A study of the effectiveness of a pre‐student teaching experience in promoting positive attitudes toward teaching

Abstract

Does an early experience in the classroom succeed in positively changing interpersonal skills of future teachers? To begin to answer this question, students enrolled in an introductory education course were compared with other students who, in addition to the course, were enrolled in a pre-student teaching field experience at a four-year liberal arts residential college for women. This study sought to examine the effects of a pre-student teaching experience on interpersonal skills, since for classroom teachers this variable was found to possess a significant and positive correlation with student achievement, creativity, problem-solving ability, and attitudes toward learning and other individuals.1 There is a scarcity of research studies examining the effectiveness of pre-student teaching experiences. To a large extent, teacher education programs in the United States have been built more on common-sense generalizations than on results of empirical research.2 Many teacher education models including a pre-student teaching experience component are advocated by educators in this country, even though many decisions concerning pre-student teaching experiences are made on the basis of intuition or tradition.3 One study specifically concerning pre-student teaching experiences, conducted by Haddad in a large, coeducational university system, involved a course covering a fourteen-week pre-student teaching experience. He found that this experience improved the prospective teachers' ability to interact with students and increased their concern for teaching. Haddad