Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies

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Student Teachers Help Student Teachers: A Phenomenological Study on the Student Teaching Triad’s Lived Experiences

Received: 12 October 2020    Accepted: 02 November 2020    Published: 11 November 2020
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Abstract

The phenomenological study investigated peer coaching (student teachers helping student teachers) based on the experiences of the student teaching triads, namely, student teachers, program supervisors, and mentor teachers, in a teacher education program in North America. The program recruited students who had graduated from undergraduate and completed required prerequisite courses or minored in education. A total of 69 students enrolled in the program and were randomly assigned in four cohorts. Altogether 23 stakeholders from each cohort including eight student teachers, eight program supervisors, and seven mentor teachers participated in the study and answered the guiding inquiry question: How do you perceive peer coaching in student teaching. Each participant received two recorded 90-minute in-depth interviews. Grounded theory using open coding, selective coding and axial coding strategies was employed to analyze the verbatim data sets. Five analogies consisting of a two-way street, a reality check, a pep rally, a contorted mirror, and a chore emerged and were identified during the analysis course and were utilized as themes to respond to the research question. The study revealed the complexity of peer coaching in the field and found that peer coaching brings forth advantages and problems due to the specific context the program situated. On the one hand, peer coaching creates opportunities that promote student teachers in learning to teach and teaching to learn academically and psychologically, as well as getting support emotionally. Also, peer coaching provides opportunities for student teachers to view fellow student teachers teach, which permits them to objectively reflect and assess their own performance. Furthermore, peer coaching is a time for student teachers to encourage and appreciate each other, which makes them feel more comfortable, truthful, related, and connected. Additionally, peer coaching brings about positive and potentially lasting effects to student teaching that may promise the continuum of teacher education. On the other hand, student teachers may experience problems taking notes and providing feedback due to lack of experience teaching. In addition, peer coaching may turn into a routine for student teachers to complete and check off with time constraints caused by the fast-track setup of the program. Therefore, the study suggests that teacher educators who consider adopting peer coaching assess their capacity and evaluate its feasibility based on the context they are in.

DOI 10.11648/j.tecs.20200504.11
Published in Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies (Volume 5, Issue 4, December 2020)
Page(s) 146-155
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Peer Coaching, The Student Teaching Triad, Student Teaching, Field Experience, Preservice Teacher Education, A Phenomenological Study

References
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Author Information
  • Department of Education and Learning Technology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

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  • APA Style

    Hsiu-Lien Lu. (2020). Student Teachers Help Student Teachers: A Phenomenological Study on the Student Teaching Triad’s Lived Experiences. Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, 5(4), 146-155. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.tecs.20200504.11

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    ACS Style

    Hsiu-Lien Lu. Student Teachers Help Student Teachers: A Phenomenological Study on the Student Teaching Triad’s Lived Experiences. Teach. Educ. Curric. Stud. 2020, 5(4), 146-155. doi: 10.11648/j.tecs.20200504.11

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    AMA Style

    Hsiu-Lien Lu. Student Teachers Help Student Teachers: A Phenomenological Study on the Student Teaching Triad’s Lived Experiences. Teach Educ Curric Stud. 2020;5(4):146-155. doi: 10.11648/j.tecs.20200504.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.tecs.20200504.11,
      author = {Hsiu-Lien Lu},
      title = {Student Teachers Help Student Teachers: A Phenomenological Study on the Student Teaching Triad’s Lived Experiences},
      journal = {Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies},
      volume = {5},
      number = {4},
      pages = {146-155},
      doi = {10.11648/j.tecs.20200504.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.tecs.20200504.11},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.tecs.20200504.11},
      abstract = {The phenomenological study investigated peer coaching (student teachers helping student teachers) based on the experiences of the student teaching triads, namely, student teachers, program supervisors, and mentor teachers, in a teacher education program in North America. The program recruited students who had graduated from undergraduate and completed required prerequisite courses or minored in education. A total of 69 students enrolled in the program and were randomly assigned in four cohorts. Altogether 23 stakeholders from each cohort including eight student teachers, eight program supervisors, and seven mentor teachers participated in the study and answered the guiding inquiry question: How do you perceive peer coaching in student teaching. Each participant received two recorded 90-minute in-depth interviews. Grounded theory using open coding, selective coding and axial coding strategies was employed to analyze the verbatim data sets. Five analogies consisting of a two-way street, a reality check, a pep rally, a contorted mirror, and a chore emerged and were identified during the analysis course and were utilized as themes to respond to the research question. The study revealed the complexity of peer coaching in the field and found that peer coaching brings forth advantages and problems due to the specific context the program situated. On the one hand, peer coaching creates opportunities that promote student teachers in learning to teach and teaching to learn academically and psychologically, as well as getting support emotionally. Also, peer coaching provides opportunities for student teachers to view fellow student teachers teach, which permits them to objectively reflect and assess their own performance. Furthermore, peer coaching is a time for student teachers to encourage and appreciate each other, which makes them feel more comfortable, truthful, related, and connected. Additionally, peer coaching brings about positive and potentially lasting effects to student teaching that may promise the continuum of teacher education. On the other hand, student teachers may experience problems taking notes and providing feedback due to lack of experience teaching. In addition, peer coaching may turn into a routine for student teachers to complete and check off with time constraints caused by the fast-track setup of the program. Therefore, the study suggests that teacher educators who consider adopting peer coaching assess their capacity and evaluate its feasibility based on the context they are in.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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