Reaching the Bar: Cooperating Teachers' Expectations for Student Teachers

Abstract

The education and preparation of pre-service teachers for K-12 classrooms remains a widely discussed area of education literature. Expectations are high for new teachers to be capable to manage contemporary classrooms as they replenish the profession. The practicum is widely acknowledged to be key to teacher preparation as each graduate must complete at least one practicum round of classroom-based student teaching. Previous research has reported a large divide between universities and schools, role ambiguity among practicum partners, and inconsistent approaches across university programs as longstanding issues in teacher education. Cooperating teachers, classroom mentors of student teachers, are crucial partners in the practicum. A review of education literature suggests that cooperating teachers’ voices are often not heard in research and their expectations for student teachers are understudied. This qualitative interview study examined ways in which classroom teachers view their roles as mentors for student teachers. The following research question guided this study: What do cooperating teachers expect from student teachers? Three sub-questions that further guided the study are (1) How do cooperating teachers describe their expectations for student teachers? (2) What do cooperating teachers communicate to student teachers about expectations for the teaching practicum? (3) In what ways are cooperating teachers’ expectations for student teachers shaped and formed? Data was collected through 10 semi-structured interviews in select K-12 urban schools in Alberta, Canada. This interpretive study was guided by a pragmatic approach and the researcher’s practitioner positionality. This study identified emergent themes from participants’ descriptions of their experiences with mentoring student teachers. The themes were discussed within larger categories: Insider and Outsider Positionality, Cooperating Teachers’ Professional Commitment and Mentoring, and Recognizing Idiosyncratic Nature of Cooperating Teachers. This study suggests that while cooperating teachers often approach mentoring with enthusiasm and can experience benefits, longstanding challenges inhibiting the potential of a practicum can remain: a theory/practice divide with universities, the practical demands of content and pacing, and cooperating teachers’ experiences of classroom isolation and limited professional collaboration. This practitioner research has implications for the partners in student teaching such as universities, school divisions, and cooperating teachers. It may help to build awareness in university programs of cooperating teachers’ expectations of pre-service teachers. This study may help school divisions and cooperating teachers emerge from silos to explore conversations about how closely their attitudes, perspectives, and choices surrounding student teachers align.