic schools, and how the trainees perceive these. It used the mixed method approach to obtain data from three purposively sampled colleges of education in the Central Region of Ghana. Questionnaires were…

Field experience (FE) is a key component of pre-service English language teacher education enabling the early integration of pre-service teachers (PSTs) in real teaching situations. As a well-researched area, FE is known to increase PSTs' teaching-efficacy perceptions. Thus, to better understand how it does so in the Turkish context, this study…

This article chronicles the perspectives of two teacher candidates who displayed comfort with cultural issues and teaching for social justice, in contrast with many of their peers in the program who were uncomfortable with diversity. Their field experiences in a piloted urban reading practicum are documented, as part of a partnership with a…

In an attempt to analyse more closely the training experiences of pre-service teachers, the author conducted an exploratory quasi-experimental study at a university located in the Rocky Mountain region of the USA. All students who were enrolled in the same reading methods course (but enrolled in different sections) were invited to participate in…

This article presents findings from a study that investigated intercultural teaching through teachers' collaborative conversations about critical intercultural incidents in schools. The data were generated through Web-CT and face-to-face dialogues between preservice, inservice, and university teachers about critical intercultural incidents…

This paper reports on a study of 22 preservice teachers enrolled in a first-semester mathematics teaching methods course. Course activities included participation in two separate field experiences in neighboring school districts. The methods class placed considerable emphasis on the use of advanced digital technologies in the teaching and learning…

This qualitative study, grounded in Dewey's theory of experience, explores what six recent graduates claimed to learn from a university music teacher education program's methods course, early field experiences, and student teaching. These teachers identified common elements of learning from the course, although they shaped and applied those…

The purpose of this study was to explore perceived concerns of preservice music education teachers across four different points in professional development. A 45-item Teacher Concerns Checklist (Borich, 2000), based upon Fuller and Bown's (1975) three-stage model of teacher development, identified respondents' levels of self-concerns, task…

This paper compares the stress of inservice teachers and preservice student teachers. The situation of student teachers is compared to that of cultural anthropologists in the field. This paradigm aids student teachers to objectify and to cope with the stresses and strains of their own fieldwork. The student teaching practicum is viewed as a type…

The social work academic community is currently considering and critiquing the idea of evidence-based practice (EBP). Given the vital part that practicum education plays in the social work profession, understanding the views of field instructors on this subject is essential. The George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University…

This study describes and evaluates the first year of a 2-year masters degree urban teacher education program. The first year consists of four separate components, each of which is evaluated separately on the basis of previously stated objectives. The first component, Community Orientation and Study, involves a 6-week living experience in the inner…

The purpose of this study was to identify and compare the teaching concerns of two groups of preservice teachers who were taught language arts methodology through the use of different approaches. A traditional approach (lectures and demonstrations by the professor) was used with one group (n=43) and a field-experience approach (lectures by the…

This study examined changes in novice teachers' feelings of self-efficacy (the belief that he or she can be successful in affecting student performance) and their beliefs about teaching as they completed a clinical experience in their teacher education program. It also attempted to identify factors which influenced these changes and to examine…