The Practicum: A Recent Review of the Literature

What makes an online community of practice work? A situated study of Chinese student teachers’ perceptions of online professional learning

“…Disconnection may also take the form of student teachers being effectively confined to isolated classrooms with limited exposure to the diversity of school activities (Lortie, 1975;Schlagal et al, 1996). Student teachers may have little involvement in professional conversations with other teachers (Farrell, 2003), and disengage themselves from exploring the pre-existing beliefs, past biography, and knowledge that shape their practice (Lortie, 1975;Melville, Campbell, Fazio, Stefanile, & NTkaczyk, 2014;Price, 1989;Richards, 1998). An overly narrow learning-to-teach experience (Tang, 2003) can consolidate their view of teaching as a solitary activity as their practice fails to provide a comprehensive experience of a whole school or a broader understanding of educational system (Guyton & McIntyre, 1990;Price, 1989).…”

“…Student teachers may have little involvement in professional conversations with other teachers (Farrell, 2003), and disengage themselves from exploring the pre-existing beliefs, past biography, and knowledge that shape their practice (Lortie, 1975;Melville, Campbell, Fazio, Stefanile, & NTkaczyk, 2014;Price, 1989;Richards, 1998). An overly narrow learning-to-teach experience (Tang, 2003) can consolidate their view of teaching as a solitary activity as their practice fails to provide a comprehensive experience of a whole school or a broader understanding of educational system (Guyton & McIntyre, 1990;Price, 1989). Making matters worse, it is very likely for student teachers to be marginalised in placement schools (Britzman, 1991) in that they lack status and situational knowledge or have limited authority to behave like real teachers (Alsop & Scott, 1990).…”

Developing reflective practice among teachers of mathematics

“…However, reflective thinking or inquiry, as a standard toward which all teachers and students must strive, has been identified in the past decades (Rodgers, 2002). The emphasis on reflectivity in teacher education programs occurred in response to attacks on the adequacy of teacher preparation (Etscheidt et al, 2012), when teacher education was characterized as being technocratic, routine, and recipe-oriented (Price, 1989). Over time, further research papers have been written on the proposed standards and on various approaches and levels for developing reflective practice and its role on teachers' performance.…”

Promoting Reflection in Teacher Preparation Programs

“…The emphasis on reflectivity in teacher education programs occurred in response to attacks on the adequacy of teacher preparation. Teacher education was characterized as being technocratic, routine, and recipe oriented (Price, 1989), based on a deterministic model of teaching and learning, thereby fostering highly managerial and prescriptive paradigms (Gordon, 1985). Critics contended that preparation was remote from the real world, filled with subversive educational theory (O'Donoghue & Brooker, 1996) and focused on externally imposed mandates Teacher Education and Special Education 35(1) implemented without agreement or understanding (Newman, 1996).…”