Pedagogical Experiences of Students on School Teaching Practice – A Study of Two Teacher Training Institutions on the Copper belt and Central Provinces of Zambia.

Abstract

This was a study of pedagogical experiences of students on school teaching practice conducted on two teacher training institutions on the Copper belt and Central provinces of Zambia. For ethical reasons, we gave the colleges pseudonyms. The Copper belt Based College of Education Copper belt Based College of Education (Pseudonym) (CBCE) trains teachers at Diploma level while the Central Province Based College of Education Kabwe Based College of Education (Pseudonym) (KBCE) trains teachers at Degree level. The study was both quantitative and qualitative. It used the case study design. Comment sheets on observed lessons were collected from both lecturers and students for study and analysis to establish the students’ experiences in teac hing. The instruments used by lecturers (supervisors) as guidelines to observe students and award marks were also studied and analyzed. The main findings were that students adopted one common way of introducing lessons; the lecture and group discussions method of teaching were the most prominent methods of teaching. While students exhibited knowledge of their subjects, they had difficulties using the discussion and group work methods. Problems of time management made them fail to conclude lessons on time. There was also less use of real objects as teaching aids and generally the use teaching and learning aids was limited. The quality of guidance provided to students by lecturers was good but requires to be improved. Lecturers contradicted each other on comments to guide students and did not comment on student files. While one college had adequate instruments for comments and guide for award of marks,another did not have the guide for award of marks.We recommended that training institutions should devise uniform instruments for assessing student teaching practice, minimize the numbers of students to be supervised by each lecturer, students teaching specialized subjects be supervised by lecturers specialized in those subjects and that there should be adequate orientation for students’ before they embark on teaching practice.