A practice turn in teacher education in Turkey: is a balanced practicum at risk?
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF TEACHER EDUCATION, vol.1, no.1, pp.1-17, 2024 (SSCI, Scopus)
- Publication Type: Article / Article
- Volume: 1 Issue: 1
- Publication Date: 2024
- Doi Number: 10.1080/02619768.2024.2337631
- Journal Name: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF TEACHER EDUCATION
- Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, EBSCO Education Source, Education Abstracts, Educational research abstracts (ERA), ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)
- Page Numbers: pp.1-17
- Çukurova University Affiliated: Yes
Abstract
The practicum in teacher education programmes typically includes an observation of the mentors or peers, as well as an actual teach-ing phase. In most programmes, the focus is more on the direct experience of teaching. Turkey, moved by a general dissatisfaction with how teacher education programmes prepare student teachers for the realities of the classroom, has initiated a new field experi-ence programme that does not include observation. We aim to depict the realities of all participants including student teachers, mentors and supervisors on the disappearance of a once central component of the teaching experience- the observation, as well as its replacement with more practice time. A qualitative research design has been adopted and the data have been collected from surveys and interviews. The findings demonstrate that the partici-pants value both the potential of learning from observation and the opportunity to be involved in more practice during the practicum process.