"Fit for the Profession": Supervising Teachers' Judgments During Practicum

• In Event: How You Doing? Cooperating Teacher and Supervisor Selection, Needs, and Expectations

Abstract

Making judgments about pre-service teachers’ capabilities as teachers is a complex process. This study reports on supervising teachers’ judgments regarding their teaching capabilities. The research draws on social justice theory and uses Haig, Ell & Mackisack’s (2013) 2 domains and 6 dimensions for assessing “readiness to teach” to guide the analysis of data collected from six supervising teachers. Data interpretations confirmed the presence of the 2 domains and 6 dimensions, and that peers often affirmed the supervising teachers’ judgments of pre-service teachers. Findings suggest that supervisors placed most emphasis on “personal qualities” and “professional expectations” of pre-service teachers for teaching, similar to Haigh’s et al., (2013) personal domain. This domain serves as a “gatekeeper” before other aspects are considered.

Authors

• Lynn Sheridan, University of Wollongong

• Sharon Tindall-Ford, University of Wollongong

• Garry F. Hoban, University of Wollongong

• Wendy S. Nielsen, University of Wollongong

• Kellie Buckley-Walker, University of Wollongong

• Peter Anderson

• Dennis Jablonski, Southern Oregon University

• Susan Duchesne

• Noelene Weatherby-Fell