Restructuring and Reculturing: Practicum supervision as professional development for teachers

Abstract

This paper reports a small case study in which selected experienced co-operating teachers were appointed as school-based teacher educators (SBTE) undertaking a supervisory/ mentoring role for the 3-week period of the rst practicum for students in a one-year Graduate Diploma of Education-Secondary (GDE) course. The study identi es any bene ts that accrue as a result of changes to the traditional triadic arrangement and any changes in perception about the various roles of participants. The ndings illuminate the opportunities for a more collaborative practicum model that has the potential to bene t all participants.

A Partnership Based Approach to Professional Learning: Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers Working Together to Teach Primary Science

“…Further improvements are planned for the next iteration, as mentioned above, by facilitating a face to face meeting between the participating colleague teachers and the pre-service teachers at the university. This would be in tune with recommendations on triadic partnerships by Hastings & Squires (2002) as well as McIntyre et al (1996). Despite these few set-backs, the Department of Education in Tasmania demonstrated its confidence in the project by agreeing to fund the release of teachers to participate in the program as part of their PD in future.…”

“…McIntyre et al (1996, p.178) describe the role of the teacher-educator in a triad, as helping pre-service teachers to critically analyse their teaching, acting as a liaison between the schools and university and helping to set common expectations for all concerned. Hastings & Squires (2002) provided for a similar description, but in this case the teacher-educator was a specially trained schoolbased teacher as opposed to university based. The teacher-educator role in the approach discussed here was in accord in these other models, so it therefore offered multiple levels of support for the pre-service teachers.…”

“…Triads are discussed elsewhere in the literature in relation to the supervision of pre-service teachers, usually in the context of normal practicum situations (McIntyre et al 1996;Hastings & Squires, 2002). McIntyre et al (1996, p.178) describe the role of the teacher-educator in a triad, as helping pre-service teachers to critically analyse their teaching, acting as a liaison between the schools and university and helping to set common expectations for all concerned.…”

“…In the triads set-up by Hastings & Squires (2002) for teacher education purposes, the role of the school-based teacher-educators was to essentially mentor several pre-service teachers and to liaise directly with their or "co-operating" or colleague teachers to discuss progress of the pre-service teachers. One spin-off of note flowing from their research was the professional development (PD) benefits for the colleague teachers.…”

Prospective Teachers’ and Teachers’ Professional Development through the Collaborative Mentoring Kaleidoscope

“…Triadic supervision as a culture of collaboration gained momentum to endorse change in supervising interns (Rodgers & Keil, 2007) and fostered shared understanding, trust and respect for the work done (Tsui, Lopez-Real, Law, Tang, & Shum, 2001). Further, these tripartite conferences provided the means of professional development for both mentee and university mentor (Gimbert & Nolan, 2003) and school mentors (Hastings & Squires, 2002). Collaborative mentoring process was also realized in the form of pre-conferences, observation, and post-conferences between the mentee and school/university mentor to improve mentee's development and the quality of ITEP (Shieveley & Poetter, 2002).…”