Expectations vs reality: Investigating teaching practice challenges of foundation phase student teachers in a comprehensive university

Abstract

What are Foundation Phase (FP) student teachers’ experience of their teaching practice (TP)? This question captures the core tenants of this paper, which sought to fully comprehend the teaching practice learning experiences of pre-service student teachers enrolled in the Bachelor of Education 3rd year Foundation Phase teaching programme in a comprehensive university. The paper argues that although FP student teachers are expected to do teaching practice, they experience such an undertaking differently. Qualitative case study research design was adopted whereby purposive and convenient sampling procedures were used to select only ten participants who are in their 3rd year of study and are enrolled in Foundation Phase Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme. Focus group interviews were used for data collection purposes. Further, the data was coded and analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings of the study reveal that student teachers experience several challenges such as lack of interaction between student teachers and the school, inability to integrate theory into practice, absence of a mentor, and dominance of old-female teachers in Foundation Phase. This paper has implications for both higher education institutions (HEIs) and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).