Difficulties Encountered by Pre-service Teachers: Basis of a Pre-service Training Program

Pre-service teachers are of great importance today as they will become the next teachers to hone, mold, and instill the minds, hearts and skills of the children for greater use. It is very crucial to help these pre-service teachers by knowing their difficulties and how we are going to be of help. This study aimed to determine and discuss the extent of difficulties encountered by the pre-service teachers in one state college in Northern Philippines. Furthermore, this also determined the degree of acceptability of the identified probable strategies that can be applied to address such difficulties. This study utilized an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design. Using an explanatory sequential design involves the two-phased process – collecting and analyzing quantitative data first followed by collecting qualitative data to expound the quantitative findings. The data from the questionnaire and interviews were gathered from 79 graduating pre-service teachers. The findings reveal that the pre-service teachers encounter slight difficulties in the seven support areas; administrative support, cooperating teachers, student supervisors, peers, students, related tasks, and learning environment. The findings also showed that problems encountered by pre-service teachers vary from each field of specialization. Further, the findings show that the identified strategies are moderately acceptable to be used to address the difficulties of pre-service teachers. As highlighted from the interview; individual differences among students, supervisors, and peers, lack of facilities, and lack of preparation and training are some of the key reasons affecting the difficulties encountered by pre-service teachers.