Teacher preparation within classrooms in public schools
After decades of research searching for the single most important factor in teacher education, scholars have identified it as clinical teaching practice within a university-based teacher education program. For this reason, the most reform-minded faculties of education throughout the world have recently been adding in significant clinical practice components and enhancing university faculty mentorship for future teachers while they work within schools as interns.The Bahrain Teachers College has been doing this now since its founding, and while other faculties of education around the world are trying to catch up, Bahrain is forging new ground. From the very first year of the Bachelor’s of Education program, students visit schools, engage with teachers and students, and observe lessons. Gradually as they advance, students at the Bahrain Teachers College increase their responsibility within the schools by teaching lessons, planning instructional units, providing assessment feedback, and so forth. By their final semester, nearly all of their time is spent in schools, applying directly to practice what they learned from faculty of the College, with the mentorship of both faculty and cooperating teachers at the schools. Many graduates of the Bahrain Teachers College claim that the Teaching Practice requirements were among the most important of their experiences, and indeed, the most formative portions of their initial teacher preparation. For the past decade, this program has impacted 1,640 teachers.
