Contextual Characteristics of Teaching Practice Schools and Supervision of Student Teachers in Kenya

Abstract

Student teaching is first and foremost a learning situation; hence the school context in which it takes place is quite important. This paper examines contextual characteristics of teaching practice schools and supervision of student teachers in Kenya based on a study on perceptions on the influence of the school context on teacher interns’ performance in Moi University. It is concerned with whether and how the school context is taken into consideration when posting, supervising/assessing and grading student teachers during teaching practice. School contextual supervision and assessment related challenges are highlighted. Data was collected using questionnaires and interviews from a sample of 31 university supervisors and 148 fourth year Bachelor of Education students in the Degree programmes offered in the School of Education. Frequencies and percentages were computed using the SPSS computer package. The findings revealed that financial-related concerns were the overriding factors in the posting of the student teachers to teaching practice schools. School contextual characteristics with regard to professional concerns related to the opportunities the schools would accord the student teachers for practice was least taken into consideration. Consequently, supervision was affected such that student teachers were sometimes penalized for issues that were beyond their control during assessment because the school context was rarely taken into consideration. It is therefore recommended that contextual characteristics of teaching practice schools such as the availability and quality of cooperating teachers and teaching/learning resources among others, be taken into consideration when posting and supervising/assessing and grading student teachers.