First school experience from the perspectives of all stakeholders

Abstract

This qualitative case study was conducted to evaluate the first school experience of the pre-service ELT students from multiple angles by taking into consideration the perspectives of interns, mentors, coordinators, and university supervisors. The data were collected via online open-ended questionnaires, students’ weekly reflections, written portfolios and notes from oral portfolio presentations and interviews with the coordinators and supervisors.

Summary: School experience is one of the most important components of preservice teacher education programs (Glenn, 2006). Unlike the previous studies which focused on only student or mentor teacher perspectives (Altan, Sağlamel, & Boylan, 2015; Ewing & Le Cornu, 2010), this study was conducted to evaluate the first school experience of the pre-service ELT students from multiple angles by taking into consideration the perspectives of interns, mentors, coordinators, and university supervisors. In the study setting, the ELT curriculum includes four school experience courses beginning with 2 full days per week in the 3rd year and 3 full days at the 4th year. This semester ELT students completed their first school experience and it was significant to collect data and evaluate the program. Therefore, a qualitative case study was designed with the 15 interns, 15 mentor teachers, 3 university supervisors, 3 school experience coordinators at schools, and the dean. The data were collected via online open-ended questionnaires, students’ weekly reflections, written portfolios and notes from oral portfolio presentations and interviews with the coordinators and supervisors. The data were analyzed through content analysis and constant comparison method by identifying themes, categories, and key terms. In brief, the results reveal very complex and multifaceted experience for the interns. The study signifies expectations in the beginning of the semester, balancing the school and university work for the interns, having regular school visits and staying in contact with the mentors and coordinators, giving constructive and timely feedback, providing effective evaluation rubrics and working collaboratively with schools.