Description
Teaching practice (TP) is a vital component of Kabarak University’s teacher training programme. It enables the teacher-trainees to get in touch with the real world of things as far as teaching is concerned. TP therefore is an integral part in teacher education because it allows student-teachers to put theories into practice. Kabarak University TP students have informally raised various issues during the assessment, some of which evolve around their preparation and eventually how they perceive teacher training and the general teaching profession. This study was meant to describe Kabarak University teacher trainees’ perceptions about teaching practice as a component of teacher training. The specific objectives were to describe nature of teaching practice preparation as perceived by the Kabarak University student-teachers, and to determine the difference on perception about TP based on the areas of specialisation. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. Simple random and stratified sampling was used to select 110 student-teachers who had completed teaching practice. An online questionnaire with open ended and closed ended items was used to collect data. The results showed that both B.Ed Arts and Science students had moderate perception about TP preparation at Kabarak University School of Education while perception about TP was low among the B.Ed Science students but moderate among B.Ed Arts students. The study further found out no statistical differences in perception about TP preparation and actual TP experiences between B.Ed Arts and B.Ed Science students.
