Those who work to prepare student teachers in the field have faced increasing demands due to the most recent reform effort to professionalize teacher education. Three notable changes brought about by the professionalization movement are: (1) standards-based professional education, (2) state mandated teacher performance assessments, and (3) the…

This qualitative research, completed through the implementation of a case study, was conducted to explore the benefits of children's literature core-curriculum alignment with preservice teacher practicum experience. The significance of the study was based on four foundation issues: personal reading attitude, addressing the value of using…

Interculturalism is a major theme that needs to inform the teaching and learning of all subjects in teacher education courses. Moreover, the practicum is an area where there needs to be more attention given to developing the attributes of an intercultural teacher. In 2008 I took a group of thirteen teacher education students on a three-week…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the educational value of teaching practicum in secondary schools. For this purpose, on the basis of literature review and interviews, three evaluation criteria for measuring educational value of teaching practicum are constructed as follows: (1) practical teaching competence, (2) readiness for teacher, and…

Today there is sufficient evidence that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT henceforth) has a significant influence on the teaching and learning process that takes places in the classroom. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the ESL pre-service teachers' attitudes, competency and preparation in integrating ICT in their teaching…

A brief history of the UCLA Practicum for Educational Developers is given as are the goals of the practicum and some of the obstacles in its path. The practicum seeks to train development personnel in the context of real development tasks, requires proven competence, is a team effort, and is based on the assumption that novices need assistance and…

Portfolio assessment of teaching practice was first introduced into the University of Botswana's Faculty of Education in May 2010. This study sought to investigate the impact of this innovative new professional development/assessment system on the professional growth and development of in-service teachers. The findings of the study suggest that…

Building on Opportunities for Student Teaching and Learning (BOOST) is a community-based summer preschool program developed, implemented, and coordinated by student teachers, university supervisors, and faculty. Ten preservice graduate students participated in BOOST practicum activities during the spring and summer terms of their 1-year Early…

Attracting and retaining quality teachers to rural and remote areas has been a challenge over the last decade. Many preservice teachers are reluctant to experience a rural and remote practicum and may not consider applying to teach in such areas when they graduate. Education departments and universities need to explore innovative ways that will…

Student teachers studying to become primary school teachers in New Zealand can spend up to 24 weeks on professional teaching practice in schools. This paper describes a model (based on the Conversational Framework by Laurillard), developed after conducting an action research study requiring critical reflection on the practice of giving feedback to…

A practicum course for prospective teachers of the gifted was designed, implemented, and evaluated. The 209 teachers found the practicum teaching, observations of their teaching, and papers they wrote to be effective learning experiences. Observers' ratings of the teachers indicated that a majority performed well in the practicum. (Author/JDD)

The 2010 Professional Development Schools National Conference recognized the professional development school relationship between Towson University with its dual certification major and the Howard County Public School System for its outstanding collaborative accomplishments, naming the Towson-Waterloo-Ilchester-Bellows Spring PDS as a recipient of…

The specialty preparation program within the speech-language pathology master's degree program at Nazareth College in Rochester, New York, was designed to train speech-language pathologists to work with children who are deaf and hard of hearing, ages 0 to 21. The program is offered in collaboration with the Rochester Institute of Technology,…

Experiential placements are increasingly recognised as an essential component of university programmes, providing students with real-world contexts to apply their knowledge and to develop practical skills and personal attributes. In Australia, professions such as pharmacy have traditionally developed experiential placement programmes within state…

This paper describes the evaluation of an experimental program in which eight student special education teachers supervised new preservice trainees in a Direct Instruction practicum. Improvement in trainees' presentation and error correction skills and their positive evaluation of the practicum suggest the effectiveness of this peer coaching…