EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERNAL TEACHING PRACTICE IN THE PREPARATION OF PRE-SERVICE SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS

Abstract

Internal teaching practice is a basic component in teacher education for pre-service teachers which enables them to apply the theory they learned to teaching in real practice before joining external teaching practicum. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of the internal teaching practice for preparation of pre-service special education teachers. A quantitative survey research design was used and a total of 98 pre-service special education teachers from universities in Central and Southern Punjab of Pakistan. The research instrument used was a self-developed close-ended questionnaire with five-point Likert scale. The instrument showed high internal consistency evaluated through Cronbach's alpha coefficient value (0.82). The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics; frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations including the Independent Samples t-test to compare the perceptions of the respondents based on gender. The results revealed a moderate level effectiveness of internal teaching practice (M = 3.00, SD = 0.32). Model lessons and supervisory support were seen as some of the weaker aspects of internal teaching practice, while the departmental arrangements were considered as the strongest aspect. In addition, respondents recognized the positive impact of feedback and teaching practice by internal staff on classroom management and teaching skills. Further, there was no statistically significant difference between male and female respondents on their perceptions of effectiveness of internal teaching practice (p> .05). The study findings showed that internal teaching practice is indeed one of the significant components that can be used to prepare prospective special educators, but it needs various facilitating factors such as supervisory support, provision of models, evaluation, and constructive feedback for it to be effective. The results have implications for teacher education institutions interested in enhancing the quality of internal practice of their special education programs.