Abstract:

My research concerns the vocational training of student teachers in school classrooms, where professional mentoring is provided by pedagogic trainers with guidance provided by the full-time school teachers. This study is focused on experience in providing such training in socio-economically challenged schools. The students were exposed to a variety of experiences with children from such socio-economically challenged communities.

The objective is to:
(1) understand what have been the experiences of trainees;
(2) determine whether the school type is a contributing factor in the development of the trainee skill sets;
(3) what should be the criteria for determining which schools should be chosen for vocational training and how the trainees are to be prepared for such teaching environments. Finally, in what manner does this experience contribute to the trainee’s professional identity?

The methodology is qualitative research using a narrative approach. Our findings are that there are certain students who flourished in this environment whilst others were found to have been held back in their vocational training. Our conclusions are that there is a need to match in advance each student to the most suitable school via an assessment of each student’s personal characteristics and skill sets.

Keywords:

Teacher training, Practicum, socio-economically challenged training schools.