Adaptation and Validation of the DUNDEE Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) for a Practice Teaching Program

Abstract

The study examined the psychometric properties of the DUNDEE Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) in the context of a practice teaching program environment. The DREEM has been validated in many countries and is a widely recognized tool to measure students' perception of their learning environment in medical and allied health education programs.  Data for this study come from 316 fourth year teacher education students who have already finished their practice teaching program. Principal components analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation was used to examine the underlying component structure of the items of the instrument.  PCA results indicated the presence of a five-component structure which supports other validation studies. However, component loadings of the items were not consistent with the original DREEM resulting to a shortened version. The shortened DREEM has a Cronbach alpha of 0.83, indicating a high internal consistency of its items.  The adapted DREEM is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring practice teachers' perception of their learning environment. The instrument will be called Practice Teacher Education Environment Measure (PTEEM).

Keywords: Educational environment, student teaching, adaptation, validation, principal component analysis

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-9-04

Publication date:March 31^st 2019