ABSTRACT
It is widely recognised that teacher education is a multi-dimensional system, and in this system, teaching practice is considered to be an important and indispensable element. This chapter aims to provide an insight about current trends in thinking about teaching practicum from the perspectives of different researchers in various educational settings since, as Mattsson, Eilertsen and Rorrison (2011) suggest, different traditions, processes and agents are involved in forming practice in teacher education. However, we need to take into account previous research studies and their findings, and their impact on theoretical implications in this regard when we are trying to provide some food for thought on emerging and changing themes of the research studies from past to present. What are the common points of research studies conducted on teaching practicum in different education systems? In these studies, what dimensions have been investigated with the stakeholders (student teachers, teacher educators, mentors and school principals) of teaching practice? What inferences can be drawn from the findings of these studies, which might be important for policy makers and other stakeholders? In this chapter, we will try to answer these and similar questions, and present them holistically by analysing previous studies on the stakeholders’ perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, experiences (e.g. Tjeerdsma, 1998), concerns or stressors (e.g., McDonald, 1993) and their varying expectations in the context of teaching practicum.
