Abstract
This study sought to understand the process of providing on-campus practical experience to teacher trainees in preparation for practicum in basic schools, and how the trainees perceive these. It used the mixed method approach to obtain data from three purposively sampled colleges of education in the Central Region of Ghana. Questionnaires were administered to 232 teacher trainees; 12 focus group discussion sessions were held with the trainees while an interview guide was used to elicit data from 24 college tutors. The findings showed that the on-campus experience offered trainees the opportunity to improve on their knowledge and practice of general pedagogical skills such as the writing of lesson plans, statement of appropriate lesson objectives, lesson delivery, timing of activities, and the use of teaching and learning resources. However, there was no evidence of documented standards and guidelines for the conduct of the on-campus practicum. Again, trainees had very limited time to engage with supervisors and critically interrogate and reflect on their own practices. Consequently, it was suggested that teacher training institutions should develop appropriate teaching standards and guidelines for on-campus teaching practice and give trainees more opportunity to engage with and critically interrogate their own practice in the process of learning to teach.
Highlights
This article reports on a study of teacher trainees’ experiences and perception of on-campus teaching practice (OCTP) in three Colleges of Education (CoEs) in the southern part of Ghana
The trainees strongly indicated in the questionnaire that all the preparatory activities were very adequate, and there was the feeling that they were very ready to embark on the field experience exercise
The interviews which revealed some weaknesses in the activities seems to suggest the trainees’ exaggeration of the adequacy of the college-based practical activities, as has been found among teacher trainees in Mali, Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania (Akyeampong et al, 2013)
Summary
This article reports on a study of teacher trainees’ experiences and perception of on-campus teaching practice (OCTP) in three Colleges of Education (CoEs) in the southern part of Ghana. The study explored and described the processes involved in preparing teacher trainees for teaching in real schools and classrooms. It was expected that the study would enable implications to be drawn for the provision of support for trainees in their offcampus teaching, and for improving the practicum of CoEs in Ghana generally. This investigation comes in the wake of major restructuring of teacher education in Ghana in the last decade, and the need to reflect retrospectively on the changes undertaken to ascertain whether the intended objectives are being achieved.
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