Teacher candidates’ reflections on the learning outcomes of video-based supervision

Abstract

Thorough supervision during field placement is vital to support teacher candidates' reflective capacity and professional development. Moreover, a coherent teacher education also requires shared beliefs and visions among teacher candidates, mentor teachers and higher education teachers of what constitutes good teaching and learning across contexts. Hence, the present study explores how a project with video-based supervision aided by a theoretical framework for analysis of teaching interactions may facilitate such shared beliefs and improve the quality of field-based training for teacher candidates in Norway. Qualitative individual interviews with teacher candidates (n = 7) identify some key dimensions of reported learning outcomes of such supervision from the teacher candidates’ perspectives. Most prominent among these are raised self-awareness, enhanced professional confidence, improved knowledge about key components in lesson planning, and the ability to better analyse and understand complex teaching interactions. However, more research is needed to explore subject-specific differences in the use and relevance of the theoretical framework as a basis for video-based supervision.