Mathematics Teacher Candidates' and Their Mentors' Perceptions about Teaching Practice Courses

Abstract

Skilled teachers are important to improve the quality of education. Today, education teachers undertake the task of training teachers. School Experience and Teaching Practice lessons in all professions aim to make pre-service teacher candidates familiar with their careers and gain proficiency in their future jobs. This study aims to subject the teaching practice to qualitative evaluation mode by content analysis according to the teacher candidates’ opinions and practice teachers. These research participants are 22 senior students randomly selected from teacher candidates of the Faculty of Education, Tshik International University in the 2018-19 academic year, and 16 teachers from practice schools. Pre-service teachers were asked about 7 open-ended questions related to practical lessons, and teachers were asked about open-ended questions related to applied lessons. Answers were analyzed by descriptive analysis method. Data were handled under 7 general themes: the practice of school, teacher, school management, opinions about the teaching staff, positive/negative experiences, and opinions and suggestions on teaching practice. Potential teachers reported positive opinions about the practice school, teacher, and school management. They stated that they gained experience communicating with students and mastering class lessons, and teachers also supported and also made suggestions that application should take longer and have more opportunities for teaching.

Keywords

• teaching practice
• internship lesson
• teacher candidates
• practice teacher