The 2019 Coronavirus pandemic has triggered significant changes in education systems worldwide and Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes have been particularly affected by the associated challenges. Due to school closures, teaching placements have had to shift from the face-to-face lessons to an entirely virtual model. Twenty-seven Chilean English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher candidates participated in this interpretative case study aiming at exploring the challenges and opportunities of this virtual teaching experience. The results indicate that factors such as the lack of direct interaction with learners and the sudden change of setting were among those that most strongly affected the participants' own learning process. Despite the challenges presented, student teachers suggested that this unique experience would contribute positively, at least to a certain extent, to their teacher education and their future careers. Based on the findings of this study, a series of recommendations for ITE programmes are provided.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, online assessment has become pivotal to allow evaluation of the knowledge and competences of teachers-to-be. In this context, this study explored language teacher educators’ conceptions and practices of online assessment and the implications of this type of assessment for language teacher education. Forty-six language teacher educators working in Chilean English language teaching programmes completed an online adapted version of the Abridged Conception of Assessment inventory. From this group, 16 volunteered to take part in a follow-up semi-structured virtual interview. The results indicate that teacher educators’ conceptions of assessment remained unaltered despite the online context. Their conceptions relied mainly on the purpose of online assessment for improving teaching and learning and checking off student teachers’ language proficiency against standardised criteria. Their assessment practices, however, had to be adapted and modified to fit the online environment, which triggered participants’ concerns about the reliability and authenticity of the assessment methods to evaluate prospective language teachers. These findings suggest that there is a need to enhance teacher education programmes that are remotely delivered in order to shed light on reliable, valid and authentic tools to assess future English language teachers.

The Coronavirus 2019 pandemic has undeniably changed the educational scenario around the world. With schools and universities closing until further notice, initial teacher education had to be moved from a traditional setting to an entire online environment, making technology the fundamental support for its development. Considering that the current health emergency uncovered the scarcity of practice and empirical research about online teaching placement, this study aims to examine the use of technology as the pivotal tool that allowed EFL student teachers to continue learning to teach during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fourteen Chilean EFL student teachers undertaking their teaching experience remotely participated in this interpretative case-study. Data was collected through a semi-structured interview at two different points of their online teaching experience, and it was analysed using thematic analysis as a framework. The results show that adaptations to technological teaching strategies affected prospective teachers’ development of teaching skills. Nevertheless, this online placement prompted the interest and motivation to search and discover new technological tools to enhance school learners’ learning process, especially in a context where access to technology cannot be afforded by everyone. Student teachers also acknowledged that this once-in-a-lifetime experience would potentially contribute to their technology literacy and their future teacher development. As this health emergency has affected the education sector worldwide, implications for teacher education providers that have faced this transition in multiple contexts are discussed.

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