TEACHING practice for the primary school teacher is an initiation into the real world of teaching although some student teachers feel there is too much theory and not enough time spent in the classroom.
Teaching at a primary school in south Tipperary after her B Ed degree at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, one teacher feels that although the course breaks the student into teaching gently, often the methods used are not valid in the real world of teaching.
"The practice is great," she says. "It has to be done although the first time we went out on teaching practice on our own, without a teaching partner (another student teacher), was during a five-week period in third year. I think more practice on your own is needed before you go out into the real world," she says.
Lorna Purcell is a third-year B Ed student at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick and has just finished her five-week teaching practice at home in Roscrea, Co Tipperary.
She says the workload doubled between second and first year, although she feels that being part of a small university benefits the students. "The lecturers know all the students and the support is great," she says.
For Clare O'Sullivan and Marion Purcell, also third-year B Ed students at Mary Immaculate in Limerick, there is too little preparation before the actual teaching practice begins. "We go on teaching practice after Christmas in second year with only one week to prepare," says Marion.
Caoimhe Mairtin, director of teaching practice at St Patrick's College in Drumcondra, Dublin, feels that individual attention for all student teachers is vital. "One-to-one time is needed although this often puts pressure on the teaching staff in general," she says.
Trying to match the theory and the method with the huge variety of classroom situations there are is one of the main stresses faced by the student teacher, according to Mairtin.
"The amount of work that is involved before students go out on teaching practice is another cause for their anxiety. This usually disappears when they meet the class or the class teacher," she says.
A student in her second year of the B Ed programme at St Partick's College feels the actual teaching experience is very different from what is taught in the classroom.
"We do learn all about class management, organisation and how to keep control, although when you're standing in front of a class it's a whole different ball game and I'm quite concerned about discipline," she says children can react so differently and often the child won't react the way you were expecting. That's why it's good to try out new methods. In the classroom you have to cater for individual students, you can't leave any behind or drag anyone down. It is helpful to have a lot of theory to draw on for ideas and back up."
Christopher White is a third year at St Patrick's. He says the stresses and strains of the final year in the B Ed can come from the most unusual of sources. "Things like transport to and from the school where you're teaching can be cause major headaches. Sometimes the class teacher is not willing to give up his or her class to the student teacher. This can be a problem, it just depends on the teacher in question," he says
"Discipline is not something I worry about; we've got the theory behind us so we're well armed. I'd say most students worry about the arrival of the inspector. You could give 35 rosy lessons and then the inspector arrives and things might not go so well," says Christopher.
John Cullen from Laois is also a third year at St Pat's. He feels there is very little guidance with regard to discipline. "It can be quite difficult when you go into someone else's class for teaching practice, especially a senior class when the pupils know you're just training and are not their real teacher. You have to put a lot of effort into getting their confidence and letting them know you mean business.
Anne Bracken trained as a nurse before going back to college as a mature student to take the B Ed at St Pat's. She says: "There's a totally different social scene now compared to when I went to primary school myself and there are more social problems. No amount of theory could prepare you for being out in the real world. Teachers are not just teachers any more, they're acting as social workers and psychologists," she says.
John Carr, general treasurer-designate of the INTO, says the demands on teachers in a changing world are huge and he is strongly in favour of a four-year B Ed programme, with greater emphasis on teaching practice.
"The B Ed course is already overcrowded. There is so much for the student primary teacher to do that it is becoming impossible to get the existing work done," he says.
"I'm in favour of a fourth year where the young teacher becomes part of the actual staff of the school for a period rather than being separated from the rest of the teaching body, where he or she becomes responsible for issues of discipline and responsible for talking to parents as well as teaching the class."
He is also in favour of an "apprentice" system where the young teacher in his or her first year in the workplace would be apprenticed to a teacher who would in turn act as the young teacher's mentor. (For the mentors, this would mean additional pay, he says).
This induction year, as Carr calls it, would mean that some of the work in the B Ed programme could be done in this year. "This would be an extension of the teacher's training," he says. It would, he believes, ensure that the primary school teacher was equipped to meet the changes of a broader-based curriculum.
