Acadia University, a small liberal arts institution, has for over 15 years, offered a unique practicum experience for its teacher interns enrolled in the preservice Bachelor of Education. Students travel to Shanghai, China for a period of four months to teach English as a Second Language in school classrooms ranging from grades kindergarten to…

This exploratory study uses transformative learning theory as a lens to interpret and understand the challenges and successes experienced by education students who elect to teach or intern abroad. Transformative learning is a deeper-level learning that challenges learners to understand themselves and their world in new, more nuanced ways. We…

Collaboration between student teacher trainers, the cooperating teacher, and the university supervisor, is directly connected with the sharing of respective knowledge (Gervais & Desrosiers, 2005). However, fruitful exchanges are not necessarily usual (Sanford & Hopper, 2000), which is considered the most detrimental factor in the student…

In recent years there have been significant changes in education across the globe, largely as a result of changing demographics, technological developments, and increased globalization. Relatedly, the changing needs of societies and families, along with new research findings, provide new directions in early childhood education. Consequently, early…

In this article, two indigenous post-interns, who completed their 16-week extended-teaching practicum sessions in rural schools in one Western Canadian province, assess their school-based internship experiences. They summarize their perspectives in three areas: 1) the elements they perceived as positive during the internship, 2) the challenging…

Student teaching is considered to be the most critical event and capstone experience of teacher preparation programs. However, within the discipline of business education, very few studies have investigated the challenges and issues of developing future business teachers within the student teaching internship. This study examined the perspectives…

This paper compares and evaluates teacher induction in Canada and Japan, following an overview of each educational system and an assessment of higher education in each region. Based on the author's personal teaching experience and research, suggestions for educational reforms are made to enhance the role of teachers. Teachers need opportunities to…

Compared mean concern scores of 125 preservice teacher interns on the Intern Concerns Checklist at 3 points during a 4-month practicum. Survival concerns decreased over time, but concern for pupils was consistently high. The current topics and sequence of internship seminars at the University of Saskatchewan generally match the emerging concerns…

Describes Alberta, Canada's Initiation to Teaching Project, which addressed beginning teachers' inadequate practical skills, eased the transition to full-time professional work, and reduced teacher unemployment and underemployment. Project evaluation revealed that most participants considered it a valuable induction scheme that resulted in…

Presents a case study of Canadian aboriginal interns' experiences at the Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program to illustrate how the process of becoming a teacher is institutionalized through administration of curriculum logic based on management and discipline. The paper highlights social relationships, supervision, and evaluation…

The Saanich Elementary Internship Program (SEIP), a team effort between the University of Victoria (British Columbia) faculty of education and the Saanich School District, was investigated for the purpose of improving the preparation of elementary school teachers. The Saanich School District was primarily responsible for selection and placement of…

This paper describes a pilot project in which interns were clustered in an elementary school in Saskatchewan (Canada) to work in collaboration with the teaching staff toward school goals as well as internship goals. The role of the college supervisor was primarily one of supporter, problem-solver, resource provider, and idea stimulator. The…

This study was conducted to examine how a college supervisor can reduce stress in the post-conference analysis of a lesson taught by an intern, and to determine the merits of both informal and formal post-conferencing. Informal post-conferencing was introduced to create a more relaxed, comfortable, and less rigid environment to alleviate intern…

This monograph describes a peer coaching project in Saskatchewan (Canada) implemented in two consecutive terms of a 16-week extended practicum. The purpose was twofold: (1) to experiment with having intern pairs engage in the supervision cycle in conjunction with the supervision provided by the cooperating teacher; and (2) to monitor the…

Describes the University of Saskatchewan's thoughts on adopting Contextual Supervision (CS) to encourage professional growth in preservice teachers within an extended practicum program. CS emphasizes that supervisory decisions must be based upon universally accepted human values. The article examines studies conducted as part of a two-phase…