Principals' perceptions of extended teacher internships

The purpose of this qualitative study of 19 elementary and middle school principals was to determine the effectiveness of extended teacher internship programs. Specific objectives included the identification of strengths, weaknesses and recommended components of extended teacher internship programs.

Introduction

The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (1996) in their report, What Matters Most: Teaching and America's Future, stated that recruiting, preparing, and supporting teachers are integral components for achieving America's educational goals. The pivotal role of teacher education in the fulfillment of these goals has prompted a national teacher education reform movement targeting partnerships between schools and universities as essential to reform (Darling-Hammond, 1997; Goodlad, 1990; Holmes, 1990).

This national movement to connect the preparation of teachers to the real problems of teaching and learning in K-12 schools has provided the impetus for the redesign of teacher education programs in Idaho. In contrast to traditional teacher preparation programs that featured a 10 week to one semester internship, Idaho teacher preparation programs now feature extended internships. Although the specific structure of the extended internships vary from program to program, they all include more than one semester in a K-12 classroom, and in some cases, a full academic year. This respresents an approach to teacher training that is largely field-based involving a collaborative arrangement with the K-12 schools.

The ultimate goal behind extended internships is to prepare teachers who meet the state teaching standards and certification requirements. Extended internships strive to fully immerse teachers in all aspects of a school culture. Idaho teacher preparation programs want teacher interns who are better able to internalize pedagogical theories and to interpret and solve practical problems in an authentic school setting.

Extended internships in Idaho schools have been in operation for approximately four years. Southern Idaho principals have had an opportunity to work with the teacher training institutions in preparing teachers through extended internship programs and have employed teachers trained through those programs. This study examined their perceptions about program components and the quality of the teacher candidates trained through extended internship programs.

Purpose and Objectives

This research study, utilizing a qualitative interview technique, was undertaken to determine the perspectives of administrators concerning the effectiveness of extended teacher internships programs in Southern Idaho. Specific objectives of this study were to:

1. Examine the strengths and weaknesses of extended teacher training programs.

2. Determine unforeseen problems associated with extended teacher training programs.

3. Determine the program components that contribute to a successful teacher training internship.

4. Provide information to assist educators in making informed decisions regarding the most effective strategies to use for training teachers.

Design of the Study

The qualitative research model, which has emerged from research efforts in the social sciences, was particularly appropriate for this project since it is especially effective in understanding the total environment in which teacher training takes place (Creswell, 1994). Semi-structured interviews, which best fit the qualitative paradigm, were conducted through email and telephone conversations with principals in Southern Idaho schools involved in teacher internship programs. Seidman (1991) describes interviewing as, "A powerful way to gain insight into educational issues through understanding the experience of the individual."

A protocol was used by the researchers to record demographic, descriptive and reflective information as well as key research questions to be asked. The qualitative analysis was based on data "reduction" and "interpretation" (Marshall & Rossman, 1989, p. 114). This process involved reducing the information obtained in the interview to certain patterns or themes and then interpreting that information. Data was analyzed to determine prevalent themes concerning extended internship programs.

Purposive sampling techniques were employed for this study to ensure that the participants met specific criteria. Principal participants selected were administrators of schools that have been involved in extended teacher internships in Southern Idaho. Principals from twenty-two elementary schools and two middle schools were contacted and asked to participate in this qualitative study. Eighteen elementary principals and one middle school principal agreed to either email or phone interviews during the fall semester of 2002. The sample included twelve female principals and seven male principals. Experience in working with extended teacher internship programs varied among principals from one year to five and a half years. The average period of working with extended internship programs was three years experience.

Emerging Themes - Extended Internships

The interview data was coded and analyzed to determine prevalent patterns and themes as recommended by Bogdan and Biklen (1992). Four primary themes emerged from the study as follows: benefits associated with extended internship programs, challenges encountered, recommended program components, and program effects on teacher quality. Throughout the interview process, principals were inclined to compare prior teacher preparation programs to the current redesigned programs. Their comparisons inevitably depicted the extended internships as a definite improvement in teacher preparation.

Associated Benefits

The elementary and middle school principals in this study reported that the greatest strength of extended internships was the acculturation of the teacher intern within the school. These interns, new to the world of children and teaching, are better able to become fully immersed in all aspects of a school culture early in their programs.

Spending more time within the school environment allowed new teaching candidates to receive a much richer experience centered on working with children. School experiences included opening the new school year and establishing relationships with children and faculty. Principals described the benefits of interns actually setting up a classroom, attending orientation meetings, and becoming a team player within the school and the school district. As one principal stated, "Our teacher interns are more than student teachers; they are our colleagues working alongside our teachers from Day 1."

In addition to the early experiences benefiting teacher interns are those ongoing experiences cited by principals as necessary to become a successful teacher. As the year progresses, the interns actually grow as teachers through their school and classroom interactions. They are engaged in activities that reinforce effective instructional and classroom management practices. Through their involvement with children, they become acutely aware of how students learn.

Principals were particularly enthusiastic about the opportunity for interns to work with all school personnel: office, custodial, cafeteria, safe schools aide, school nurse, P.E. specialist, music specialist, computer specialist, school psychologist, resource room personnel, extended resource room personnel, and Title 1 teachers. Several principals commented on coaching, duty (lunch, recess, bus), tutoring and recreational (field trips, after school) opportunities for interns.

Another benefit cited by several of the principals involved in this study was the opportunity for interns to observe child development across grade levels. Interns were encouraged to work in more than one grade and/or classroom. The experiences gained through a multi-grade level experience were considered invaluable to the teacher interns. Coupled with insight gained through working with students at different grade levels was the opportunity to work with a variety of teachers and support staff.

Finally, participants reported the benefit of increased collaboration among teacher training institutions and the public schools for which teachers are trained. Comments were in favor of educational partnerships that would result in better prepared teachers. As one principal stated, "Having a partnership between the universities and the schools is a two-way street. It provides professional development opportunities for the teachers and school personnel as well as an opportunity for professors to evaluate their pedagogical instruction within a school environment."

Challenges Encountered

Although collaboration was cited as a program benefit, it was also identified as the most challenging component of the extended internship programs. Participants focused on the lack of time for collaboration among university and school personnel. It is always difficulty to arrange schedules for busy administrators, teachers, interns and professors to find a common meeting time.

Added to the difficulties of arranging meeting times are the difficulties of reaching agreement among educators of differing philosophical beliefs. The principals indicated that much of the work required of interns by the university personnel was not closely tied to teaching and was viewed as "busy work" by interns and teachers. This work was perceived as an interference in the regular teaching day and an impedance to fulfilling the teaching responsibilities of the intern. Additionally, removing the interns from the classroom during the week for university work was viewed as a negative program component. The principals felt that the interns were not getting a true school experience since they were not in the classroom full time.

Another challenge identified was the difficulty of matching interns with master teachers with whom they could develop a supportive relationship. Because of the extended period of time that interns are placed with an individual teacher, it is imperative that they have similar philosophical underpinnings. Of course, this is a difficult process and sometimes requires intervention and even placement in other classrooms.

As might be expected, principals reported that lack of funding is a challenge for extended internship programs. Increased funding would allow release time for teachers to meet with university personnel and interns. Principals indicated that there should be funds available to help support interns who were full-time teachers without pay. When the program involves a full year of a school-based internship, an intern is typically unable to work elsewhere and may be forced to go into debt to become a teacher or drop out of the program. A final challenge connected to funding was the need for a university-school liaison whose primary responsibility would be to coordinate program activities and work closely with teachers, professors and interns.

Recommended Program Components

Participants were asked, "If you were to design the optimum extended teaching internship program, what components would you include?" Not surprisingly, the components that emerged coincided with the benefits and challenges identified. Optimum program components were as follows:

1) Preservice teachers should experience internships early in their programs.

2) The internship should be of at least an academic year's duration. This could allow for internships occurring over a two-year period, but that the internships include the opening and closing of a school year.

3) Interns should have a full school experience including working with all school personnel, different grade levels, and a variety of teachers. This structure could include a home base master teacher who is primarily responsible for the intern. The intern would begin the experience with the home base teacher, work with other teachers, and then complete the program with the home base teacher to provide continuity.

4) Pedagogical training should be aligned with the state standards, district curriculum and classroom instruction. University as well as school district personnel should share this responsibility.

5) There should be a person designated as the university-school liaison to assist with coordinating internship activities.

6) To be effective, internships need to include team teaching and solo teaching experiences. The solo teaching experiences could be accomplished through substitute teaching - this would benefit the intern (who would be paid) and the school whose substitute would be familiar with the curriculum and the students.

7) Any pull-out of interns for university instruction should occur curly in an internship experience rather than throughout the school year.

8) Interns should receive the same district support as teachers, such as new teacher mentoring, staff development, and inservice programs.

Teacher Quality

Are teachers who complete the extended internship programs better prepared than ones who have completed a more traditional student teaching program? When asked this question, sixteen of the nineteen respondents felt that teachers completing extended internship programs were much better prepared than those of more traditional programs. They indicated that the interns showed greater confidence and were, in fact, more experienced teachers. They felt that these teachers understood and incorporated state standards in their instruction and were more attuned to student development. Not only did they feel that the teachers were better prepared, but they were more likely to hire a teacher trained through extended internships. One principal summarized the group's opinions with his comment, "It's just like having a second year teacher on staff." Only one principal indicated that she relied primarily on the interview when considering applicants for hire.

Summary

On the whole, the participants in this study were very enthusiastic about teacher preparation programs that included extended internships. They identified far more benefits to such programs than challenges. These benefits extended across schools and universities with the greatest benefits accruing to the children of Idaho. Although there are challenges to programs of this nature, the principals are willing to continue working in partnerships in the redesign of teacher preparation. As one principal so aptly stated it, "Internship programs are beneficial to everyone involved."

References

Bogdan, R.C., & Biklen, S.K. (1992). Qualitative research/or education: An introduction to theory and methods. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Creswell, J.W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative & quantitative approaches. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications.

Darling-Hammond, L. (1997). The right to learn. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Goodlad, J. (1990). Teachers for our nation's schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Marshall, C., & Rossman, G.B. (1989). Designing qualitative research. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications.

National Commission on Teaching & America's Future (1996). What matters most: Teaching for America's future. (American Association for Employment in Education, Evanston, IL)

Seidman, I.E. (1991). Interviewing as qualitative research. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

The Holmes Group (1990). Tomorrow's schools: Principles for the design of professional development schools. (The Holmes Group, East Lansing, MI)

RICHARD R. POLLARD

Professor

University of Idaho - Boise Center

CONSTANCE J. POLLARD

Professor

Boise State University

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