Education knowledge transfer: Report on in-school placements needs and possibilities of the technologies

The WP2 of the EKT project aimed at describing how in-school placement (ISP) is organised and developed in the initial teacher education in the countries participating in the EKT project (Austria, England, Ireland, Portugal and Spain). In order to achieve this goal, two main pr ocedures were developed: 1. The characterization of national ISP systems, based on the analysis of institutional documentation (legislation, tools, guides, regulations, protocols, reports...) identified and described by the EKT academic teams in each country 2. The identification of the perspectives and conceptions of academic and school mentors involved in ISP, working either Higher Education Institutions (HEI) where Initial Teacher Education (ITE) is developed or at the schools where ISP takes place. For this sake, a questionnaire was designed and applied to a sample of 347 mentors from the different countries involved in the project. The analysis of the different ITE systems enabled the identification of many common features. In fact, all the countries have ITE systems that involve the HEI and nursery/primary/ secondary schools where ISP takes place. In most situations, ITE involves consecutive programmes (at graduation and post-graduation levels). And despite some variation in the length of these consecutive programmes (6 + 3/4 semesters or 8 + 2/3 semesters), the extension of the whole ITE process is less variable, the same happening with the global number of ECTS units involved in any ITE process regardless of the country. In some countries (e.g., Spain), and concerning, mainly but not exclusively, nursery and primary school teachers’ preparation, ITE may take place at the graduation level. It is also worth mentioning the case of England, where two different teacher training paths can be found: HEI routes and School-led postgraduate (consecutive) routes that involve different kinds of programmes: • School-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) programmes (no salaried); • School Direct Training programmes (non-salaried); • School Direct Training programmes (salaried); • Teach First (salaried); • Postgraduate Teaching; Apprenticeship (PGTA) (salaried). No matter the country, ITE processes imply in-school placement. The characteristics of these placements may vary according not only to the features of each national educational system but also to the respective ITE programmes and the school level training refers to. In general ISP is developed under agreements established between HEI where ITE programmes are developed and schools where ISP takes place and involves both HEI teachers and school teachers as mentors. The selection of these school mentors varies from country to country as well as the role they play and their participation in the students´ evaluation. There also seems to be some variation regarding the tasks, the number of hours involved and the kind of materials students have to produce and deliver as a result of their practices during ISP. Despite this variation, it is possible to recognize that there is, in most cases, a concern with the promotion of a reflection on the practice by the use of adequate practices and instruments, such as the construction of portfolios that make possible a critical attitude towards the teaching activities developed. Report on in-school placements needs and possibilities of the technologies Página 5 1. Executive summary The questionnaire enabled the identification of academic and school mentors’ perspectives and conceptions about ISP and focused on different aspects involved in the process, such as: • The relevance of different internship activities and the degree of collaboration between academic and school mentors in their development. • The responsibility for the definition of the curricular framework of isp. • The aspects included in isp guides. • The relation between the student teacher and the mentors and the kind of activities they are involved in during the whole isp process. • The structure of student teachers’ final report or dissertation; the aspects focused on mentors’ observation and supervision during isp. • The structure and content of the Portfolio of in-school placement teaching practice. Due to the diversity of approaches in the countries involved in the study, the design of the questionnaire took into account the complexity of the ISP process and the multiplicity of aspects involved in the process by offering the respondents rather long lists of the items they should express their position about. As far as the relevance of the activities involved in ISP, all the items were valued above 3,10 in a scale that varied from 1 (nothing) to 5 (very much), regardless of the group (country), what may be seen as the recognition of the diversity and complexity of ISP. Despite the existing significant statistical differences, it is possible to say that there are some items, whose relevance is recognized (generally rated above 4), namely those related to the definition of standards and procedures and those concerning classroom observation, feedback, student-teacher evaluation, and collaborative work involving students and mentors. Collaboration between academic and school mentors throughout the ISP process and regarding the different activities involved is highly valued although the comparison of data regarding the degree of real cooperation and the data regarding the degree of cooperation that should exist suggests the necessity of its enhancement. Regardless of the country, the definition of the curricular framework of ISP depends mainly on the HEI, either the HEI coordinator or their mentors. In-school placement guides tend to include several items, but mentors responding to the questionnaire highlight those related to the definition of the different roles involved and to the teaching practices and their assessment. The planning of activities integrated into the school activity emerges as the most important aspect of the relationship between the student teacher and the mentors. Before the placement, activities concerning class teaching planning and the selection of materials and other resources seem to be the most frequent activities involving mentors, either from HEI or schools and student teachers. During the in-school placement, the most frequent activities involving mentors and student teachers concern not only teaching planning and materials selection but also teaching activities; pupils’ assessment is also highlighted as a frequent activity that involves school mentors and student teachers. Activities developed after the placement are valued in the questionnaire; the most highlighted regard pupils´ assessment and the production of students´ progress reports. The model for the student teacher’s final report or dissertation includes not only the monitoring procedures during its preparation and presentation but also writing rules and procedures, as well as guidelines and rules for the use of data collected by the trainee, the extent/ length of the report and formatting standards and references. The structure and content of this report dissertation are defined at the HEI level