The State of Student-Teachers' Support Service Rendered from Cooperative Teachers as School-Based Practitioners: The Case of Bahir Dar University, Amhara Region, Ethiopia.

Abstract

This study investigated the type and level of desired and actual help given to student-teachers from the respective cooperative teachers. The areas help was desired by student-teachers include teaching the curriculum subjects, classroom management, and feedback on their teaching and school environment information. The study was carried out on education faculty student-teachers from 2007-2008 of Bahir Dar University. 107 students were randomly selected from a total of 680. Of these, 50 were females and 57 were males. Questionnaires solicit information from student-teachers about the desired and actual help provided from school based practitioners. The actual help provided was below the level of student-teachers desired help from the same. This paper suggests ways of improving the roles and status of cooperative teachers to become strong partners in teacher education programs. Key words: Cooperative teachers, student-teachers, practicum, school-university partnership, teacher educators, teacher education program.