STUDENT TEACHERS’ PROGRESS IN TEACHING PRACTICE UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF MASTER TEACHERS

Abstract

One of the most popular teacher training programmes of study conducted by The Faculty of Education of the Open University of Sri Lanka is the Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) Programme. One of the aims of this programme is to upgrade student teachers’ theoretical knowledge and practical skills with regard to the Teaching – Learning process. Teaching practice is the most important component of the PGDE programme which is conducted in two stages. The first stage is conducted in the student teachers’ schools itself, which has a duration of 10 weeks. During this period, the student teacher has to write 100 lesson plans and teach 100 periods. A Master Teacher (MT) appointed and trained by the department, visits the student teachers’ school five times during this period to supervise and evaluate five lessons. The department always strives to improve the quality of teaching practice, through various strategies. The analysis of master teachers’ evaluation reports on student teachers’ progress is one of them. The stage II of the teaching practice component is the final evaluation and is conducted at a school selected by the University and is evaluated by a different examiner. The main aim of this study is to investigate student teachers’ performance during teaching practice stage I, according to the perceptions of master teachers. This paper deals specifically with the progress of lesson plan writing and classroom management. The sample of the study consisted of 400 student teachers. The data collection instruments were the two evaluation reports completed by the MTs. The findings of the study revealed that the student teachers’ writing of lesson plans and classroom management have improved according to the MTs’ perception. The need to provide proper and timely instructions to student teachers and to further develop the MTs’ training capacities also came to light.

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