As a web exclusive in their Winter 2015 Issue, Education Canada has published an article by the Centre for the Study of Teacher Education’s (CSTE) co-director, Dr. Anthony Clarke (Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy), and PhD candidate Maren Elfert (Department of Educational Studies).
“‘Surprising That Anyone Would Want to Be a Cooperating Teacher’: The challenges and rewards of hosting student teachers” briefly highlights the work CSTE has done, with funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), to gain an understanding of how to improve the functionality of cooperating teacher/student teacher relationships on interpersonal and systemic levels.
Abstract: Many cooperating teachers feel poorly prepared for their work with student teachers. The UBC research project described in this article initially aimed to explore the challenges faced by cooperating teachers, with an eye to identifying ways to better support them in this role. In the course of the project, teachers contributed to developing an online survey, which provides cooperating teachers with immediate feedback on their motivations and challenges and is a useful tool at the institutional level for assessing the strengths and weaknesses in the practicum process from the host teachers’ point of view.
Click here to access this article.