Pre-service teachers' perspectives on their experience in a school-based Practicuma mixed methods approach

Resumen

The aim of this paper is to explore pre-service teachers’ perspectives towards a school-based Practicum within the context of a Degree in Primary Education: English. The practicum experience took place in different primary education schools during the 1st semester of the academic year 2015-2016, and lasted for seven weeks. During the 2nd semester participants were enrolled in another subject of Practicum in which they analysed the previous experience. We used a mixed methods approach. The instrument used to collect the quantitative data was a questionnaire divided into four parts: (1) socio-demographics characteristics of the participants; (2) analysis of the educational reality and organisational aspects; (3) teacher-tutor performance; and (4) pre-service teachers’ teaching intervention. A total of 113 pre-service teachers, ranging in age from 22 to 48, completed the survey at the beginning of the 2nd semester. In addition, qualitative data were obtained through semi-structure interviews. The qualitative sample was non-probabilistic, cumulative and sequential, to reach theoretical saturation and meet the objectives of the research. The sample was made up a total of 57 pre-service teachers. On analysing the results we found that the majority of the pre-service teachers highlighted the importance of the school-based Practicum as an opportunity to develop their teaching skills in the real context of a classroom setting. They stated that it was a fantastic experience to put into practice the knowledge acquired at university.