Perceived impact of initial Student teaching practice on teachers’ teaching performance and professional skills: A retrospective study

The study explored in-service teachers’ perspectives of the impact of their previous student teaching practice on their teaching skills and professional growth. Drawing on the constructs of the social cognitive theory, the study employed a qualitative retrospective approach to interpreting in-service teachers’ perspectives of the effect of previous teaching practice experiences using semi-structured interviews as a tool for data collection. A number of 103 in-service teachers who completed their teacher education in different education preparation providers in Oman were interviewed. A thematic analysis approach was employed for data analysis. ATLAS-ti9 was used to analyse the interview data by coding the participants’ reflective thoughts and responses on the impact of their previous teaching practice on their current teaching performance. Three main themes emerged as a result of the analysis. Our findings indicate overall teachers’ positive reflection on the impact of student teaching practice, which provided them with sufficient training in planning classroom instruction. Furthermore, teachers reported dissatisfaction with the opportunities student teaching practice offered them about work ethics and classroom management, due to limited resources, concentration on theoretical content, and lack of procedural practical guidance. Implications for teacher education programmes in Oman are discussed within the scope of the study findings.