The pre-service teachers’ internship program during the pandemic: prospects for a new landscape of teacher education

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has made education goes online including teacher education programs. For the first time, pre-service teachers needed to teach online to school students when they were going through a teaching internship program. This study aimed to determine issues and challenges faced by pre-service teachers when teaching online during the internship program. The main theory used as the framework was the behaviorist perspective on education. A number of 71 pre-service teachers had filled in online surveys that included reflections of teaching for each online teaching session conducted. The reflections were used as the data source. Data were analyzed using a qualitative analysis method, namely coding strategies. Themes were generated and discussed. This study found three primary challenges faced by the pre-service teachers: (1) internet accessibility among school students, (2) students’ interest and attitude toward online learning, and (3) knowledge and skills of conducting online teaching and learning including assessment of student learning. Implications for teacher education programs are discussed and recommendations are made to inform teacher educators and other relevant parties such as governments and philanthropies about ways to improve practice of online teaching of pre-service teachers.