Pre-service teachers' perspectives on their experience in a school-based Practicum: a mixed methods approach

• Ana Mª Pinto-Llorente ^[1] ; Marcos Cabezas-González ^[1] ; Sonia Casillas-Martín ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de Salamanca

     Universidad de Salamanca

     Salamanca, España

     
• Localización: Search and research [Recurso electrónico]: teacher education for contemporary contexts / coord. por Juan José Mena Marcos, Ana García-Valcárcel Muñoz-Repiso, Francisco José García Peñalvo, Marta Martín del Pozo, 2017, ISBN 978-84-9012-769-8, págs. 625-635
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The aim of this paper is to explore pre-service teachers’ perspectives towards a school-based Practicum within the context of a Degree in Primary Education: English. The practicum experience took place in different primary education schools during the 1st semester of the academic year 2015-2016, and lasted for seven weeks. During the 2nd semester participants were enrolled in another subject of Practicum in which they analysed the previous experience. We used a mixed methods approach. The instrument used to collect the quantitative data was a questionnaire divided into four parts: (1) socio-demographics characteristics of the participants; (2) analysis of the educational reality and organisational aspects; (3) teacher-tutor performance; and (4) pre-service teachers’ teaching intervention. A total of 113 pre-service teachers, ranging in age from 22 to 48, completed the survey at the beginning of the 2nd semester. In addition, qualitative data were obtained through semi-structure interviews. The qualitative sample was non-probabilistic, cumulative and sequential, to reach theoretical saturation and meet the objectives of the research. The sample was made up a total of 57 pre-service teachers. On analysing the results we found that the majority of the pre-service teachers highlighted the importance of the school-based Practicum as an opportunity to develop their teaching skills in the real context of a classroom setting. They stated that it was a fantastic experience to put into practice the knowledge acquired at university.