The development of peer support during their first classroom teaching practice

Sean O'HALLORAN

Research output: Contribution to conferencePapers

Abstract

The background of this paper is the development of field experience in the new Certificated in Secondary Education Course of the Hong Kong Institute of Education. As will be shown, this aims to introduce student teachers to schools and classroom teaching in a gradual and progressive manner. The focus of the paper will be the implementation of the second phase of the field experience – the Supporting Teaching Practice. This involved 199 students from the Chinese Stream and 6.05B student teachers from the English stream being placed in 56 schools. The Supporting Teaching Practice took place in a four-week period in March and April, 1995. The three levels of support which characterize this part of the programme – support from peers, support form teachers and support from Institute supervisor – are examined. As the development of team work is the most innovative aspect of the Supported Teaching Practice, this is examined in detail in terms of its implementation, operation and effectiveness. The general conclusion are that collaborative support from peers was very well received by the students themselves and is acceptable to the placement schools. Its operation in terms of joint post-lesson planning, peer observation and team teaching followed by joint-lesson reflection has been demonstrated to be a powerful tool for promoting reflective hypothesis formation about the teaching-learning process and it enables testing and evaluation of these by emerging teachers.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 1995

Citation

O'Halloran, S. (1995, November). The development of peer support during their first classroom teaching practice. Paper presented at the Hong Kong Educational Research Association 12th Annual Conference: Rethinking Education: Reflective Practice, Professionalism and Postmodernization, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, China.

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