PERCEPTION OF PRE-SERVICE (B. ED) TEACHERS PERTAINING TO EFFECTIVENESS OF PAIR TEACHING AND MENTORING DURING PRACTICUM

Abstract

Practicum is considered as an important element of teacher education programmes across the world including Pakistan. It prepares pre service teachers to execute the theoretical knowledge and skills learned in the classroom. Notre Dame Institute of Education (NDIE) is a national institute of teacher education. NDIE is committed to bringing about positive change in the quality of teacher education in Pakistan by introducing innovation into teacher education. One such attempt was made in 2005 when pair teaching and mentoring support was introduced for enriched practicum. This research study investigates the opinion of pre service teachers regarding the effectiveness of pair teaching and mentoring during 1st round of practicum. The population of the study consisted of 29 pre service teachers enrolled at NDIE as Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) students. A descriptive and exploratory research design was adopted to conduct the study. Questionnaire was used as data collection instrument. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS both descriptive and inferential statistics on Likert scale. Frequencies were run to measure the four aspects of pair teaching such as emotional support, learning with and from each other, resource development, skill development and three aspects of mentoring such as facilitation by mentor, role of the mentor and skills of the mentor. The results of the study indicate that pre service teachers showed satisfaction towards pair teaching and mentoring support however results signify that they were not overwhelmed about the process as the mean score of all subscales remain between 1 and 2. The findings also indicated that there were no statistically significant differences in their opinion regarding different areas investigated. The findings may be used to improvise pair teaching.