Supervisors’ Remarks in Teaching Practice: the Perspectives of History Student-Teachers

Abstract

Teaching practice is very germane to the training of prospective teachers as it is a process of producing competent teachers. Rosemary, Richard and Ngara (2013) acknowledge that there are many mechanisms that are put in place to make the exercise (teaching practice) a beneficial experience to trainee-teachers' and supervisors' remarks is a part of one of such mechanisms. In the University of Cape Coast, supervision of the trainees (student-teachers) is done by the University lecturers who observe student-teachers and give their remarks on lessons taught by trainees. The remarks of supervisors, therefore, become critical in shaping trainees to turn out to be effective teachers. Given the relevance of supervisors' remarks, the researcher sought to examine the perspectives of History student-teachers on the remarks given by supervisors during teaching practice. A qualitative research method was followed. Focus group discussions with twenty-four (24) History student-teachers who were in the final and penultimate years of graduation were used to collect the data for the study. Data were presented qualitatively using thick descriptions. Regardless of differences in the reaction of participants on supervisors' remarks on their lessons, majority of them accepted the remarks given by their supervisors. By and large, participants regarded supervisors' remarks as indispensable element in their development as knowledgeable teachers. Nevertheless, conflicting remarks from supervisors on a lesson taught were viewed as affecting the effectiveness of the supervision exercise. Among other things, the study recommends that supervisors must have a sound knowledge of the subject matter they are supervising, and knowledge about subject-specific methodology which will enable them to provide useful remarks.

Keywords: key words, Teaching practice, student-teachers' reactions, supervisors’ remarks