A focal point of the B.Ed. program is the field experience (practicum) component where pre-service teachers, cooperating teachers, and university faculty advisors work together to enable pre-service teachers to develop their increasing professional knowledge through practical experience. Pre-service teachers are placed in public and band-operated schools throughout the province of Nova Scotia.
In the Field, cooperating teachers and university faculty advisors work most closely with pre-service teachers; however, other educators such as school and school board administrators provide essential support.
We believe in the importance of the relationship between Field Experience and university course work in enabling pre-service teachers to make connections between thinking about and engaging in the practice of teaching. Therefore, we subscribe to an interactive field experience approach in which pre-service teachers spend twenty-two weeks in schools where they further develop their understanding of, and abilities in, all aspects of a teacher’s professional responsibilities. Throughout the four semesters, pre-service teachers gradually take more responsibility and ownership for their own professional development.
Pre-service teachers complete four Field placements during the two years of the B.Ed. program. In the first year of the program pre-service teachers complete EDUC 471 an internship which is of five weeks duration in November and December; and they complete EDUC 472, an internship of six weeks duration in March and April. In the second year of the program this pattern is repeated for EDUC 481 and EDUC 482.
Practicum Placement Orientation On Campus - Year 1
