A comparative study of the perceptions of pre-student teachers, cooperating teachers, and university supervisors regarding the ideal and the real roles associated with pre-student teaching experiences
The study had two purposes: (A) to examine the relationship between the ideal and the real roles associated with pre-student teaching experiences in the laboratory school as perceived by (1) pre-student teachers, (2) cooperating teachers, and (3) university supervisors and (B) to determine if the position of the respondent conditioned the agreement-disagreement in their perceptions of the ideal and real roles. The term "ideal'' role described the optimum in pre-student teaching experiences; the term "real" role related to the existing situation experienced by the respondents.An opinionnaire was developed specifically for this study; it was submitted to a panel of experts for refinement; it was pilot tested for validity; and it was administered during the Winter Quarter of 1977-1978. The total population which responded to the instrument included 168 student teachers, 38 cooperating laboratory school teachers, and 17 university supervisors.Contingency tables were constructed for fifteen discrete areas of concern, which were organized into the following categories: Purposes of the Program, Organization of Pre-Student Teaching Experiences, Classroom Management, Teaching Skills, and Evaluation. The chi-square statistical treatment was used to test a series of null hypotheses. The .05 level of significance was required for rejection of the null hypotheses.An extensive review of prior research and a study of professional literature was completed. Six generic areas were determined as a basis for the organization of the review.1. The Development of Role Concept2. The Importance of Pre-Student TeachingExperiences3. The Significance of the Laboratory School 4. The Salient Factors in the Role of the Pre-Student Teacher5. The Influential Role of the Cooperating Teacher6. The Functions of the University SupervisorIn addition to the forty-five tables which contained data regarding each area of concern studied, a series of summary tables was presented. In ten of the fifteen areas o concern there was found to be a relationship between the position of the respondents and the perception of the "ideal." In seven of the fifteen areas of concern there was shown to be a relationship between the Position of the respondents and the reported perception of the "real." In eight instances the null hypothesis was rejected when the position of the respondents was compared to the level of satisfaction expressed.Additional summary data were presented concerning the specific responses most frequently selected as "ideal" and as "real" by each of the respondent classifications. The levels of agreement were similarly reviewed and summarized for all areas of concern for each of the population classifications.Among the conclusions reported were:1. The student population was found to be moredissatisfied with the existing situation thaneither the cooperating teachers or the uni-versity supervisors.2. When identifying the "ideal" response, amajority of the respondents in all three population classifications agreed on one specific item (student teachers, nine times; cooperating teachers, ten times; and university supervisors, nine times). In the remaining instances, choice was sufficiently distributed to result in a lack of a majority in any one response item.The study concluded with a list of recommendations for action and for further study.
