Thirty-First International Conference on Learning

Abstract

In South Africa, the completion of a mandatory work integrated learning (WIL) experience in a school context is a crucial requirement for prospective teachers. However, the feedback provided during this period is often considered a mere university obligation, which can lack in developmental opportunities for students’ practical teaching skills. Feedback that connects new insights from principles and concepts of teaching with the lesson contexts develops preservice teachers’ practice because it provides a theoretical lens on their practice. This research delves into the feedback offered to preservice teachers by university tutors and mentor teachers during their WIL experiences. The central inquiry guiding this study is: How does the feedback provided by university tutors and mentor teachers during WIL contribute to the development of preservice teachers’ practice? This paper is theoretically grounded in Shulman’s (1987) model of pedagogical reasoning and action to understand the feedback process. Utilising qualitative document analysis, this study examines a comprehensive dataset comprising written feedback from both university tutors and mentor teachers, spanning a four-year period and involving 64 preservice teachers. The feedback was categorised by of an emergent thematic analysis. These findings underscore the importance of feedback that is developmental in nature will better prepare preservice teachers for future practice. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on teacher education and offers insights into the role of feedback in enhancing the quality of teacher preparation within the South African context.