Associate teachers have always been integral to pre-service teacher education, providing learning experiences to support the development of pedagogical knowledge in various subject areas. However, the requirement by many national and provincial curricula that technology be integrated into teaching practice, calls for a re-examination of the roles…

This article is a collaborative self-study of our development as beginning teacher educators over the course of an academic year. A focus of our self-study was our shared interest in the role of theory and of practice in teacher education programs. Theodore taught a philosophy of education course and Shawn taught a practicum supervision course.…

This quantitative, descriptive study examined the specific factors that novice surgical technologists (preceptees) and practicing surgical technologists (preceptors) perceived as important to a successful learning partnership. The Learning Partnership Survey was administered to a convenience sample of 66 surgical technologists employed at an acute…

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…

One of the perennial challenges for academics working in the area of professional experiences (practicum) is how to negotiate the constantly moving and contradictory boundaries around their work. A number of questions arise. Firstly, how do they cope with the "shifting, changing landscape" (Clandinin, 2008) of the university and at the…

Novice nurses encounter numerous factors that impact on their learning in the complex healthcare workplace. Registered nurses often work one-on-one with novices as preceptors to facilitate the development of novices' clinical skills and socialisation into the profession. This paper explores the concept of preceptorship from novice nurses' and…

The authors describe practitioners' professional development, the challenges and dilemmas that they confront, and the support they receive in their work. They focus on examples of supervision sessions and describe typical dilemmas and solutions that come up during these sessions. These examples reflect four main themes that were identified as…

Though the importance of including practicum experiences in programs for the preparation of elementary preservice teachers is generally accepted, the nature of these experiences on the development of skills in teaching science can vary greatly. This study compares the effect of variations in field experiences at two institutions, one which…

Courses preparing early childhood professionals through institutes of technical and further education utilise competency standards to guide the assessment of students during professional experience. Some universities offering early childhood teacher education courses use the term "competencies" in practicum assessment forms and draw on…

In our pre-service department, university practicum supervisors are faculty members who offer academic, social, and personal support to teacher candidates during their year-long program. Their role is described as one designed primarily to provide formative assessment and feedback to improve classroom practice and reflection on practice. This…

The development of the dynamic skills approach at the University of Chicago as contrasted with the component skills approach to Stanford has shifted microteaching out of the "practical problems" arena and into a more central position between theory and practice. The Stanford model included three stages: general orientation, viewing of skill films,…

The separation of supervision from social work has created a false dichotomy between practice and supervision, leaving supervision outside the conceptual framework of professional values, skills, and knowledge. Explores the history of social work supervision and suggests a model based on the social work practice concepts of mediation and mutual…

The problem of bias in qualitative research particularly is still debated in methodology texts and there is a lack of agreement on how much researcher influence is acceptable, whether or not it needs to be "controlled", and how it might be accounted for. Denzin (1994) refers to this as the "interpretive crisis" (p. 501). I…