Field experience, ideology and the development of critical reflectivity

A paradox currently exists for many programs of teacher preparation because of two apparently oppositional tendencies. First, within programs which prepare future teachers, there is an increasing amount of attention being given to field work of various types, as appropriate training for those about to enter the profession of teaching; second, there has been a growing commitment to provide more than a vocational training experience for prospective teach-ers, so that students in teacher preparation programs may be encouraged to examine educational issues, ideas, and practices from a critical, foundational perspective (Beyer & Zeichner, 1982). We will explore in this paper: a) how these tendencies conflict; b) the educational and ideologi-cal parameters of such conflicts and why these are impor-tant; and c) how the tendencies which form the basis for this paradox may be realigned so that a critically oriented, reflective approach to teacher preparation may be enhanced. The message seems to be that if what we want are better trained, more competent and able, more well-adjusted teachers, increased time in school settings provides one fruitful means of assuring these things. Field experiences thus seem worthy of inclusion in programs of teacher preparation. The student teaching experience has become an almost universally accepted part of programs in teacher educa-tion. As typically the final portion of the prospective teacher’s professional preparation, it is expected to provide sufficient &dquo;real life&dquo; experience to allow students to explore teaching methods and styles, connect &dquo;theory&dquo; (chiefly learned in the college classroom) and &dquo;practice&dquo; (mostly as experienced in a school setting), become famil-iar with the demands of teaching, and acquire the neces-sary skills and values needed to function adequately in that setting. Since the classroom is the arena within which students will presumably spend a major portion of their work lives, it seems reasonable to include experience of this sort as a prelude to their professional activities. Increasingly of late, additional field experiences have also been either suggested or mandated by colleges and state departments of education. In Ohio, students must spend some 300 hours in field experiences prior to studen