Student teachers' perceptions of cooperating teachers
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to quantitatively and qualitatively examine student teachers' perceptions concerning their cooperating teachers. Student teachers at Tennessee State University completed a 21-item survey as a means of evaluating their perceptions of cooperating teachers. Surveys completed in the years 2000, 2001, and 2002 were analyzed. Samples sorted by cooperating teacher's gender, student teaching area (i.e., elementary or secondary), and year of placement were compared. Six quantitative null hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of significance. There were no statistically significant differences among the groups in overall satisfaction or whether they would recommend them to future student teachers. All null hypotheses were retained. Qualitative analysis provided further insight into these results. Data consisted of statements, phrases, or adjectives in response to two questions: What were the cooperating teacher's major strengths? How can the cooperating teacher improve as a mentor to student teachers? It was determined that commonalities for the major strengths of cooperating teachers were content knowledge, classroom management, communication and feedback, respect/concern/caring/helpfulness, and organization. It was determined that commonalities for improvement of cooperating teachers as mentors were more communication, more feedback, and more presence in the classroom.
Subject Area
Curricula|Teaching|Teacher education
Recommended Citation
Mary Ann Pangle,
"Student teachers' perceptions of cooperating teachers"
(2004).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI3158445.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI3158445