Clinical Experiences in Primary Teacher Education |
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| Authors: | Paul R Whiting |
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| Institution: | University of Sydney , Australia |
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| Abstract: | A programme at Sydney University designed to assist trainee teachers to meet the needs of individual children with difficulties in learning is described. Meeting these needs is defined as: being able to assess the child's learning, select appropriate learning experiences, select resources, manage the behaviour of the child, model appropriate language, explain concepts clearly, set out a suitable programme, maintain records, and write a report on the child's progress. Repeated surveys of trainees and more recently of the children and their classroom teachers indicate that the programme is largely meeting its objectives. Whether students work in the Early Learning Unit, the Language Development Unit, or the Numeracy Unit, it appears that this programme is an effective way of operationalizing the theoretical knowledge acquired during initial teacher education. Further, the programme seems to have had positive effects on the classroom behaviours of the children involved. The programme requires significant staff time, but it is an efficient way of supplying individual attention to children and ensuring that learning takes place. Students rate the provision of close supervision as essential to the success of the programme. The repeated request for more time in a programme such as this suggests that the preparation of teachers would be enhanced if they were able to experience the programme in both mathematics and language development. |
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