What teaching models do Pre-Service teachers learn during placements?

Abstract

Observing the teaching-learning situations that arise in educational contexts is a key part of teacher education. The present study examined how forty-three future teachers constructed their professional knowledge. Adopting a qualitative approach, we discuss the teaching situations observed by pre-service teachers in the subjects of reading/writing and mathematics. Based on the results, educational interactions were far from representing collaborative and dialogic teaching/learning models. In addition, the students’ narratives lacked critical professional reflection. Thus, they did not provide support to possible alterations to the instructional design they observed, and thus failed to make them more participatory. To conclude, we believe that pre-service teacher training should promote a more collaborative model, in which critical and reflective skills are developed based on active student participation. The present study showed that teacher training needs to be redesigned: skills and strategies proper to professional teaching competence need to be emphasised so that pre-service teachers acquire them more significantly during their training.