“Growing together beyond extended time”: Collaborative dynamics in secondary pre-service teachers’ semester-long practicum

• In Event: Conceptual and relational foundations of teaching effectiveness

Proposal

Introduction
Teacher preparation programs are exploring improvements in quality and extensions of duration for field experiences, based on the assumption that longer practical experiences will produce better-prepared teachers. Korea's shift from four-week to semester-long practicum exemplifies this global temporal solution approach. Yet simply extending time in school settings does not guarantee meaningful professional development unless specific collaborative dynamics are intentionally cultivated.
This study challenges the assumption that extended duration alone transforms practicum quality, arguing instead that collaborative interaction processes constitute the essential mechanism through which extended time becomes educationally productive. Recent policy reforms have focused primarily on temporal extension without adequate attention to the relational processes that enable meaningful learning within extended timeframes.
Contemporary educational contexts demand teachers who can engage productively with colleagues, students, and communities, yet most practicums emphasize individual performance evaluation over collaborative competency. This creates a fundamental paradox: preparing teachers in isolation for a profession that is, at its core, collaborative.
The research addresses how collaborative dynamics, rather than temporal extension per se, transform extended practicum from mere time-serving into professional growth opportunities. Understanding these dynamics has significant implications for international teacher education reform, particularly as countries invest substantial resources in extending practicum duration without ensuring collaborative relationship development.

Theoretical Framework
This study draws on situated learning theory and communities of practice frameworks to understand how collaborative dynamics enable professional development. Situated learning theory positions learning as fundamentally social, occurring through legitimate peripheral participation in communities rather than individual knowledge acquisition (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Pre-service teachers' development occurs through increasing participation in authentic teaching activities, moving from peripheral observation toward central collaborative engagement.
Communities of practice theory identifies three elements enabling collaborative learning: shared domain of interest, mutual engagement among members, and joint repertoire of practices (Wenger, 1998).
The framework incorporates relational approaches to teacher identity formation emphasizing how professional identity emerges through ongoing interactions rather than individual reflection alone (Beijaard et al., 2004). Teacher identity develops through trajectories of participation, where newcomers gradually adopt practices, language, and perspectives of professional communities through sustained engagement with experienced practitioners.
This theoretical perspective challenges duration-focused practicum reforms by highlighting that relational processes, not temporal factors alone, enable meaningful professional learning within extended timeframes.

Methods
This qualitative case study examined collaborative interaction experiences of ten secondary pre-service teachers participating in Seoul's semester-long practicum during fall 2023. Participants represented diverse subject areas and were placed in middle and high schools serving varied populations.
Data collection occurred over four months including 651 reflection documents across nine categories: daily journals, final reports, pre-lesson collaboration records, post-lesson collaboration records, lesson reflections, observation logs, extracurricular participation records, student counseling documentation, and weekly peer sharing summaries. These documents provided ongoing documentation of collaborative experiences from pre-service teachers' perspectives.
Additionally, multiple semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant to explore the meanings they ascribed to their collaborative interactions and the perceived impacts on their identity development, capturing their evolving perspectives over time.
Data analysis followed the procedures of inductive qualitative content analysis (Elo & Kyngäs, 2008), involving an iterative process of open coding and the systematic grouping of codes into subcategories and main themes representing the core dimensions of their experience.

Findings
Analysis revealed four primary dimensions characterizing collaborative interaction experiences during semester-long practicum. First, participants experienced fundamental shift from individual practice orientation toward communal engagement, developing belonging and responsibility within school communities. Initially, pre-service teachers approached practicum as individual performance challenges, but sustained participation in faculty meetings, student supervision, and collaborative planning shifted perspective toward viewing teaching as collective responsibility requiring coordinated community effort.
Second, collaborative interactions facilitated expansion beyond lesson-centered perspectives toward comprehensive school culture understanding. Through sustained engagement with administrators and experienced teachers, pre-service teachers discovered schools operate according to distinctive educational philosophies and cultural norms shaping all activities. This expanded understanding helped participants appreciate teaching as participation in larger educational enterprises requiring coordination and shared commitment among community members.
Third, collaborative interactions facilitated teacher identity formation through relational growth processes. Participants experienced identity development as fundamentally social, requiring ongoing engagement with others facing similar challenges. Peer collaboration proved particularly significant, providing emotional support while enabling shared problem-solving around instructional challenges. These collaborative experiences helped pre-service teachers understand teaching expertise as collectively constructed rather than individually possessed.
Fourth, instances where collaboration was absent provided paradoxical learning clarifying essential conditions for productive interaction. Some experienced exclusion despite efforts to participate fully, highlighting how collaboration requires responsive relationships, mutual respect, and organizational structures creating meaningful participation space for newcomers. These constraining experiences demonstrated that sustained engagement alone does not guarantee collaborative learning; supportive relationships and inclusive participation structures are essential

Discussion and Conclusion
Results demonstrate that collaborative interaction is the fundamental mechanism that transforms extended time into meaningful professional development. The findings reveal a critical distinction between extended time and extended learning. Semester-long duration provided necessary conditions for collaborative relationship development, but collaborative dynamics constituted the sufficient conditions for professional growth.
Pre-service teachers in supportive collaborative environments developed stronger professional agency. In contrast, those with limited collaboration remained uncertain, suggesting that temporal extension without relational support may intensify feelings of isolation.
These results provide critical evidence with direct implications for international teacher education policy and practicum design. As countries worldwide consider extending field experiences, the findings caution against reforms that overlook collaborative relationship development. Investing in collaborative infrastructure—structuring opportunities for sustained relationship building, joint practice, and reflective dialogue among stakeholders—may yield far greater returns than extending duration alone.
Ultimately, this study shows that “growing together beyond extended time” requires the systematic cultivation of collaborative relationships. While extended time may open the door to opportunity, it is the architecture of collaboration—its quality, intentionality, and inclusivity—that determines whether pre-service teachers walk through that door toward genuine professional growth.

Authors

• minsun sung

• Jonghun Kim, Konkuk University