The Impact of Practicum Training in Improving Teaching Competences among ADU Post-Graduate Diploma Students

Abstract

Many trends have appeared in the field of teacher preparation all emphasizing the necessity to keep abreast of scientific, educational and technological developments. Part of such trends are developing curricula and identifying principles and guidelines for teacher preparation including: general, specialized and educational preparation, practicum training and practical education before and during the career. Current technological developments require teacher’s mastery of how to deal with modern teaching methods such as computer software and internet and how to use them efficiently with the students. On these grounds, development of teacher preparation programs is essential to cater for society’s developmental needs and respond to job market needs. This study aims at exploring the degree of competence students of professional post-graduate diploma in teaching acquire from practicum training. The questions of the study are as follows: What is the impact of Practicum program in improving students of professional post-graduate diploma teaching competences? •What is the correlational relation between the practicum program competences and specialization? •What is the correlational relation between the practicum program competences and students GPA? An instrument of measuring the competences of practicum training was specially designed and used to answer the above questions with appropriate validity and reliability indicators. The sample of the study consisted of 264 students enrolled in the professional post-graduate diploma in teaching in the second semester 2013-2014. The statistical analysis of the data was carried out using SPSS program. The findings indicated statistically significant differences in the attitudes of the students of the professional post-graduate diploma in teaching towards the impact of the Practicum program in improving students’ teaching competences. The differences are attributed to the specialization variable. There are no statistically significant differences attributed to the cumulative grade point average. The study has a number of recommendations in light of the findings.