The Teacher Training Practicum in the Voices of their Mentors. Balance of the 2010 Program at UAM

Author(s):

Joaquín Paredes(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 10 A,

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-10

15:30-17:00

Room:

VII. Előadó [C]

Chair:

Elaine Batchelor

Contribution

After European Higher Education Area plan changes in Spain, the paper focuses on an analysis of the development of the 2010 practicum program, particularly aimed at assessing the changes in relation to the 2000 plan from the point of view of its professional mentors. Changes occurred were important: one year more of training, 50 ECTS to practicum.

Our perspective is practical training of teachers as reflective practice.

Practicum studies are focused on aims, characteristics, actors and results. Professional mentor role is blurred. There are a lot of prescriptions about his role. Collaboration between professional mentors and academics is difficult.

Practicum is an important feature of teacher training. We are interested in professional mentors point of view and how enhance partnership between universities and schools. The study undertaken seeks to understand what has changed in the perception of the attempted formation, how they see different players, with the launch of the 2010 plan. It has concerned professional mentors, using their experience in the previous practicum 2000.

Method

The methodology is qualitative, with deep interviews to 6 innovative professional mentors of the network of a public university and 3 responsible for the analyzed subject in both plans. It seeks to understand what happened through a qualitative study that describes these teaching practices. In discussing these issues must arise logically other issues, such as their vision of the profession or life in the classroom. It analyzes a case (Yin, 2009), the practicum of the UAM. The participants are a part of flexible design, for there was a certain initial number of interviews (Taylor and Bogdan, 1992, 2000). Evolution of interviews and visits to schools was offering new opportunities to the researcher. Help was requested to identify innovative professional mentors in the practicum network. These seem more consistent with the type of professionals who want to be, engaged with teaching, with professional experience as teachers, linked to innovative processes at their schools. His teaching answers some of the characteristics of reflective practices mentioned. Another important factor that characterizes these tutors is his good relationship with the student in supervised practice. Open-depth interviews about the experience and practicum students received by professional tutors in these years are made. The data analysis is done by a specific software, Atlas.ti. Transcribed interviews, respondents were returned for review, were organized in many documents as interviews were read and were codified freely. The constant comparison and rereading allowed redefining the codebook, and the emergence of categories. Also, frequency tables and co-occurrence to understand the emergence of categories on the evidence collected were seized. From the categories have become dense reconstructions of thematic, artistic way. For the triangulation of information has been made interviews with two groups (the deans, responsible supervisors and tutors) and the second group, tutors, to teachers of various professional experiences and geographic locations in the region of Madrid (in the south, north and northwest of the region of Madrid). Were shared with participants the final reports. Logically, a work of this kind, which aims to compare a historical series by the recall of respondents without a longitudinal work has limitations in explaining practicum in 2010 and his changes.

Expected Outcomes

Among the results it is showed that the perception of the transformations in the practicum are hardly noticeable, and the practicum mentoring activity is built through strong interpersonal relationship of mentor and student, and is linked to the type of teaching practice. This has implications for future redefinition of the practicum.

References

Clarke, Marie; Killeavy, Maureen; Moloney, Anne. The genesis of mentors’ professional and personal knowledge about teaching: perspectives from the Republic of Ireland. European Journal of Teacher Education. Aug2013, Vol. 36 Issue 3, p364-375. Copland, Fiona. Causes of tension in post-observation feedback in pre-service teacher training: An alternative view. Teaching & Teacher Education. Apr2010, Vol. 26 Issue 3, p466-472. Correa, J.M.; Martínez-Arbelaiz, A.; Gutierrez, L.P (2013). Between the real school and the ideal school: another step in building a teaching identity. Educational Review 12 (1), 1-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2013.800956 González Sanmamed, M; Fuentes, E (2011). El prácticum en el aprendizaje de la profesión docente/ The practicum in the apprenticeship of the teaching profession. Revista de Educación, 354, 47-70. Martínez Figueira, M. E.; Raposo, M (2010). Funciones generales de la tutoría en el prácticum: entre la realidad y el deseo en el desempeño de la acción tutorial/ General functions of mentoring in the practicum: between reality and desire in the performance of mentoring. Revista de Educación, 354, 155-181. Martínez Figueira, M. E.; Raposo, M (2011). Modelo tutorial implícito en el practicum: una aproximación desde la óptica de los tutores/ Model tutorial implicit in the practicum: an approach from the perspective of mentors. Revista de Docencia Universitaria, 9 (2), 97-118 Patrick, Rachel. 'Don't rock the boat': conflicting mentor and pre-service teacher narratives of professional experience. Australian Educational Researcher (Springer Science & Business Media B.V.). May2013, Vol. 40 Issue 2, p207-226 Siry, Christina A.; Zawatski, Elizabeth. 'Working with' as a methodological stance: collaborating with students in teaching, writing, and research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE). May/Jun2011, Vol. 24 Issue 3, p343-361. 19p

Author Information

Joaquín Paredes (presenting / submitting)

UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE MADRID

DIDACTICS

Madrid

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