Purpose: The purpose of this research was to explore the preparation of practitioners from two disciplines--speech-language pathology and elementary education--who often work together in a school setting to identify ways to best support future professionals in their educational practicum settings. The primary research questions guiding this…

The need for well-prepared special education teachers makes it important to examine how to best select candidates for special education teacher preparation programs, or at least to determine which, if any, admission variables relate to program outcome measures. This study is a replication and extension of a 2012 study--it used archival data from…

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted society. The effects of COVID-19 on the identification, evaluation, delivery of services, and on due process rights of children with disabilities and their parents are most probably adverse, though far from fully understood. Teacher preparation programs, with so much involvement with schools, have…

In Portugal, professional preparation for working with infants and toddlers is often characterized as insufficient and/or inadequate in light of the specific professionalism required for working with very young children. This study is situated in initial professional education (IPE) and, in particular, on practicum experiences within an early…

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools from elementary to post-secondary suddenly shifted to remote learning, placing a heavy burden on parents and caregivers. Likewise, social work practicum placements pivoted to remote learning, compounding existing difficulties securing practicum opportunities. This article describes a response to these…

A teaching practicum is a course of study in which pre-service teachers get to experience actual teaching in real classrooms. Mentor teachers who are assigned to mentor and supervise pre-service teachers have many important roles to play in the practicum experience, yet no extensive research has been conducted on these roles. This study sought to…

Research is an integral component of social work education, yet social work students often experience considerable fear and anxiety when faced with the prospect of engaging in research and research-related activities. Student reluctance towards research can cause significant challenges for social work educators. Literature suggests that certain…

Looking closely at lesson plans as mediating tools, this study examines preservice teacher learning. By using activity theory in our analysis of lesson plans and other data collected in a student-teaching course, we uncovered tensions within/across the contexts of university teacher education program and secondary school field placements. This…

The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers identify a range of supposedly demonstrable capabilities for graduate teachers. Elaborations privilege the realization of Standards through mentoring, and feedback from senior colleagues. As manifestations of the logic of neo-liberalism they operate as audit technologies for pre-service teachers…

Teacher education programmes are often tasked with preparing predominantly White, middle class, pre-service teachers to be effective in diverse contexts. Many teacher educators consider practicum experiences critical to forming values and dispositions necessary for the teaching profession. This article focuses on the work of two White,…

Space is not separable from the learning and teaching that take place in and through teacher education programs. In this paper, we attempt to illustrate how the use of a spatial lens in preservice teachers field placement can provide them with opportunities to raise questions and understand more about the relationships between self, the discursive…

This paper, using the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as the underpinning framework, examines student teachers' basic psychological needs, their subjective experience and their perceived teaching competence during practicum. It attempted to establish whether there were distinct groups of student teachers with different needs satisfaction, and how…

The purpose of this research is to determine the opinions of academicians teaching the internship practicum course at different universities and to examine the guidebooks used by universities according to set criteria. The sample consists of 17 academicians at 17 state universities. The data were collected using the qualitative research method and…

An ongoing problem for teacher education institutions is bridging the gap between theory and practice and offering authentic experiences to challenge preservice teachers' pedagogical decision-making. Preservice practicums simulate teaching and can, at best, offer controlled experiences in familiar settings. This restricts the opportunities for…

This study investigated what happened during the implementation of a co-teaching model for student-teaching from a relational perspective. When analyzed through the theoretical framework of care ethics, teacher-candidates and their mentor-teachers developed caring relationships, acknowledged and negotiated differential power dynamics, and…