THE EFFICACY OF SIMULATED TEACHING IN PREPARING PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS FOR PRACTICUM

Teacher training programme has been recognised for its importance in training and preparing pre-service teachers for practicum and teaching profession. Interest in the field is noticeable with a number of studies conducted on teacher training areas. To ensure that appropriate training is given for the pre-service teachers prior to their actual classroom teaching, there is a need to look into the extent the pedagogical and content knowledge are delivered and acquired. Pre-service teachers in local public universities have gone through difficult times adjusting to real school environment during practicum period even though they have attended and completed their fair share of mock teaching in simulated teaching classroom. In Malaysia, research on simulated teaching as part of teacher training is still limited and the focus is normally given on the area of assessments and curriculum. Hence, it is the aim of this study to identify issues faced by the pre-service teachers during the practicum. For the purpose of this study, six pre-service teachers were selected as participants from a local public university through purposive sampling; the participants have to have gone through both simulated teaching and teaching practicum. Data were gathered through one-on-one narrative interviews and focus group interviews and analysed with thematic and content analysis. The findings reveal that simulated teaching is effective because of the feedback gathered and it can be further improved by increasing its frequency, integrating more role plays, and including a comprehensive Q&A session after the teaching.Keywords: Micro-teaching, simulated teaching, teacher training programme, teaching practicum, pre-service teachers, educationCite as: Mukhtar, M.A., Hasim, Z., & Md Yunus, M. (2018). The efficacy of simulated teaching in preparing pre-service teachers for practicum. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 3(1), 64-74.http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol3iss1pp64-7