Professional Course Work and the Practicum: Do Good Students Make Good Teachers?

Abstract

In recent years, in an attempt to bridge the so-called theory-practice gap, teacher education programs have sought to bring professional course work and the practicum experience into a closer and more meaningful relationship. This study investigates an expected relationship between performance in professional course work and performance in the practicum in a professional year program for prospective elementary teachers at the University of Alberta. Its findings confirm those of other researchers who have discovered little if any relationship between theoretical course work and student teaching performance. In the discussion, it is argued that the implications for teacher education to be drawn from such findings are not primarily data-driven; rather, they depend upon various assumptions concerning the nature, purposes, and priorities of professional education.