Teaching Practice

Philosophy of Teaching Practice

Teaching Practice is an integral part of a teacher education programme aimed at providing student-teachers an opportunity to put into practice their theoretical knowledge in a real school-life situation. It also offers teacher educators and educational managers a golden opportunity for practical appraisal of the effectiveness of teacher education programme.

Objectives of Teaching Practice

  1. To expose student-teachers to real-life classroom experiences under the supervision of professional teachers.
  2. To provide the forum for student-teacher to translate educational theories and principles into practice.
  3. To enable student-teachers to discover their own strengths and weaknesses in classroom teaching and provide opportunities to enable them to overcome their weaknesses and consolidate on their strengths.
  4. To familiarize student-teachers with the school environment as their future workplace.
  5. To provide student-teachers with an opportunity for further acquisition of professional skills, competencies, personal characteristics and experience for full-time teaching after graduation.
  6. To help student-teachers develop a positive attitude towards the teaching profession. vii. To serve as a means of assessing the professional competence of student-teachers.

Organization and Administration of Teaching Practice

Twenty-six (26) weeks have been accepted as the minimum duration for the teaching practice exercise in all NCE awarding institutions.

Teaching practice shall carry a maximum of six credits.

For the purpose of effective organization, a Teaching Practice Committee should be set up by each institution to coordinate teaching practice activities. Such a committee should consist of Representatives of all Schools/Faculties of the institution

The Committee shall be chaired by the Dean, School of Education, except in Colleges of Education (Special) where internal arrangements can be made. The Head of Department of Curriculum and Instruction should be the Secretary, and Coordinator of the day-to-day Teaching Practice activities.

Sequencing

Teaching Practice shall be taken in 26 weeks at a stretch in the first semester of NCE III.
Coverage and Posting

Educational Institutions should serve the communities in which they exist. Teaching practice exercise should ensure effective coverage of schools around the communities in which the institutions exist. Students on teaching practice should be posted to as many primary schools as possible. Where practicable the student-teachers should use the mother-tongue as a medium of instruction for Primary 1 -3.  The posting of students on teaching practice shall take into account their subject combinations. For administrative convenience, effective management and supervision of Teaching Practice, Cooperating Schools may be zoned.

Student-Teachers’ Work Load

The minimum workload for students on teaching practice should be 10 (ten) periods per week, while the maximum should be 18 (eighteen) periods per week.

Student-Teachers’ Code of Conduct 

Every College shall provide a code of conduct for student-teachers. This should not contravene the rules and regulations of the cooperating schools.

Preparation of Staff and Students for Teaching Practice

 In order to familiarize the qualified teaching staff and students with the mechanism of teaching practice, there shall be a period of orientation/induction workshop before the teaching practice exercise. The aim of this exercise is to acquaint them with appropriate information/experiences, and use of assessment profiles. Only lecturers with teaching qualification should supervise teaching practice.

Rapport with Cooperating Schools

A friendly relationship should be established between cooperating schools and colleges. State Ministries of Education should orientate public schools to cooperate in accepting students on teaching practice in their schools.

Cooperating Schools should be surveyed and contacted before student-teachers are posted to them.

Dealing with Special Student Teachers’ Cases

All special cases (e.g. of severe ill-health) should be promptly reported to college authorities and treated accordingly. A student-teacher who fails the teaching practice shall be made to repeat the exercise at the next available period of the exercise. Student who are not supervised during the teaching practice exercise due to no fault of theirs, should be graded using the host school (cooperating teachers) assessment or be posted to a nearby school for supervision.

 

Supervision of Teaching Practice

Supervision of Teaching Practice does not only mean assessment for award of marks but, more importantly, giving feedback to student-teachers so as to guide their future performance and professional development as teachers. Supervision of Teaching Practice is exclusively an activity for professional teachers. The required qualification for supervision shall be: first degree plus a teaching qualification not less than NCE or its equivalent.   Each College should set up an internal/independent monitoring team for teaching practice to be chaired by the Provost.

On no account shall a student-teacher be awarded a grade without being supervised and assessed by at least four (4) different assessors, for a minimum of ten supervisions. Specialists in the students’ areas of specialization are the most qualified to supervise the students in their subject areas, where this is not possible; teachers in related areas may be used to supervise them.

Residential Supervisors 

“Residential Supervisors” mean the cooperating teachers in the practicing schools. Cooperating teachers should be made to play a vital role in the overall supervision. Cooperating schools shall provide continued guidance to the student-teachers during the exercise. They shall forward their effective assessment of student-teachers to the college authorities towards the computation of students’ final grade.

Number of Supervisions 

A student-teacher shall require a minimum of ten different supervision scores on Teaching Practice to qualify for the NCE.

Colleges should provide video coverage of a cross-section of the Teaching Practice for use in the Post-Teaching Practice Seminar.

Criteria for Reliable Assessment 

The assessment should be based on a valid and reliable evaluation instrument provided by NCCE.  The whole lesson and not just part of it should be assessed. The assessor should be knowledgeable in the appropriate subject matter and in methodology. Scoring shall be done at the time of observation of the student in order to reduce subjectivity.

Rating of Teaching Practice Evaluation

The College shall be responsible for 80% of Teaching Practice Supervision/Assessment while the remaining 20% shall come from the cooperating School.

 Feedback to Student-Teachers 

Student-Teachers should be given immediate feedback after each lesson observed. Comments should be written on students’ assessment forms and given to them. Supervisors shall hold discussions with students after each observed lesson with a view to identifying strengths and weaknesses of students as a basis for improvement.

 

EXTERNAL MODERATION OF TEACHING PRACTICE

Teaching Practice shall be externally moderated in line with the existing practice. The External Moderator shall: (a) Sample schools and students for moderation (b) Validate or amend the scores of the Internal Assessors (c) Vet and endorse the final report (d) Write a report Only externally moderated scores shall be used to compute students’ final scores.

The NCCE shall monitor Teaching Practice in all NCE awarding institutions in the country.  Colleges shall forward to the Academic Programmes Department of the NCCE the list containing names of students, teaching practice locations and names of college supervisors not later than 1 month before the commencement of teaching practice.

MICRO-TEACHING AND PEER TEACHING 

The procedure should be first, Peer Teaching, followed wherever possible by the real Micro-Teaching in groups at the class/educational level for which the students are being trained in the relevant Demonstration Schools.

Micro-Teaching is a scaled down teaching encounter (in terms of time, skill(s) and the number of students) aimed at preparing students for the actual teaching and skills acquisition/improvement in a practical and professional setting.

Micro-Teaching is a pre-requisite for teaching practice. On no account should a student who failed EDU 213 (Micro-teaching theory) and EDU 224 (Micro-teaching Practicum) proceed on Teaching Practice.

On the ground that ‘observation’ helps to acquaint trainees with various areas of teaching techniques, Colleges may arrange demonstration/observation sessions enhanced by appropriate observation schedules for the benefit of student teachers and their lecturers before the teaching practice period. The Centre for Education Technology (CET) shall play a major function in this respect.

 

GUIDELINES FOR TEACHING PRACTICE

  1. For students undertaking Teaching Practice, an attendance register shall be kept by administration of the cooperation school on each of the practicing Teacher posted therein;
  2. All students on Teaching Practice must sign time-in and time-out in the register each working day;
  3. Members of the Teaching Practice Committee or their delegates shall undertake on-the-spot checks on T.P. Students from time to time throughout the T.P. period;
  4. Coordinators from the College shall be required to inspect the attendance register and take on the spot roll call of the students posted to schools where they are supervising;
  5. For now, all NCE II students shall undertake a Supervised Teaching Practice for a minimum of twelve (12) weeks;
  6. Teaching Practice shall be a separate paper with six credits;
  7. Where practicable, students on teaching practice shall be expected to teach both their teaching subjects, if they are single majors;
  8. A student shall be assessed several times.
  9. A student shall be required to repeat Teaching Practice under the following conditions:
  10. Any student who re-posts himself/himself out of the school he/she is expected to practice without a prior notice to the Head of Department concerned or the Chairman, T.P. Committee.
  11. Score less than 40%
  12. Absents himself from the Teaching Practice without permission from the school authority for upwards of one week;
  13. If found guilty of professional misconduct.
  14. No student on T.P. shall be allowed to leave his practicing station to the College to meet his/her project supervisor(s).
  15. If a student is absent from Teaching Practice for any reason deemed valid by the Academic Board he/she shall be required to make up the balance of the practice period.
  16. Students who are repeating T.P. level courses and who have undertaken and passed T.P. may not be required to repeat the Teaching Practice.
  17. Any serious proven cases of professional misconduct during T.P. shall lead to expulsion of the student from the College.
  18. No weak student shall be allowed to participate in Teaching Practice.  A weak student shall mean any student with two or more carry-over courses.