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This paper is about mentoring of initial teacher education (ITE) students whilst on their practicum.

Informed by a social constructivist theoretical framework, an online survey was used to capture the breadth of quantitative data and the richness of qualitative responses relating to factors that impact student teachers' experiences during practicum.

Quantitative data indicate that many student teachers were positive about the practicum, but this varied across the type of school in which they were placed. The qualitative data analyses showed a greater in-depth understanding of the range of issues that impacted how student teachers are treated in their role as a mentee by the mentor and the wider school community.

Better understanding the experiences of student teachers helps to inform ITE providers of the critical role that mentor teachers play in preparing student teachers. The practical implications are that strategies to develop deep and collaborative partnerships amongst ITE providers, mentor teachers and school leaders, which build stronger understandings of a mentor teacher's role, are critical in order to support student teachers.

This research study repositions the critical nature of effective mentoring of student teachers so that mentor teachers and ITE providers can be informed by the voices and lived realities of these student teachers. The mentoring relationship needs to be critically interrogated to provide a more even and supportive “playing field” for all student teachers.

The purpose of this paper is to augment knowledge about perceived benefits and drawbacks of practicum programs in academic libraries.

Many library science programs require or encourage practicum experiences. The paper surveyed past practicum students and site librarians about experiences with their practicum program.

Practica in librarianship that balance structure and independence were reported to be beneficial, both for practicum students and for the libraries that host them. Students enjoyed the theory‐to‐practice aspects and the diverse populations of the academic library. The Auraria Campus's student body displays great diversity in terms of race and ethnicity, socioeconomics, age, and prior educational experiences. Practicum participants also made constructive suggestions for changes in terms of structure and content. Students and site librarians valued their interactions with one another, even though the librarians were aware that mentoring and supervising practicum students consumes time.

Master of Library Science (MLS) programs, students, and libraries should consider these results when evaluating or considering practicum programs.

At present, the library literature contains very few examples of evaluation strategies for library practicum programs. This article presents an easily adaptable model for assessing practicum programs in order to make improvements to their own programs.

To demonstrate how applied projects integrated within master’s level graduate programs in the organizational sciences provide students with experiences that facilitate the translation of classroom concepts into practices that positively impact individual, organizational, and societal level outcomes.

We discuss how the scientist-practitioner model guides our thinking regarding the development of cocurriculum options for master’s level students. To give context, we provide thumbnail sketches of two applied programs — a master’s of science degree program in industrial-organizational psychology and a master’s of business administration (MBA) program — that serve as exemplars for linking practice with science.

We demonstrated, with specific examples, how practicum courses can bridge curricular and cocurricular offerings in stand-alone master’s programs, thus offering a glimpse into the range of activities completed by master’s students with little to over 20 years of work experience: job analysis, interview protocol development, program evaluation, talent acquisition, performance management, coaching, as well as training strategy ideation and delivery. We conclude the chapter with final reflections on the use of practicum classes in master’s level training.

The practicum courses detailed serve as unique exemplars of how to apply theory and research to organizational problems, thus bridging science and practice in the organizational sciences.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, teacher education in Qatar, similar to many countries around the world, witnessed a succession of disruptions to the way it operated. The disruption continued throughout much of 2020, and the need to adapt to arising changes and concerns permeated all aspects of teacher education, particularly the practicum experience. The chapter presents our attempt to investigate the influence of an adapted practicum experience which was based on the synthesis of qualitative evidence (SQD) model on the development of six student teachers’ technology knowledge and skills. Using a qualitative case study research design, we collected data from multiple data sources, including pre–post-interviews and weekly reflection logs. Quantitative data collected from a pre–post-administration of the SQD survey and TPACK (Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge)-practical survey were used to triangulate the qualitative data. Findings from the thematic analysis and descriptive statistical analysis revealed evidence for participants’ increased TPACK-practical knowledge and skills, specifically in the domains of practical teaching and curriculum design. However, an emerging theme revealed that participants considered technology before pedagogy during instructional design. Findings also revealed two challenges to participants’ further development, namely working within a restricted learning environment and experiencing limited mentoring opportunities. We illustrated several implications for the design of the practicum experience and the required institutional support within the context of continued disruption to education and thereafter.

This study aims to examine the self-perceived competencies of 231 Italian students enrolled in a psychological degree program and involved in a practicum. It analyzes the subjective perception of the competences that students expect to develop, acknowledge as developed and that might be inferred from tasks performed during the practicum; the level of expertise (novice, intermediate or advanced) of these competences; and the relation between the practicum facility and the competences.

This study administered an ad hoc survey comprising open-ended questions and used the Practicum Competencies Outline (Hatcher and Lassiter, 2007) as a framework for the content analysis.

The results revealed poor perception of some competency domains, such as Diversity: Individual and Cultural Differences; Development of Leadership; Application of Research and Ethics; and a frequent acknowledgment of Psychological Assessment and Professional Development. Before the practicum, the students expected to develop competence mainly at a novice level of expertise; after the practicum, the intermediate level of competences acknowledged as developed and inferred from performed tasks increased.

The findings have implications for research on competence-based training, such as the necessity of self-assessment training evaluation.

Undergraduate psychology students must reflect on the value of psychological competences during their formative training to re-orient their learning process and build a competent professional role. Moreover, psychological facilities and university must share common objectives in training undergraduate students.

This study is the first attempt to analyze Italian college students’ subjective perceptions of psychological competencies expected or developed during practicum .

This chapter traces one student teacher's (Joan) experiences of learning to teach English as a second language in a cross-cultural context during a teaching practicum in Hong Kong. The school-based practicum is a core component of many initial teacher education programmes. During this induction period, usually an 8-week block, student teachers are placed in local schools to learn how to integrate theories into practice in real teaching situations. Specifically, I uncover how Joan grappled with the tensions and complexities of teaching young learners from a different cultural and linguistic background, in a small elementary school situated in the borderland between Hong Kong (an autonomous region of China) and Shenzhen (a province of Mainland China).

Critical incidents from Joan's practicum experiences were analysed to uncover how she dealt with the tensions and dilemmas in confronting difference and marginalising practices while learning to teach English as a second language (ESL) in the practicum school. Implications on how to develop initial teacher education programmes so that student teachers learning to teach across cultural contexts can be encouraged to explore, confront and ‘deal with the emotional terrain of understanding difference’ will be discussed (Boler & Zembylas, 2003, p. 123; Zembylas, 2010).

University-affiliated mentors serve as liaisons between schools and pre-service teachers during practicum placements, offering academic, administrative and relational support. In the context of academic workload intensification, increasing student numbers and the need to respond to issues as they occur in time-pressured environments, the wellbeing of mentors can become compromised. Mentor wellbeing is explored, highlighting corollary impacts of threats to pre-service teacher wellbeing on those who support them.

A descriptive single case-study explored mentor lived experiences of wellbeing during the pre-service teacher practicum placement and mentoring process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with mentors supervising pre-service teacher professional experience placements. Adopting a shadowed data approach, mentors shared their own experiences and reflected on the experiences of others. Data was analysed using thematic content analysis.

Mentor and pre-service teacher wellbeing experiences exhibited similar wellbeing indicators, including personal and professional stress, workload strains and ethical dilemmas. Many mentors felt invisible in terms of supports for their own self-care as the focus was on meeting practicum stakeholder and student support needs rather than their own wellbeing.

Changes to professional experience practices must consider potential impacts on pre-service teachers, in-school supervisors and the university-affiliated mentors as the wellbeing of each is potentially impacted the wellbeing of others in this professional experience triad. Increasing emphasis on work-integrated learning experiences across multiple disciplines invites future comparison and contrast of wellbeing experiences.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of student teachers’ development as teacher leaders during a 12-week practicum experience at Qatari government schools.

The investigation involved a qualitative research methodology entailing multiple data generation methods, including pre/post interviews, weekly journals, mid- and post-reflective essays, classroom observations and multiple assignments. Data analysis was carried out using deductive and inductive methods, by adapting the conceptual framework of teacher leadership practices, identity and views, but allowing for new analytical themes to emerge.

Upon initiating leadership practices, two pathways to leadership development were revealed, mediated by the presence or absence of supportive factors. Both pathways, however, led to the development of divergent teacher leadership identities and varying views toward teacher leadership.

The study includes implications for the design of initial teacher preparation programs designed to prepare student teachers as teacher leaders.

The majority of states and school systems within the USA have implemented the Common Core State Standards, but with this implementation and focus on language arts and mathematics, many believe that social studies education has lagged. The purpose of this paper is to investigate preservice teachers’ social studies self-efficacy, experiences, and beliefs. Participants were preservice teachers in a required education course. During this course, preservice teachers were required to complete a 20-hour practicum within a school. Participants completed a teacher social studies self-efficacy scale, as well as a reflection questionnaire and course discussions. Results showed that preservice teachers reported that they did not have social studies experiences within the practicum. Implications of this study support preservice teachers having additional social studies education and C3 Framework mastery experiences.

With regard to the teacher’s sense of efficacy scale, descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations) were calculated. Following qualitative tradition (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Miles and Huberman, 1994), the author used a constant comparative method to code the reflection questionnaire and group discussions. This included calculating answers and coding themes across the sources. These data gleaned insight into the participants’ experiences within the course and practicum regarding the domain of social studies education.

To answer research question 1, means and standard deviations were calculated. Using the social studies teacher’s sense of efficacy scale, participants reported M=6.4, SD=1.25. Research question 2 concerned whether or not participants were given a mastery experience (practicum/tutoring) in social studies. Moreover, if they were not given such an experience, in what domain did they work? Results indicated that a few participants (19 percent) stated that they had an opportunity to tutor in social studies. Most reported that the majority of their tutoring is in reading (58 percent) or mathematics (24 percent).

The findings from this study inform social studies research as it focuses on teacher social studies self-efficacy and mastery experiences within a practicum. First, preservice teachers in this study had relatively low self-efficacy beliefs in the domain of social studies. Second, the participants had very few mastery experiences in social studies. Finally, preservice teachers seem to feel that they will enjoy teaching social studies, and they did learn social studies within their schools.

Teacher educators are constrained in the time that they have to impart knowledge, pedagogy, and efficacy beliefs on preservice teachers. While evolving legislative mandates are at the forefront of many aspects of teaching, a teacher’s belief in his or her ability to teach may be what leads to perseverance in the classroom. Experiences within social studies classrooms and a use of the C3 Framework will help to highlight teachers’ and students’ growth within the domain of social studies. This study highlights the need for more mastery experiences in social studies as a way of strengthening new teachers’ content knowledge.

The future of social studies education within the classroom seems to be a dire situation. The consequence of the marginalization of social studies within the classroom is twofold. First, students to do have direct social studies instruction. Second, preservice teachers do not have an opportunity to observe or teach within this domain. As stated earlier, legislation is guiding classroom instruction. However, if teachers and schools are informed, social studies education does not have to disappear from student’s classroom time. School systems and teachers who have not yet done so should begin to consider using the C3 Framework.

The need to understand preservice teachers’ social studies self-efficacy beliefs is of importance given the constraints that they will most likely be facing once they enter the classroom. In other words, if preservice teachers are expected to teach children social studies, teacher educators should understand their learning of and beliefs about teaching in this domain. This study focused on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and social studies beliefs. This study highlights the need for more mastery experiences in social studies as a way of strengthening new teachers’ content knowledge. Today, there are limitations wherein preservice teachers do not have many experiences with social studies. Future approaches should focus on offering more mastery experiences to preservice teachers.

Library practicum is a supervised, hands‐on practice in various library functions. This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of library practicum in learning various professional skills through the perception of library information science (LIS) graduates.

Since this is a case study, multiple data collection techniques, i.e. a questionnaire survey (having both closed and open ended questions), and discussions with senior faculty members and observation (as a participant observer) are used to probe the real status. LIS graduates of PU sessions 2002‐2006 are identified as the population. The total number of the population is 367 and targeted sample is 118 graduates. Snowball sampling technique is used to reach them.

The findings reveal that well designed and well managed practicum plays a vital role in improving professional skills. Insufficient practicum duration, communication gap among three parties (students, external and internal supervisor), loose supervision and lack of focus on professional skills are the problems reported by LIS graduates.

As a study of the practical elements of studying library science, the paper should be of interest to practitioners.

This paper is the only evaluation of library practicum in Pakistan. The findings will be helpful in designing better and more effective library practicum programs in Pakistan as well as in other developing countries.