The main purpose of this study was to examine the roles that college
supervisors perform in the Field Experience programme with particular
reference to the Field Experience programme in a Catholic College of
Education. Through clarification of the roles it was expected that
the effectiveness of college supervisors would be improved resulting
in a more efficient and productive Field Experience programme at the
institution concerned.
The overall aims of the study were:
(1) to clarify the roles of college supervisors
(2) to improve the quality of the Field Experience programme
(3) to give the programme more meaning in the teacher education
course at the College concerned and
(4) to make it clear to participants in such a programme that
there is an important role for college supervisors to play.
The study involved the co-operation of 62 student teachers, 45
classroom teachers (country and city) and 10 college lecturers
(totalling 117). A questionnaire was designed on the basis of
discussions with Field Experience participants, on a survey conducted
the previous year, and on an open-ended survey conducted immediately
after the mid-year Block Practicum. The final questionnaire was then
distributed to 82 student teachers (75.5% return), 76 classroom
teachers (58.5% return) and 11 college lecturers (90% return).
The study made use of earlier work by Waters (1973) and also by Duck
and Cunningham (1985). In the study, student teachers, classroom
teachers and college lecturers were surveyed by means of a
questionnaire to rate the frequency with which specific supervisory
tasks (already identified in a pilot study) were performed.
This involved rating each of the supervisory tasks twice; firstly
rating , the 'actual' occurrence of the task and secondly by rating
the 'ideal' occurrence of the task.
Results of the study showed that there are differences of
perception surrounding role expectations for college supervisors and
that these roles require clarification. What were perceived to be
the roles for and the behaviour of college supervisors contrasted
with what was actually exhibited. Students and teachers (country and
city) perceived college supervisors to be actually performing an
Evaluator role; while lecturers perceived a Manager role. The 'ideal'
role for college supervisors was perceived by all respondent groups
to involve the functions and tasks of Manager. The degree of role
conflict present indicates that follow-up measures deserve
consideration and clarification and that orientation and learning
programmes need to be conducted for all Field Experience participants
in order to give the Field Experience programme more significance and
to improve its overall effectiveness.
A result of the study and one which could be emphasised in
order to improve the quality of the programme was the indication
of 'desirable' and 'undesirable' characteristics of college
supervisors who were involved in the Field Experience programme at
the College concerned. These results were similar to the earlier
work of Beer et al. (1983) and were indicated by' the use of openended
comments being included at the conclusion of the
questionnaire. These comments concerned the personal and
professional characteristics of college supervisors and together
with this author's work could form the basis of further study as a
step towards increasing the efficiency of Field Experience programmes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219376 |
| Date | January 1988 |
| Creators | Tabart, Michael J., n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Michael J. Tabart |
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