An Analysis of the Perceived Challenges Faced by Student-Teachers during Teaching Practice Exercise

Abstract

The study investigated the challenges faced by student teachers during teaching practice exercise. The survey design was adopted for the study. Simple random technique was used to select two hundred students from  300 and 400 level students who have participated in the teaching practice exercise in 2010/2011 session, Faculty of Education, University of Benin. A twenty one (21) item four point likert scale questionnaire titled “Questionnaire on Challenges during Teaching Practice Exercise (QCTP)” was used for data collection. Two research questions and one hypothesis were raised to guide the study. The data collected were analyzed using the mean statistics and the t-test of independent samples. The study revealed that fifteen out of the twenty one items were perceived by majority of student teachers as major challenges faced during teaching practice exercise. Also it was found that school location had no influence on the challenges faced by student teachers. The paper recommended among others that allowances should be given to student teachers for teaching practice exercise just like their counterparts who participate in industrial training in other faculties.

Keywords: Challenges, Teaching Practice, Student Teachers