Pedagogical field experiences in teacher Education. What happens during Internships?

Description

A key element for successful learning is applying what is being learned and refining it (National Research Council, 2000). Internships are regarded as crucial elements in teacher education curricula (Hascher, 2012) and are seen as an interface to "merge multiple perspectives and knowledge resources into a sustainable professional knowledge of teachers" (Fraefel & Seel, 2017, p. 7). However, the connection between pedagogical knowledge and professional practice is a core problem of teacher education (Hedtke, 2016). Therefore, pedagogical field experiences represent an essential learning opportunity as long as it relates to the framework of university education and the underlying curriculum. In Upper-Austria a four-year Bachelor programme for secondary school teachers has existed since 2016. The study programs are jointly organised by public universities and universities of teacher education (Paedagogische Hochschulen). Students have to complete six different internships in different secondary schools. Local teachers act as mentors for the students. Although each internship is connected to a specific university course, we know little about i) the learning opportunities provided during internships, ii) the coherence of internships and university courses and iii) the influence of internships and assignments to the individual process of professionalisation. Therefore, we have conducted a survey in four waves to explore how students recognise learning opportunities during their internships and the influence of the mentoring process as well as the coherence internship university course. The latter two variables positively impact on how students recognise learning opportunities (Gamsjäger et al., 2022).

Period	12 Apr 2022
Event title	TEPE 2022 Conference: Enhancing the value of teacher education: Implications for policy and practice
Event type	Conference
Location	AustriaShow on map