Extending the teaching practice to build stronger preservice teachers’ instructional abilities. Is it feasible?

• In Event: Can adding a fourth year to preservice teacher education close the teacher training divide in Rwanda?

Proposal

The teaching practice, also known as Practicum or Internship, is recognized as a critical component of teacher preparation, and it is considered crucial in building a cadre of effective teachers in LMICs (Bèteille & Evans, 2019). In pre-service training programs, the teaching practice is when the pre-service teachers spend a reasonable amount of time teaching at a school under the guidance of an experienced teacher. This experience is designed to ensure preservice teachers are well-equipped to transition into full-time teaching and perform effectively in the classroom. Research from high- and middle-income countries has linked effective teaching practice experiences to teachers feeling more prepared for teaching (Ronfeldt, 2014), professional identity development (Zhao & Zhang, 2017), and understanding of poverty and other contextual challenges in school settings (Naidoo & Wagner, 2020). Generally, the teaching practice experience involves the student-teacher, the mentor teacher from the host school, and the supervising teacher educator (e.g., lecturer, tutor).

The teaching practice was one of the core elements of the residency program piloted by a consortium formed by the Rwanda MINEDUC. The 3-year teacher education program in Rwanda allocates an 11-week term to a teaching practice experience called School Attachment. The year-long (three terms) residency program pilot, however, allocated 60% of the time to teaching practice. In the first term of the residency program pilot, the Teacher Residents completed a field experience in which they observed a mentor teacher at a primary school and tutored individual struggling learners. In the second and third terms, the Teacher Residents planned and delivered lessons with the guidance of the mentor teacher, who was in the classroom all the time. Each tutor had 25 Teacher Residents assigned. The tutors visited all the Teacher Residents three times each term and observed them teach a lesson followed by a 10-15-minute coaching session anchored in reflective practice. The aim was to provide all Teacher Residents with extended opportunities in the primary classroom to implement the pedagogical content knowledge and skills learned in the residency program.

The panelist will highlight the contribution of different stakeholders to a successful extended teaching practice and how the residency program’s design for teaching practice impacted Teacher Residents’ self-efficacy and professional agency. Data collected using questionnaires, interviews, and focus group discussions revealed the contribution of teaching practice system-related factors. The teaching practice happened at schools located in the TTC district. This strategic school placement contributed to improved collaboration between the residency program coordinators and school administration, tutors, and mentor teachers. Also, it facilitated the lesson observation visits and coaching sessions without the time constraints related to conducting visits across schools in distant locations. Also, the presenter will discuss using technology for journaling and reflection exercises. The presentation will include a discussion of the identified challenges and the lessons learned from this pilot, which are necessary to consider in the conversation about adding a 4th year to the training of preservice teachers for primary education in Rwanda or, instead, providing a capstone program that will contribute significantly to Rwanda’s education.

Authors

• Ana H Marty, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

• Kate Schell, Florida State University

• Marion Fesmire, Florida State University