Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF TEACHER EDUCATION, 2024 (SSCI, Scopus)
The practicum in teacher education programmes typically includes an observation of the mentors or peers, as well as an actual teaching phase. In most programmes, the focus is more on the direct experience of teaching. Turkey, moved by a general dissatisfaction with how teacher education programmes prepare student teachers for the realities of the classroom, has initiated a new field experience programme that does not include observation. We aim to depict the realities of all participants including student teachers, mentors and supervisors on the disappearance of a once central component of the teaching experience- the observation, as well as its replacement with more practice time. A qualitative research design has been adopted and the data have been collected from surveys and interviews. The findings demonstrate that the participants value both the potential of learning from observation and the opportunity to be involved in more practice during the practicum process.