Teaching practice is an important aspect of teacher education which provides students with an opportunity to actualize theories and principles learnt under the supervision of competent supervisors in actual school and classroom setting. The aim of the study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of teaching practice supervisors in reference to preparation, management and pedagogical practices. The research used descriptive and case study research design with a target population of 100 internal teaching practice supervisors drawn from the Faculties of Education, Agriculture, Arts and Social Sciences, Science and Technology. Using purposive sampling technique 46 out of 100 supervisors participated in the study. Open and closed ended questionnaires was used to collect data from TP supervisors. The questionnaires was uploaded in the google platform and the link shared with the TP supervisors through emails and what’s up. Data from 46 questionnaires was analyzed using descriptive statistics, content and thematic analysis. Analysed data was presented using tables, pie charts, frequencies, percentages and key themes. Findings reveal that 97.8% of teaching practice supervisors had attended induction sessions. While 63% of the supervisors expressed their satisfaction with the posting, 87% reported that the job card was friendly in terms of distribution and geographical sub-zoning of teaching practice schools. In addition, 73.9% of supervisors noted that zone coordinators dispatched soft copies of teaching practice materials on time. Most supervisors prefer soft copy materials because they are flexible, friendly, convenient, easy to handle, share, manage, store, traceable and consistence. On pedagogical issues, 73.9% of supervisors reported that most of the students had their schemes of work ready, while 58.7% and 63% noted that lesson plans had detailed content with appropriate teaching methods. 89.1% of teaching practice supervisors hold debrief sessions, in addition to submitting soft copies of the assessment reports and lesson plans to zone coordinator. On teaching practice facilitation funds, 82.6% and 69.6% of the supervisors noted that the funds are not dispatched on time and they are not adequate. Since teaching practice supervision is a key pedagogical process which molds and mentor student to become competent professional teachers, there is need to improve on the preparation, management and pedagogical practices to make the process more effective and efficient.
Juliet Muasya (Tue,) studied this question.