The role of teaching practice in teacher education programmes: designing framework for best practice

Abstract

The teaching practice exercise is the culminating point where the relationship among the three major players: university supervisor, host teacher, and aspiring teacher interface to determine the quality of experience the aspiring teaching will take away. It becomes the bedrock on which the aspiring teacher once certified and employed builds his/her professional identity. It is therefore, necessary that aspiring teachers are paired with competent, knowledgeable and concerned university supervisors to help them assume the full range of duties of a teacher during this hands-on training period. Host teachers have equally vital influence in aspiring teachers’ professional growth and development. This paper outlines the rudimentary elements involved in designing teaching practice field exercise for the student teachers