An In-Depth Review on Teaching Practice: The Case of Social Studies

Abstract

The aim of this study is to review the teaching practice course, conducted to prepare pre-service teachers studying in faculties of education for the teaching profession in terms of practical as well as theoretical knowledge, within the framework of different variables. The study was conducted by adopting the principles of qualitative study method. A semi-structured interview form prepared by the researchers was used to collect data required. In this regard, the study included 10 pre-service social studies teachers who taking the teaching practice course, 10 social studies teachers working in the practice schools, and 10 secondary school students studying in the practice class. Descriptive analysis and content analysis methods were used to analyze the data obtained as a result of the interviews. At the end of the study, we found that the pre-service teachers experienced feelings of excitement, happiness, pride, inadequacy, disappointment and fear during the lecturing processes. Moreover, we have revealed that the mentor teachers that they mostly considered the pre-service teachers inadequate in terms of content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. The students is carried out find pre-service teachers adequate in terms of classroom management and lecturing, but the fact that pre-service teachers mostly use narration and question and answer methods stands out as a negative situation.