Creating Space for Pre-service Teacher Professional Development During Practicum: A Teacher Educator’s Self-study - Issue 9 - Abstract and self-study findings

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jasmine

This article reports a teacher educator’s self-study of leading cohorts of Bachelor of Education student teachers through collaborative reflections using a reflective questions strategy during four weeks of residential practicum in a rural school. Data come from journal entries, reflective-question guided conversations, and students’ individual and collaborative reflections. Qualitative content analysis and coding identify themes tied to both the educator’s and students’ professional development, addressing mentoring assumptions and improving critical reflection. Findings show growth in pedagogical knowledge, confidence, independence, and autonomy.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Rural Teacher Education Project (RTEP)

Purpose and research questions

Why Self-study?

Australian Journal of Teacher Education | Volume 40 | Issue 2 | Article 9 | | --- | --- | 2014 Creating Space for Pre-service Teacher Professional Development During Practicum: A Teacher Educator’s Self-study. Tabitha G. Mukeredzi University of KwaZulu-Natal, [Mukeredzt@ukzn.ac.za](Mukeredzt@ukzn.ac.za) Recommended Citation Mukeredzi, T. G. (2015). Creating Space for Pre-service Teacher Professional Development During Practicum: A Teacher Educator’s Self-study.. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 40 (2). [http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2015v40n2.9](http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2015v40n2.9) This Journal Article is posted at Research Online. [http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol40/iss2/9](http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol40/iss2/9) Australian Journal of Teacher Education Creating Space for Pre-service Teacher Professional Development During Practicum: A Teacher Educator’s Self-study. Tabitha G. Mukeredzi University of KwaZulu-Natal South Africa Abstract: This article reports on my self-study of leading cohorts of Bachelor of Education student teachers through collaborative reflections applying reflective questions strategy during four weeks of residential practicum in a rural school. I explore the potential for reflective questions approach as an effective tool for reflection and professional learning in teaching and mentoring pre-service teachers. Data consisted of journal entries describing my experiences as classroom teacher and teacher educator and, of teaching and mentoring groups of students during residential practicum. Reading teacher education as text and, the audio recorded collaborative reflection conversations also provided data. Students’ documented personal and collaborative reflections were additional source materials. Data analysis employed qualitative procedures of content analysis and coding to determine themes relevant to both my and student teachers’ professional development. Engaging in this self-study based on reflective questions was essential for confronting my own assumptions and beliefs about mentoring and teaching teachers. This led to the growth of my and the students’ critical reflection and quality of professional thought and, a re examination of my approach to mentoring and teaching students during residential practicum. Findings also indicate growth of students’ general pedagogical knowledge, confidence, independence and autonomy. Introduction The self-study presented in this article examines my experiences in teaching and mentoring student teachers through collaborative reflections applying reflective questions strategy during residential teaching practice (TP) in a rural South African school. As a teacher educator, new in the role of teaching and mentoring cohorts of Bachelor of Education (BEd) student teachers in the Rural Teacher Education Project (RTEP), I decided to research my practice through the implementation of this project to understand more fully my teacher educator practice. With my many years of experience and other teacher educator responsibilities in the university, my intention was to investigate my practice formally within this project. The RTEP is a rural school-university partnership venture of the Faculty of Education. The project strives to re-orientate teacher education in the institution’s education faculty to rural schools as major learning sites for pre-service teachers (Balfour, 2012) . Cohorts of BEd students in second year, third year or fourth year of study get an opportunity to experience rurality during their residential TP in rural schools. This paper documents my experiences of teaching and mentoring three cohorts of BEd students in 2011, 2012 and 2013 within the context of their residential professional practicum. My role in the RTEP was to provide on-site leadership for effective in-field coordination. In this capacity, I was accommodated together with students at a guesthouse close to t

FAQs

What reflective approach does the study use during practicum?

The study uses a reflective questions strategy to guide collaborative reflections during an evening debriefing and reflection process across four weeks of residential practicum.

What kinds of data were collected for the self-study?

Data include journal entries describing the educator’s experiences, audio-recorded collaborative reflection conversations, and students’ documented personal and collaborative reflections.

What did the self-study find about student development?

The findings indicate growth in students’ general pedagogical knowledge, confidence, independence, and autonomy, alongside improved critical reflection and professional thought.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jasmine