Section archive - Programs & Practicum

This article examines the development of pre-service teachers’ job-related perceptions of teaching in rural areas in the Free Teacher Education (FTE) programme in mainland China. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 22 teacher educators and 11 pre-service teachers, this study found that pre-service teachers’ perceptions were constructed through relative perspectives, professionality orientation, and realistic expectations during the process of FTE teacher education. Pre-service teachers employed utilitarian concerns to increase access to prestigious universities to the detriment of their academic interests. The professionality orientation of the FTE programme held a profile of isolated curriculum modules, urban-centred approach, and theory-practice divide, resulting in pre-service teachers’ fragmented body of knowledge and weak rural consciousness. Although participants saw significant improvement in living and working conditions of rural schools, their negative perceptions were magnified due to this weak rural consciousness. This study argues that the FTE programme needs to integrate separated courses and embed the components of rural settings in addition to current financial incentives.

Considerable attention over the past several years has been given to empathy as a desirable teacher disposition. Situating empathy in a slice of the research on dispositions, the author identifies and explores several problems surrounding empathy related to expectations, definitions, measurement, inferential accuracy, and the realization of social justice. An argument is made for listening to learn as an alternative to empathy as a teaching disposition and virtue.

This research aimed to investigate the teacher empowerment strategy in Indonesia, which has been conducted by employing a community-based teacher training program. This study has highlighted several research questions: What is meant by community-based training program? Why is the training program needed? Who is the target of the training program? What model has been used to implement the training? What are the results of the training that has been executed? The research data were collected by means of documentation studies and interviews. The data analysis was carried out quantitatively and qualitatively, where the quantitative analysis was processed based on the document study data, meanwhile the qualitative analysis was performed based on the interview data. The research results showed that community-based teacher training was transformation of teacher development strategy as a follow-up on teachers’ competency test in Indonesia. The community-based teacher training succeeded in increasing the professionalism of teachers in Indonesia, particularly in terms of implementing their pedagogical and professional competencies. The training is also successful in motivating the teachers to engage themselves in continuous learning efforts through building strong teachers’ network and working collaboratively with colleagues. Quantitatively, training was proven to increase the average of teacher competency by 23.97 (on a scale of 100).

This study reports on shadowing’s potential as an observational and preparatory tool for learning, drawing on data obtained from a group of EFL student teachers who undertook a practicum. EFL student teachers’ perceptions of the shadowing technique and how shadowing contributes to practical knowledge, are focused on. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and reflective reports after a shadowing experience of three weeks. Student teachers were found to have positive perceptions towards the shadowing technique, and a considerable development in their practical knowledge was also observed. The study recommends integration of shadowing into EFL practicum courses as a more rigorous approach.