Pre-Service Teachers as Agents of Educational Change Via the Practicum

Abstract

There is still an approach to the Practicum in which pre-service teachers are still seen as trainees who cannot contribute to the experienced practice of in-service teachers. The aim of this study was to find out, from the point of view of in-service teachers, university practicum tutors and pre-service teachers themselves, whether the latter doing their last Practicum can contribute to school improvement from an inclusive perspective and, if so, in what aspects of improvement this influence is produced. A qualitative comprehensive-descriptive study was carried out during two school years with the participation of 14 in-service teachers from 2 different schools and 10 pre-service teachers who were participating in the last Practicum, as well as 2 university tutors. Results show that pre-service can play a relevant role in school improvement, especially in classroom organisation, in teacher’s professional development and, in children’s learning. Reflections on teacher training programmes are provided.