Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to answer the question, what progress student teachers make during one academic year, while being trained in a professional learning community, using objective classroom observation, using lesson preparation templates that match their developmental stage and stage-focused mentor feedback. Design/methodology/approach The teaching skills of the student teachers (n=101) were measured at the start and at the end of the academic year. For the measurements, the standardized and psychometrically tested International Comparative Analysis of Learning and Teaching observation instrument is used. Findings The student teachers achieved a small growth on the basic teaching skills and a medium growth on two of the three advanced skills for teachers. Research limitations/implications Because of the lack of a control group, causal conclusions cannot be made. This research provides knowledge on the actual observed level of teaching skills of student teachers trained in a close collaborating professional learning community. Originality/value Little is known about the actual growth of observable teaching skills of student teachers in elementary education. Teacher training colleges and internship schools in the Netherlands are in search of better ways to collaborate more closely in order to improve the quality of teaching of their student teachers. These findings can inspire teacher training communities to improve their own teaching quality and the teaching quality of their student teachers.
Highlights
Introduction and research questionEducating student teachers is a shared responsibility between the teacher training college and the internship school
A close collaboration within this teacher training community is considered an important prerequisite for a much-desired improvement of the quality of teaching (Ministry of Education, 2019), the training partners still operate in relative isolation, pursuing their own training objectives and own agenda’s, according to their own views on what is good teaching and effective training (Valencia et al, 2009; Tas et al, 2018)
The collaboration between teacher training college and internship schools is organized in such a way that the observation of lessons is largely left to the elementary school teachers who mentor the student teachers
Summary
Educating student teachers is a shared responsibility between the teacher training college and the internship school. The collaboration between teacher training college and internship schools is organized in such a way that the observation of lessons is largely left to the elementary school teachers who mentor the student teachers. In the prevailing coaching procedure in the Netherlands, this template is used by student teachers for the preparation of their lessons, and by mentors for providing feedback on the student teachers’ performance, while college teachers introduce the template to the student teachers at the start of the first internship. Teacher training colleges use a single mandatory template during all Journal of Professional Capital and Community training years; all user groups (including the student teachers themselves) indicate
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