Perceptions of Cooperating Teachers Concerning the Student Teaching Field Experience

Abstract

This study explored the views of cooperating teachers on (a) their work with student teachers and university supervisors, and (b) ways to improve the student teaching process. In a mixed-methods sequential explanatory study, 153 cooperating teachers answered closed-and open-ended questions using an electronic survey; then a subset of 12 participated in follow-up interviews. All participants taught at rural or semi-rural middle schools and high schools in Central Illinois; all had experience with student teachers from a mid-sized institution in that area.Major findings of the study included cooperating teachers' lack of preparation for the semester, cooperating teachers' beliefs in a need for better selection of student teachers, their desire for feedback, roles they feel they should play (role model, mentor, judge, etc.), and their desire for power and respect. Recommendations include suggestions for university policy regarding candidates, university supervisors, and student teaching.

Challenges Perceived by Cooperating Teachers when Supervising Student Teachers in Agricultural Education

“…Phase I provided several challenges that cooperating teachers identified themselves encountering. Some were similar but did not fully match up to those found by Paulson (2014) when conducting a study on the challenges that cooperating teacher face.…”

“…Literature discovered during this study provided other studies related to the effects the student teaching experience had on the cooperating teacher. Paulson (2014) investigated the effects the student teaching experience had on cooperating teachers and examined the relationship between the cooperating teacher and the student teacher.…”

“…The cooperating teacher faces challenges during the experience. Paulson (2014) describes some challenges described by the cooperating teacher as a "lack of a presemester meeting, lack of planning time, having to give up control, poor quality of student-teacher dispositions, and lack of preparedness for teaching " (p. 41-44). Early childhood cooperating teachers also identified challenges similar to these (Baum & Korth, 2013).…”

Voices Of Cooperating Teachers: Comparing Experiences Of Professional Development School And Traditional Student Teaching Models

“…Paulson (Paulson & Latham, 2015) to examine the views of cooperating teachers in relation to their work with student teachers and university supervisors and from a 2016 a pilot study (Bruemmer, 2016) investigating similar concepts. The pilot study indicated that cooperating teachers were interested in helping to support the next generation of teachers, and many of them have invested in the education field through earning higher degrees, participating multiple times as a cooperating teacher, and teaching for multiple years.…”

“…Dawn Paulson (Paulson & Latham, 2015). To support the validity and reliability of the survey, a pilot study was conducted that examined whether the survey items indeed measured the phenomenon under study.…”