The Impact of COVID-19 on Pre-Service Teachers’ Teaching Practice

Abstract

Teaching practice, which has a significant impact on the professional development of pre-service teachers, has been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic process, pre-service teachers have conducted teaching practice through distance education. The aim of this study is to determine whether the pre-service teachers have acquired the learning outcomes determined within the framework of the objectives of the teaching practice with distance education, which is a new format for teaching practice. To collect data, we used an open-ended questionnaires formatted on a Google-form responded by 246 pre-service teachers. The results of the study show that most of pre-service teachers could not acquire the learning outcomes determined within the framework of the objectives of teaching practice with teaching practice through distance education. Pre-service teachers attribute this to the lack of actual classroom environment and lack of communication and interaction with students. The findings of the study also indicate that teaching practice through distance education enabled pre-service teachers to gain knowledge about distance education tools and experience on how to use them.