Findings from interviews with student-teachers

Table 1 presents an outline of the themes that derived from the interviews with student‐teachers on the area of student‐teacher opportunities to teach lessons, student‐teacher initiative for feedback and their perception on the contribution of mentor’s feedback on student‐teachers’ lesson‐planning skills and instructional strategies.

Table 1. Codes and themes derived from the thematic analysis of interview data with student-teachers

Codes Themes

Lack of student‐teacher self‐confidence

Hesitation to be challenged in classroom management Hesitation to be challenged by different situations Low number of lessons planned

Low number of lessons taught

Lack of student‐teacher observation by university mentors

Student‐teacher hesitates to teach

Lack of initiative for feedback Lack of time

Hesitation to pressure the mentor for feedback Student prefer oral feedback

Sharing notebook of lesson plans with student‐teachers Importance of knowing learners and content

Appropriate activities for each stage

Usage of concrete locations to find information Usage of appropriate activities for lesson Using concretising tools while explaining Usage of appropriate activities for students with disabilities that they like

Usage of inclusive activities

Developing self‐confidence in writing lesson plans

Importance of using a clear and strong voice Being active

Despite the fact that the interviewed students have enthusiasm about their experiences of the practice in the school and the benefit they have had in contrast to the practice in the second year that was just observation, they emphasise that during the practice they lack the initiative to teach more than required because of low self‐confidence and doubts about whether they can manage the classroom. Student‐teachers could have doubts about their ability to cope with unfamiliar situations, controlling and man‐

aging learners, or establishing a working relationship with the mentor or

supervisor. It is such mixed feelings that can contribute to the making or breaking of a student‐teacher (Perry, 2004).

It was noted that they have prepared and teach only two to three lessons in front of a school mentor and taught only one lesson in front of a university mentor, which is not enough according to them.

The university mentor observed me just once. The school teacher helped me to prepare. In front of he school mentor, I taught just once under her supervision, but also some other times without her supervision. (Stu-dent 3).

The school mentor showed me which teaching units to prepare. I have prepared three lessons in total (Student 4).

Lack of possibility for feedback

Of the ten interviewed students, only four communicated with the school mentor via telephone or email about planning the lesson. Most of them did it when they were in school. It is noted that students preferred to receive oral feedback than written feedback on lesson plans, due to the limited time the mentor teachers were present in school. Students said that they did not take the initiative to request feedback as they did not want to pressure mentors. This also speaks about a mentoring culture in which mentor teachers do not seem to consider giving feedback as part of the duty while students tend to agree with such perceptions because they think asking for feedback is a form of pressure and demanding something extra.

I did not take the initiative to request written feedback on my lesson plans. The only time the school mentor provided written feedback was at the end of the practice in the student evaluation diary. I had the en-tire plan and the class books. I have watched them before every practice day. I didn’t like that we hadn’t communicated out of class with the school teacher, except for conversation at the school (Student 1).

It is noted that student‐teachers teach more classes unobserved because they had not requested observation from school mentors. While mentor teachers where teaching, student teachers assisted in activities or assessed the student’s homework.

Developing self-confidence in writing lesson plans

The mentors advised the student‐teachers to develop the habit of prepar‐

ing daily lesson plans. Moreover, student‐teachers emphasised the mentor

teacher’s advice that preparing well for lessons is needed to achieve flexibil‐

ity and enhance confidence. Four out of ten student‐teachers point out that they have received emails with necessary materials from school mentor that help them prepare their lesson plan, like model plans, web sites, and video links. According to the students, the school mentors advised them that during the first two weeks of practice it is preferable to observe the stu‐

dents, and become acquainted with their needs and capacities. Then they can prepare effective lesson plans.

Every day, the school mentor had her notebook with a daily lesson plan.

She planned her lessons daily and showed them to me. I learned a lot just seeing her lesson plans, what I should put in the each stage of the lesson plan (Student 6).

The interviewed students explain that their school mentors were quite col‐

laborative in sharing with them their personal notebooks with daily lesson plans and providing copies of model plans that they can use in the future.

Developing instructional strategies

Interviewed student‐teachers noted that they benefited significantly from mentors’ advise regarding their skills to deliver a lesson. They emphasised that there is much they have to work on regarding their presentation skills, especially speaking clearly, and holding children’s attention and interest.

The school mentor’s advice was to speak slowly and clearly. I talked too fast while explaining something to children (Student 1).

School mentor’s advice was to calm the pupils before I start teaching because their attention was not full when I started to talk. She sug-gested that I use an interesting introduction and attractive activities to hold their attention and interest (Student 5).

From the responses of the student‐teachers, we can see that the focus and emphasis of student teaching experience was more on the dimensions of teacher work that can be considered more superficial, such the students per‐

ceptions of the student‐teachers and how to manage the class. The interviews do not reveal anything substantial in terms of how student‐teachers develop the understanding and skills related to the complexity of teaching tasks, such as the need to ensure successful learning and addressing student diverse learning styles and dynamics. Novice teachers are expected to focus on more general aspects of teaching and on themselves as teachers. At the same time, it has to be recognised that it is the student teaching experience that can ad‐

dress these aspects of teaching, and it will be too late to address them when the student‐teachers transition to teaching at schools full time.