Abstract The aim of this study is to examine and analyze the advantages and limitations of practicum at the HR-program at Uppsala university in the years of 1986-1995 through summarized practicum reports, while focusing on learning in relation to academically based employability. This approach is used to further understand the influence practicum has on employability in relation to the three objectives of higher education. The three objectives are; the usefulness-, competitive- and literate perspective.   The study partly contains an account of the students own experiences and thoughts regarding the practicum as well as a summary and an analysis of the content of said practicum in relation to the education and academically based employability. The research questions of this study seeks to answer the motives and background of the practicum and also the benefits and limitations that comes with it. The data of this study consist of individual summary reports that the students have made in connection to the semester in which the practicum took place. The summaries contain some of the tasks that the students performed but also an account of the students own thoughts and experiences of their practicum.   Method: The data collection method consists of qualitative content analysis and a semi-structured interview.   The results show that the students believe that the practicum has contributed to improve their own employability by providing better capabilities and a deeper understanding of their professional field. The results of the study also show that a big part of the practicum has involved informal learning as well as adaptive- and development learning which has contributed to the development of the students. The conclusion is that the practicum has been important to the students as it has contributed to their personal development and also improved their employability.

The central question in this thesis is How do participants in the practicum interact in order to evaluate teaching practice? This question has been posed for several reasons: 1. The practicum is a crucial part of teacher education and teacher socialisation; 2. Little is known about the nature of student teacher learning during the practicum; 3. Much of what happens during practicum interactions is taken for granted, and needs to be made explicit in order to fully understand how student teachers learn and what it is important for them to know. In order to investigate this question this study examines the interactions between student teachers and their supervising teachers in post lesson conferences. These conferences are a site in which practicum participants evaluate teaching practice and in which values, beliefs and knowledge about teaching in the context of the classroom and the practicum are produced and reproduced. To obtain data on the ways in which participants interact in post lesson conferences tape recordings of conferences and interviews with participants have been collected and analysed. Three quite different cases are presented to show a spectrum of evaluative styles and interactions. In each case the language of the post lesson conferences is explored. A particular concern in the thesis has been to consider the ways in which the linguistic choices of the participants express their subjectivities as well as reflect the cultural and institutional context in which the post lesson conferences were located. In order to achieve this the study draws upon theoretical perspectives concerned with social practice, language and meaning. Fundamental to any evaluative interaction is its purpose, the relationship between the participants and the construction of the evaluative criteria. This study has sought to identify those routines that are a common part of and that underpin the purpose of evaluative interactions in post lesson conferences. By considering the differences between the interactions in each case, this research concludes that the degree of symmetry in the participants' evaluative relationship and the extent to which the evaluative criteria are made explicit are critical to the authority that student teachers have to negotiate their understandings, reflect on their practice and take responsibility for their own learning. The three cases provide a dynamic account of the evaluative process, and a more comprehensive account than has hitherto been provided in much of the literature. They also generate suggestions for future research in this important area of teacher education.

Esta Tesis Doctoral centra su interés en el estudio del Practicum de los estudios de Pedagogía, concebido este como un puente entre la teoría y la práctica profesional. Por ello, se plantea un análisis del Practicum en estos estudios desde la perspectiva de sus protagonistas: alumnos/as, profesores/as universitarios y tutores/as de los Centros/Instituciones de prácticas. El objetivo principal es plantear orientaciones metodológicas que permitan optimizar la calidad formativa del Practicum a partir de las demandas realizadas por los agentes implicados en el mismo y de los ajustes necesarios al nuevo contexto universitario. Para ello, se parte de un diseño de investigación cuantitativo, de tipo descriptivo, que se ve complementado con el análisis de documentos oficiales, que aportan información relevante en relación con las dimensiones constitutivas del Practicum, así como con entrevistas en profundidad a “informantes-clave” y grupos de discusión, abordándose el tema desde los diferentes enfoques de la realidad de estudio. La primera parte del trabajo consta de marco teórico-conceptual, de carácter fundamentalmente descriptivo que sirve para situarnos en el campo de investigación, así como para establecer las bases en las que se asienta la actividad investigadora. Dentro de este primer apartado se abordan cuestiones tales como: Las prácticas universitarias desde una perspectiva actual; las dimensiones organizativas del Practicum, el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior y el Practicum, el perfil profesional del pedagogo/a y, por último, se ilustran diversas investigaciones sobre el Practicum que resultan interesantes como marco referencial. En la segunda parte del documento, se da cuenta del marco metodológico, contextual, resultados, conclusiones y propuestas derivadas de la investigación.

Praktikanten werden in der SLUB mit bemerkenswertem zeitlichen Einsatz und großem Engagement vieler Mitarbeiter ausgebildet; die Zahl der jährlich steigenden Bewerbungen (2007 ca. 40) zeigt auch deutlich, wie sehr sich dies herumgesprochen hat.

Changes to healthcare delivery models such as the promotion of an interdisciplinary team approach to patient care and increased hiring of unlicensed care providers have resulted in the need for knowledge about effective interdisciplinary teams. The purpose of this study was to describe student experiences in the development of team during an “interdisciplinary” clinical practicum. Participants were in first and third year of the Dalhousie baccalaureate nursing program, first year of the Nova Scotia Community College practical nursing diploma and at the end of the Nova Scotia Community College Continuing Care Assistant certificate program. Using a qualitative descriptive methodology, in-depth interviews were conducted with the eight participants to understand their experience of what made the team during an “Interdisciplinary” Collaborative Clinical Education Project (ICCEP) practicum. Thematic analysis revealed three themes; clinical instructor mentoring, peer attitudes of respect and acceptance, and mutual sharing of knowledge and skill.

The experiences of racial minority teacher candidates are often unheard in teacher education programs considering that the student population is increasingly diversifying and the teaching population does not reflect this dynamic. In a country that is internationally known for its multicultural practices, it is important to examine the experiences of racial minority teacher candidates in order to gain a better understanding of the ways in which issues of race and power persist in our education system. This qualitative study documents the experiences of a small group of racial minority teacher candidates who recently completed post baccalaureate teacher education programs at universities in Ontario, Canada. With a particular focus on their practicum placements, the five participants were interviewed in order to bring to light their experiences of working and living in an education system that sustains, what has been called by critics, “a culture of whiteness.” Over the course of the interviews, the five racial minority teacher candidates reveal that the often covert and overt forms of racism are systemic to the education system. It became obvious that in many cases, the participants did not consciously recognize the racism they encountered while working, living, and learning within the education system. Considering a culture of whiteness that is endemic in schools, power relations were further jeopardized and imbalanced by their race. Despite this, the participants also exhibited forms of resistance to the Eurocentric culture that is so deeply entrenched in the education system. Through an investigation of these themes, this thesis offers implications for future racial minority teacher candidates and anti-racist educators. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-08-29 13:21:55.632

Recent trends in immigration in Manitoba and across Canada mean increasing classroom cultural diversity in all levels of the education system. In response to these trends, faculties of Education have tried a variety of ways to better prepare preservice teachers for this increasing classroom cultural diversity. An opportunity provided for preservice teachers in many teacher preparation programs is the chance to participate in international student-teaching practicums. This qualitative case study research explored the potential influence of the Elmwood international student-teaching practicum located in South-east Asia. The results shed light on the influence that personal dispositions have in the overall experiences and perceptions of the practicum participants. The study showed that international student-teaching practicums provide a variety of potentially challenging and valuable experiences. The study concludes with the claim that critically oriented parallel programming and supervision is necessary in the attempt to ensure that these experiences result in the positive personal and professional identity development in those involved.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are common in schools worldwide in the 21st century, in both developed and developing countries. A number of initiatives have been made in the development of ICT related training in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes. These initiatives aim to develop future teachers’ ability to teach and deliver the school curriculum, including using ICT in the classroom. Sufficient field experience is essential since the process of undergoing such placements would prepare them in creating new ideas and implementing strategic ways as to how they can effectively incorporate the use of ICT in their lesson plan, class management, and in teaching. The key research question in this study is “Do pre-service teachers in a New Zealand and a Malaysian ITE programme use their field experience to develop their potential to integrate ICT in schools and, what are the similarities and differences between these case studies?” Effective use of ICT in teaching and learning requires the teacher to understand how ICT weaves with pedagogy and content. The Technological, Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) theoretical framework introduced by Mishra and Koehler (2006) clarifies the need to understand and develop TPACK to inform integration of ICT in teaching. This research provides two case studies of ICT in ITE in the Asia Pacific region, one in a developed country, New Zealand, and the other in a developing country, namely Malaysia. Both case studies are of ICT in an ITE programme with a particular focus on field experience in secondary schools, within which there are embedded cases of ITE students. This study illustrates how pre-service teachers’ experience and development of ICT knowledge and skill and their understanding of TPACK can support an increase in their teaching competencies. This research provides evidence that field experience is important to support pre-service teachers to develop their teaching competencies with ICT and understanding of TPACK in ways that are transferable into their own practice. This study has also contributed to increased reliability and validity of TPACK instrumentation. The comparative findings of the New Zealand and Malaysian case studies indicate the importance of a range of contextual factors, which suggest that the Initial Teacher Education programme, school curriculum and ICT availability as well as student maturity contribute to the development of TPACK.

Recent trends in immigration in Manitoba and across Canada mean increasing classroom cultural diversity in all levels of the education system. In response to these trends, faculties of Education have tried a variety of ways to better prepare preservice teachers for this increasing classroom cultural diversity. An opportunity provided for preservice teachers in many teacher preparation programs is the chance to participate in international student-teaching practicums. This qualitative case study research explored the potential influence of the Elmwood international student-teaching practicum located in South-east Asia. The results shed light on the influence that personal dispositions have in the overall experiences and perceptions of the practicum participants. The study showed that international student-teaching practicums provide a variety of potentially challenging and valuable experiences. The study concludes with the claim that critically oriented parallel programming and supervision is necessary in the attempt to ensure that these experiences result in the positive personal and professional identity development in those involved.

In this autoethnographic inquiry, the author examines the complexities of international practicum placements by exploring past and present-day reflections written in response to her undergraduate practicum experience in South Africa. Using intersectional analysis, the author reflexively writes about personal desire and the intent to offer care in Majority World contexts by describing how these themes are deeply implicated by larger social, political, and historical systems and structures. In an attempt to benefit the nature of international practicum placements within the context of CYC practice, five key topics are outlined to better prepare students who might be considering practice across cultures in Majority World contexts. / Graduate / 0727 / 0700 / 0631 / lljones@uvic.ca