Student teacher beliefs before and after the internship

Teachers’ beliefs about pedagogical practices and disciplinary procedures as well as their perceptions of students powerfully influence the corresponding approaches they utilize. The student teaching experience is cited as one of the most critical facets of teachers’ professional development. That which is learned by student teachers during their apprenticeship shapes their core set of beliefs, priorities, and schemes of effective practice in an enduring manner. This makes the comparison of beliefs held by pre-service teachers immediately after having completed their core didactic coursework with those held immediately after the student teaching experience of great interest. This comparison provides clues to the effects of the didactic experience and the student teaching experience on students’ core beliefs. Also noted within the academic research base are the striking disconnects between the poignant lessons learned in the field and theories of best pedagogical practice. Realities within “real classrooms” such as learner diversity, external mandates to cover a wide array of material, and the pressures of high stakes testing are just some of the factors influencing this discrepancy. This research reveals that student-teachers’ espouse humanistic beliefs upon completion of their didactic coursework. A belief in humanistic, in contrast to custodial orientations, was retained on behalf of participants after they student taught. Changes in reference to specific practices such as the use of external rewards to shape student behavior were more highly prioritized after immersion in the field, suggesting that even if discrete changes -- born of experience – emerge, overall belief systems stay intact. The frequently positive evaluation of the student teaching experience on behalf of participants was noted, as was the relationship between the said perceptions and either having had an unequivocally negative apprenticeship or having confronted a surmountable challenge.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Megan Elise Schramm-Possinge