School Practice: Learning in and from Practice
摘要
School practice, also known as teaching practicum in some teacher educational contexts, is a formally organized and well-structured educational activity that teacher students are expected to successfully complete as part of their teacher professional training. It is purposely organized to provide teacher trainees with a basis and platform to practice teaching in a real context, namely the classroom. In so doing, trainees are expected to develop into effective practicing teachers, demonstrate the attained pedagogical and didactical competences, and to display their progress in developing as professional teachers. It is through school practice (practicum) that trainees get a chance to put their personal theories about teaching to test (Kayima, 2022), a process which triggers and results in transitioned thinking about the nature and practice of teaching. This chapter addresses the potential contributions of school practice towards a trainee’s professional development into a competent teacher practitioner. It provides a background regarding the central learning elements of school practice as one component of teacher professional training and development, and how teacher trainees can prepare and exploit the potential learning benefits associated with school practice.