Abstract:
In the international policy debate about the quality of initial teacher education, the role of practicum has assumed critical importance. Yet in New Zealand, as in many countries, the design and organisation of practicum has remained fairly constant. The focus of this study is on the work of four primary schools and university staff to radically redesign the final year practicum in a primary undergraduate teacher education degree. A qualitative individual and multi-case study was used to investigate how participants (N=52) viewed this practicum experience. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using NVivo. The findings indicate how school-university relationships can be strengthened and student learning can be enhanced by positioning the school (instead of the classroom) as the practicum site, and conceptualising practicum as providing opportunities for learning and collaboration between all participants rather than situating the student as the sole learner.
