From university to school : preparing pre-service teachers for the real world

Much of the literature on programs of pre-service teacher education highlights the disparity between what is learned at university and whal is actually required in the classroom. This paper outlines a new philosophy of teacher training adopted by the Faculty of Education and Creative Arts at Australia's Central Queensland University. It describes the design, content and operation of a new practicum program, where in a unique partnership between the university and the education community in which it operates, supervising teachers are able to customise part of each practicum to suit the individual needs of the student teacher. This organisational feature is continued into a compulsory six-week Internship that is designed to enhance the education experience for each individual student teacher. The paper concludes with the preliminary findings of an investigation into what student teachers see as the major differences between their final practicum and the internship.