Teaching Practice Component Research Articles

Contexts, training theory, and teaching practice

This article presents results of a study on the teaching practice component of the training of community (primary) school teachers in Papua New Guinea. The study was part of a broader investigation of primary level initial teacher training. The focus of the paper is not only on the description of teacher trainee performance but on the contextual limitations to such performance. These limitations appear to be mainly related to a fragmented and overloaded primary school curriculum, pupil age, and other differences (e.g., linguistic background) and a theory of training which emphasises skills at the expense of knowledge and teacher autonomy and decision-making. Other limiting factors are also noted, though factors usually associated with poor teaching performance such as overcrowded classrooms were not visible in the schools of this study.