Teacher Certificate Program Students’ Opinions on Teaching Practice
Journal Name:
- Eğitim Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi (EBAD)
Keywords (Original Language):
Author Name | University of Author | Faculty of Author |
---|---|---|
Abstract (2. Language):
Introduction
Today, teacher trainingmodels are reformed in line with the rapid growth of science
and technology. Some alternative teacher training programs were practiced throughout the
years in order to overcome the expanding demand of qualified teachers in the education
system. For instance, a “teacher certificate program”, similar to those of other countries, was
put into practice for teacher training with the aim of employing graduates who studied
science and humanities at universities along with graduates who studied education.
The teacher certification program, which has been remodeled since 2007, in Turkey,
takes its place among the teacher education policies which have been in place in other
countries for many years, under the name of “teacher certificate programs”. However,
though the teacher certificate programs in Turkey last for 2 semesters (roughly 30 weeks) in
total, the time spared for “teaching practice” is only 10 weeks during the last semester of the
program and is generally not longer than 6 hours per week. What is more, teaching practice
is usually based on observing other cooperating teachers at work.
The teaching practice should be an experimental process in a real classroom
environment in which teacher candidates practice their theoretical knowledge acquired
during their undergraduate education; receive feedback from their cooperating teachers,
supervisors, and peers about the process; and improve themselves as needed according to
their experience and the feedback they receive. The primary aim of this process is to create
an environment where teacher candidates can display their theoretical acquirements and
provide them with opportunities to practice in a real classroom environment. For this reason,
teaching practice is considered a bridge between theory and practice in the process of
preparation for teaching profession.
Many resources argue that the positive or negative experiences of teacher candidates
during the teaching practice process affect both their education and their professional lives.
In this sense, courses for teaching practice taken before starting to teach professionally take a
significant place in the pre-service teacher education process.
The experience acquired during teaching practice also enables teacher candidates to
acknowledge the teaching skills they have, improve them, and internalize roles and
behaviors they display in teaching practices. Studies in the field, as well as the feedback
received from teacher candidates, supports the idea that teaching practice is the most
important part of teacher education programs.
The present study intends to examine the views of the teacher candidates in the
teacher certificate program on “Teaching Practice Course”. In Turkey, teacher certificate
programs are practiced as a second alternative to training and are in place in several
different institutions. There are quite extensive studies on teaching practice courses and their
functions in the process of teacher training in Turkish education and other contexts.
However, the importance of the present study is that the opinions of teacher certificate
program students have not been sufficiently considered in other studies on teaching practice
courses in the teacher training process of Turkey.Despite the similar issues presented in literature with its various aspects, studies
reflecting the effectiveness of teacher certificate programs or the views of teacher candidates
receiving education in these programs are quite rare in Turkey. The available studies in
literature, although making valuable contributions, aim to evaluate the entirety of such
certification programs in the opinions of teacher candidates in general.
The scarcity of studies concerning teacher certificate programs, especially those
specifically concerning teaching practice courses once again proves the significance of the
present study. Thus, it is hoped that the present study, which focuses on the views of teacher
candidates enrolled in teacher certificate programson teaching practice courses of teacher
candidates will contribute to filling a significant gap in the field.
Method
In accordance with the above mentioned aim, this study addresses the following
research questions: “What are the views of teacher candidates receiving education in
teaching certification program on teaching practice course?” and “To what extent does the
teaching practice course contribute to the professional development of teacher candidates?”
40 teacher candidates participated in this study. The participants were enrolled in the teacher
certificate program at the Faculty of Education at Akdeniz University in the 2010-2011
academic year. 7 of the participants graduated from Turkish Language and Literature
departments of universities outside Turkey which are accredited by the Council of Higher
Education and 33 were from Turkish Language and Literature departments of various
universities around Turkey.
This qualitative study used a descriptive survey model of data collection. Participants
responded to a survey developed by the researchers and findings were presented
descriptively. Teacher candidate responses were examined using content analysis
techniques, classified thematically, and later, interpreted in detail in the light of the defined
research questions. When necessary, the views of teacher candidates were presented as
quotations in the interpretation of the findings.
Findings and Discussion
Prior to taking the teaching practice course, the vast majority of participants believed
that the course was unnecessary (87%) and would make no contributions to them in a
professional way (68%). However, at the end of the course, participants were asked if their
opinions had changed. All of them (100%) had changed their ideas about the course,
including those participants who had originally thought the course would be beneficial.
Their opinions of the course’s necessity and importance were strengthened.
In terms of professional development, all of the participants avowed that the teaching
practice course provided various positive contributions to their teaching profession. Most
notably, participants reported that the teaching practice course helped them in:“gaining
experience”, “making lesson plans”, “classroom management and control”, “communicating with
students”, “using time effectively”, “problem solving”, “learning how to convey knowledge and
experience to the classroom, “observing a model teacher, “seeing deficiencies”, “increasing teaching
knowledge and experience”, “learning how to treat to students”, “understanding the importance of
being prepared for the lesson”, and “being able to use teaching techniques and methods”.
When asked about the positive and negative aspects of the teaching practice course,
almost all the teacher candidates (98%) made several positive comments about this course,
such as "being preliminary preparation for teaching”, providing learning by practice and experience”, “gaining professional experience”, “giving the opportunity to get to know students”,
“gaining professional confidence”, “giving the chance to see how administrative affairs are executed in
schools”, “enabling them to feel more competent”, “providing real classroom environment”, and
“improving lecturing skills". However, a low number of participants (2%) stated that,
alongside preparing lesson plans and making materials, the teaching practice course
burdened them with the complete formality of preparing files for their supervisors at the
university, and therefore, it had no positive contribution.
When participants were asked whose feedback they found the most useful
throughout the teaching practice, 40% of the participants stated that the feedback of
cooperating teachers from practice schools was of maximal benefit, 30% remarked that it was
the supervisor’s feedback they benefited most from, 20% claimed it was their peers who
shared the same environment during practice phase, and 10% stated that it was through the
reflection reports they had completed for themselves at the end of each lesson.
When participants were asked about their satisfaction with the course and whether
their expectations were generally filled, nearly all of the teacher candidates (98.5%) were
highly satisfied with the course and their expectations were completely fulfilled during the
teaching practice course,. However, a small number of participants (1.5%) reported that their
expectations were not fulfilled and they were unsatisfied with the course.
Conclusion and recommendations
In the light of the findings of the study, it is recommended that the stakeholders and
other educational policy makers should reform standing teacher certificate programs to
include more opportunities for candidate teachers to gain experience through increased
practice hours along with the theoretical courses.
Furthermore, because of the scarcity of research in the Turkish context of teacher
certificate programs, researchers need to conduct additional studies comparing the views of
teacher candidates from teacher education programs with those in teacher certification
programs. Researchers should also examine the views of teacher candidates in these
programs from different aspects such as contributions of the outcomes of the other courses in
the teaching certificate programs to the teaching practice process.
Bookmark/Search this post with
Abstract (Original Language):
Eğitim alanında nitelikli eleman ve öğretmenler yetiştirilmesi uzun yıllar üniversitelerin eğitim fakülteleri aracılığıyla yapılmaktadır. Zaman zaman artan nitelikli eleman ihtiyacının karşılanması için yetkili birimler farklı uygulamaları gündeme getirmiş ve öğretmen yetiştirmede farklı alternatif programlar uygulanmıştır. Bu uygulamalardan birisi de gerekli koşulları karşılamaları şartıyla üniversitelerin eğitim fakültesi dışındaki fakültelerden mezun olan bireylere de öğretmenlik yapabilme olasılığı sağlayan öğretmenlik formasyonu ya da pedagojik formasyon eğitimidir. Pedagojik formasyon eğitimi kapsamında verilen dersler arasında öğretmenlik uygulaması dersi, öğretmen adaylarının kuramsal derslerden edindiği bilgi ve becerilerini aktarabileceği eğitim ve uygulama arasında bir köprü görevi gören derslerden birisidir. Bu nedenle öğretmen adaylarının bu ders ile ilgili görüşlerinin bilinmesi öğretmen yetiştirme politikalarının ve programlarının yeniden yapılandırılmasında önemli bir yer tutacaktır. Alanyazında pedagojik formasyon eğitimi ile ilgili fazla çalışmanın bulunmaması, öğretmen yetiştirme politikaları kapsamında bu programların mezunlarına da yer verilmeye başlanması, onların da görüşlerinin öğretmen yetiştirme politikalarında olumlu katkı sağlayacağı görüşü doğrultusunda bu nitel çalışma desenlenmiştir. Bu çalışma ile pedagojik formasyon eğitimine devam eden öğretmen adaylarının öğretmenlik uygulaması dersi ile ilgili görüşleri toplanmış, genel olarak öğretmen adaylarının; dersi almazdan önce bu ders ile ilgili kaygıları ve korkuları olsa da dersi aldıktan sonra bu tedirginliklerinin ortadan kalktığı; bu dersin onların mesleki gelişimlerine katkı sağladığı ve bu dersi almaktan oldukça memnun kaldıkları bulgularına ulaşılmıştır.
FULL TEXT (PDF):
- 2