Central to the BEd and PMEd programme is school placement. Over the four year programme, students will spend over 30 weeks in school or educational settings. In Year 4, students will be placed in schools for placements of up to 10 weeks in length.
The publication of the Policy on the Continuum of Teacher Education (Teaching Council, 2011) highlights a new set of relationships between schools and teacher education providers, calling, as it does, for new and innovative models of school placement to be developed using a partnership approach. Such innovative approaches will pose a number of challenges for all the partners involved. These include structural, philosophical, financial, programmatic challenges. A key structural challenge noted in the policy is that of extended school placement periods. This proposed development is in line with a growing emphasis internationally on school placement/practice as a core element of teacher preparation. This will enable students to engage with a broader school experience and provide students with opportunities to apply theoretical knowledge and develop skills in planning, implementing and evaluating teaching and learning. The essential function of school placement according to Burke (1993, p.107) “is that the student begins to see, experience and understand the teaching situation and the teaching process”. The expectation is that over the course of the four-year degree, placement learning will provide students with important perspectives and contexts through which educational theory and practice may be viewed. Students will be encouraged to record, and reflect upon, their perspectives by documenting their experiences through a variety of tasks which will integrate theory and practice.
Maynooth University Froebel Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education
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Aim of School Placement
The aim of the School Placement element of the BEd and PMEd is to provide student teachers with the opportunity to:
- develop their practical skills of observation and teaching
- develop their skills in curriculum planning, subject knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and related methodologies
- reflect critically on their practice on an ongoing basis so as to inform/improve that practice
- provide opportunities to link practice with theory
- plan coherent, differentiated and integrated teaching programmes which are informed by ongoing reflection on professional practice
- participate in school life in order to develop an understanding of school culture and how it impacts on teaching and learning and implementation of curriculum policy
- develop strategies for the promotion of positive relationships and communicating effectively with pupils, parents, colleagues, the school principal, school management, co-professionals and the wider community
- apply knowledge of the individual potential of pupils, dispositions towards learning, varying backgrounds, identities, experiences and learning styles to planning for teaching, learning and assessment
- create and maintain a safe, interactive and challenging environment using strategies that promote and maintain positive behaviour, in accordance with school policy.
School Placement and Partnership schools
Schools and colleges of education have complementary roles in initial teacher education. Each has a distinctive and particular contribution to make to the professional development of student teachers. Productive school placements can ensure that school-based work is fully integrated into the programme for student teachers.
School partnerships will be developed with schools that regularly facilitate Froebel College students on placement. Such schools will be termed ‘Partnership Schools’. Schools which, due to geographical or logistical reasons, facilitate students on an occasional basis will be termed ‘Co-operating Schools’.
Darling-Hammond (2006) called for tighter coherence and integration among courses and between course work and work in schools, extensive and intensely supervised clinical work, and closer, proactive relationships with schools that model good teaching. It is crucial that there should be the closest possible partnerships between Froebel College and Partnership Schools with mutual benefits. Froebel College will assign staff members to liaise with Partnership Schools in order to maintain regular contact with the teachers who are most closely involved with the student teachers.
The activities provided by schools for student teachers during long placements will not be confined solely to classroom experiences. Students will have the opportunity to engage in the broader life of the school and to gain insight into the range and breadth of responsibilities carried by the school and teachers.
Academic Service Placement
A feature of the Placement Learning Module is Academic Service Placement (ASP). Students in Year 2 will spend 10 days on ASP. This is an experiential learning pedagogy whereby students engage in community service that is integrated with the aims of the B Ed programme. It is premised on providing students with contextualised learning experiences that are based on authentic educational situations in the community. Using the community as a resource for learning will allow the student teachers to widen their perspectives on education as well as developing the skills that enable them to work with other professionals and agencies in a collaborative, co-operative and collegiate manner.
It is envisaged that students on ASP will engage with a wide-range of societal issues such as multiculturalism, literacy, educational disadvantage and health.
In Year 2 students will spend 10 half days on Academic Service Placement (ASP) in a range of settings such as Adult Literacy, Youthreach, Homework Clubs, after school programmes etc.
Features of School Placement on the BEd Programme
- Multiple opportunities for observation of classroom learning and teaching
- Focus on reflective practice and personal goal setting
- Placement Tutor as mentor
- Schools and college working collaboratively
- No formal assessment of Placement Learning in Year 1.Students will act as assistant to the teacher for much of these placements
- Students will be placed with peers in the same classroom in Year 2
- Extended school placements in Years 4
- During the long school placements in Years 4, students will return to the college on Fridays for staff and student-led seminars
- Gradual introduction over the four-year programme to full responsibility for class teaching
- Opportunity to engage in the broader life of the school
- Academic Service Placement in Year 2
- Gaelscoil Placement in Year 2
Feature of School Placement on the PMEd Programme
Inspired by Froebelian influences, School Placement in Semester 1 allows students to become familiar with the culture and practices of schools through observation in an infant classroom one day a week during September and October. Subsequently, students undertake a three-week block placement in the same classroom which will enable them to begin to develop their repertoire of teaching and classroom management skills based on their observations and theoretical input. On this placement, students are expected to teach approximately three short lessons across the curriculum per day along with setting up and facilitating play activity centres with specific reference to their observations and the needs of the children.
School Placement in Semester 2 is a three-week block placement in a 2nd or 3rd class setting which allows students to build on their teaching and classroom management skills. Students are placed with another student in a partnered placement. Along with individually teaching approximately three lessons per day across the curriculum, students will collaboratively plan schemes of work and co-teach one lesson with their partner.
On all placements, students are expected to work closely with their co-operating teachers and engage in professional dialogue and learning with their peers during the Learning Circles in an effort to make connections between placement experience and educational theories.
Guidelines for supporting students with Disabilities on School Placement
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School Placement Model