Teacher Students on Pedagogical Practice – A Third-Party Perspective

Abstract

The aim of the study is to analyze the opinions of mentor teachers on the evaluation of professional competencies and specific skills of teacher training students at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. A self-developed scaled questionnaire was used for data collection. The research sample consisted of 105 mentor teachers cooperating with the Department of Pedagogy at UPJŠ. The largest representation was among female respondents (n=89; 84.76 %), respondents working in schools in Prešov and Košice regions (n=76; 72.38 %), respondents with teaching experience of 16 – 20 and 21 – 25 years (n=40; 38.10 %) and 26 – 30 and 31 or more years (n=47; 44.76 %), and respondents with mentor teacher experience of 6 – 10 and 11 – 15 years (n=46; 43.81 %). A statistically significant difference was found in the evaluation of students' diagnostic and didactic-methodical competence during teaching practice by mentors in terms of location, and a statistically significant difference was also found in the evaluation of students' diagnostic competence by mentors in terms of age. Within the diagnostic competence, mentor teachers gave lower ratings to students' skills related to inclusive education; within didactic-methodical competence, lower ratings were given to students' skills related to working with curriculum; within evaluation competence, lower ratings were given to students' skill to apply multiple student assessment standards; and within cultivation competence, lower ratings were given to students' skills connected to performing professional reflection. The study concludes by presenting possibilities for strengthening these skills through academic preparation and teaching practice.