This article examines student teacher perceptions regarding the benefits of the teacher education practicum. For this purpose, a cross-sectional study was performed using a questionnaire. Participants consisted of 455 students from the Early Childhood and Primary Education Degrees studying at a university in the Madrid community. The questionnaire was administered between the academic years of 2017/2018 and 2021/2022 (2019/2020 was excluded due to the pandemic), at the end of each practicum period of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year courses of the distinct teaching student cohorts. Results were analyzed based on a quantitative perspective, revealing relevant benefit and utility profiles, confirming that the variable that most modulates student perception is the Practicum period (finding lower scores for the intermediate practicum), followed by the gender variable, and finally, the Degree variable, which has the most stable results. These findings are discussed, highlighting certain proposals to improve teaching practicum programs, and to encourage a better knowledge of the teaching practicum in terms of its benefits and usefulness, considering the teacher candidate perspective. 

Exploring Student Teacher Perceptions on the Benefits of the Teaching Practicum

Constructing teacher identity is important for pre-service teachers, especially when taking part in teacher training practicums in school. Nonetheless, they faced many adversities, such as passive students, negative emotions, and anxiety. Therefore, pre-service teachers need to be aware of their capacity for resilience. This study aimed to discover the resilience factors pre-service teachers had in coping with the problems found in teacher training practicums in schools in constructing their teacher identity. A mixed-method study from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews was employed to gather quantitative and qualitative data. The participants reported that they faced hard times but displayed high resilient ability. It was influenced by their perseverance, ability to reflect, adaptive help-seeking, responses to the negative affect, and emotional regulation. The resilient ability supports the teacher identity construction after conducting a teaching practicum in school. Further research needs to consider the number of participants, gender, age, and the school levels where the teaching practicums are conducted to gain more perspectives on pre-service teachers’ resilience.

Constructing Teacher Identity: Pre-Service Teacher Resilience JELTL

El formato Blended Learning (BL) permite generar y compartir conocimientos online en el contexto de una comunidad de aprendizaje que tiene, a su vez, la posibilidad de conocerse e interactuar presencialmente. Para el estudio expuesto en este artículo, se ha diseñado una investigación acción en el contexto académico del prácticum de magisterio, sustentada en un intercambio transnacional entre estudiantes de dos universidades, en España e Inglaterra. Para ello se ha habilitado una plataforma de intercambio virtual en la que los participantes han compartido saberes experienciales originados durante sus prácticas externas, en centros educativos de Infantil y Primaria. Antes y durante el proceso de comunicación, tienen lugar encuentros presenciales en los dos contextos nacionales, donde se diseñan y regulan las herramientas del intercambio y se incide en el desarrollo de la interculturalidad de los participantes. Los datos se han extraído y recopilado desde la misma plataforma, utilizada para el intercambio documental de narrativas e imágenes sobre la experiencia formativa in situ de los estudiantes, así como los posteriores diálogos y comentarios generados. Un análisis cualitativo del texto, con un proceso de codificación inductiva, permite identificar tres áreas o categorías matrices de saberes docentes intercambiados: los vinculados a la identificación de la motivación por el aprendizaje; aquellos asociados a los valores de la innovación; y aquellos centrados en los elementos curriculares. En la discusión se abordan las prestaciones de las herramientas online en los intercambios académicos virtuales, así como la vinculación entre saberes docentes y valores formativos del prácticum. Concluimos, finalmente, que el formato BL, por su naturaleza dual y compleja, incide sustancialmente enla naturaleza y dinámicas comunicativas que se establecen entre los participantes, por lo cual debe prestarse especial atención a la gestión, guiaje, y regulación de todo el proceso.

Saberes compartidos entre estudiantes de magisterio de un intercambio transnacional en formato Blended Learning

This study explored the interplay between teacher mindsets and grit levels of Turkish pre-service teachers taking their year of study into account (i.e., first-year vs the fourth year), gender, and the subject taught in a Turkish higher education setting. Student teachers from various programmes at a public university in Turkey participated in the study (N = 321). The participants completed the Teacher Mindset Scale and Grit Scale online after receiving the approval of the university’s ethics committee and signing the consent forms. The correlations between the components of teacher mindset and grit demonstrated that as growth teacher mindset scores increased, and effort scores also increased significantly. Furthermore, as fixed teacher mindset scores increased, interest scores decreased. First-year pre-service teachers had significantly higher fixed teacher mindset scores than the fourth year. In terms of grit, fourth-year pre-service teachers showed greater effort than the first year. There was no difference between female and male pre-service teachers regarding fixed teacher mindset. However, female pre-service teachers scored significantly higher on growth teacher mindset, interest, and effort scales. As for the subject taught, the Mathematics Education programme showed higher levels of fixed teacher mindset and the English Language Teaching programme showed lower levels of grit. Practical implications of our findings and limitations of the study are shared accordingly.

https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/2278860

Teacher Mindset and Grit: How do They Change by Teacher Training, Gender, and Subject Taught?

The mindset and motivation that teachers demonstrate are likely to influence their students’ mindset and motivation. While mindset and motivation of in-service teachers have been investigated thoroughly, the same cannot be said of pre-service teachers. Pre-service teachers’ mindset and motivation are likely developed during in-class experiences or practicum, the latter seen as the defining experience of pre-service teachers’ preparation. Understanding the changes that pre-service teachers undergo during their practicum experiences in terms of theories of intelligence, teaching efficacy, resilience, and grit is therefore crucial. This study used these constructs as examples of mindsets, self-beliefs, capacities, and personality traits. A cross-sectional design compared American and Canadian pre-practicum versus post-practicum pre-service teachers’ growth mindset and motivation and illustrated that similar effects occur across national contexts through a primarily quantitative questionnaire with open-ended questions. Triangulated statistical and thematic analyses illustrated that post-practicum students were less idealistic about the incremental nature of intelligence and reported higher resilience and a more pragmatic approach to teaching than their pre-practicum peers. The study’s findings extended other studies’ findings illustrating that changes occur specifically in teacher mindset as well as their strategies. Teacher education programs informed by these specific changes can capitalize on the pragmatic shift of teachers’ strategy selection while also coaching them to retain an incremental view of intelligence for their students’ benefit.

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Ji Hong

Papers

The school of hard knocks: Pre-service teachers’ mindset and motivational changes during their practicum