Getting the practical teaching element right: A guide for literacy, numeracy and ESOL teacher educators

A guide for literacy, numeracy and ESOL teacher educators

Communication between the two groups is at best ad hoc or occasional, and at
worst non-existent. In effect the assumption is made that individual trainees will
make the necessary conceptual and practical links themselves, both in their
practice and in assignments which ask them to illustrate theoretical models
from their practical experience. Formative support for teaching practice is
typically unconnected to the content of the taught sessions and can even conflict
with it, which can be confusing for new teachers early in the development of
their practical teaching skills.

The experiences of the programmes drawn upon in this guide are those in which
innovative approaches have been taken to bridging this gap between theory and
practice.

A further common limitation, even when teaching practice is well-supported, is
that it is often limited in the range of settings and levels at which literacy,
numeracy or ESOL teachers might find themselves working. Few programmes
offer more than one teaching practice placement, and that is mostly in a further
education (FE) college rather than in prisons, adult education settings, or
workplaces. This means that trainees are rarely offered the opportunity to
experience a different environment and thus broaden their perspective in
preparation for potential employment across the full range of contexts in the
learning and skills sector. It is also often the case that trainers have little or no
recent experience of teaching in the range of settings in which their trainees are
working.

> The organisation of teaching practice

Novice teachers develop expertise in how to teach through engaging in teaching
practice with learners. The ways in which providers of training programmes plan
and organise the practical element of programmes can have far-reaching effects
on the trainee teacher’s experience.

From the many programmes NRDC has explored three broad models can be
identified for the organisation of teaching practice, each providing a different
level and type of support to the trainee: group, paired and individual teaching
practice.

These three models are described here, with an assessment of their strengths

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