The practicum in preservice teacher education: a review of empirical studies

This literature review presents a systematic analysis of 113 empirical studies conducted between 1996 and 2009, portraying a picture of the rationales, goals, activities, roles, and outcomes in the different practicum settings in teacher education programs. The review shows that the rationale, goals, and activities in the different practicum settings are focused on teaching competencies and acquaintance with the pupils’ diversity. The supervisors’ role is focused mainly on the preservice teachers’ inner world, and only few studies examined school students’ achievements as a result of preservice teachers’ instruction. The individual relationships between mentors, supervisors, and preservice teachers were attended by tension and conflicts ensuing from different interests, educational philosophies, and status differences that were not bridged. Preservice teachers’ acquaintance with staff and principals at the host school were a negligible part of the practicum descriptions. The discussion will portray two kinds of asymmetric relations between the host schools and the teacher education programs, and one kind of symmetric relations emerging from the descriptions of the practicum. The implications will suggest a broader view of the practicum, designing a new teacher education program embedded in school organizational culture.