INTEREDU™ - Practical Application

Curriculum

Practical Application

The three levels of INTEREDU™ cover training on all the target skills. They are related to tangible outcomes of the training activities which directly simulate the knowledge and performance expected from teachers. Trainees carry out a variety of formative and summative tasks. Furthermore, trainees are expected to maintain all their learning outcomes in the dedicated Portfolio which includes reflections on the learning proofs in light of specific criteria and rubrics for overall performance.

The Practical Application methodology and time frame were developed and designed in conformity with the international teachers’ qualification programs.

The graph indicates the number of practical application weeks adopted in teacher qualification programs in some countries around the world.

Phases of Practical Application

The Gradual Released Responsibility (GRR) is adopted. GRR follows three phases (I do. We do You do). Guided by the trainer or expert teacher, the trainees go through the three phases as follows.

Phase 1

Assistant teacher: Before and after the fundamental educational level the trainee spends 15 practice hours inside classroom during the first four weeks of the semester. In this phase, the trainee teacher will work on observing, assisting in and reflecting on some activities. The trainee will also be writing notes, participating in teachers meeting, planning meetings and providing feedback. The teacher will record his notes on the portfolio.

Phase 2

Co-teacher: Before and after the advanced educational level the trainee spends 15 practice hours inside classroom during the second four weeks of the semester. In this phase, the teacher will share gradually essential tasks with the expert teacher in classroom. He can ask for assistance, when required.

Phase 3

Main teacher: Before and after the specialized educational level the trainee spends 15 practice hours inside classroom during the last four weeks of the semester. In this phase, the teacher will play the role of main teacher by teaching students. Meanwhile, the expert teacher will intervene and be present less and less every time.

Supervision Methodology on Practical Application

The in-house educational supervisor at school will directly supervise the application after the teacher gains mastery and training on the skills and the represented competencies based on the Arrowad Competency Model for Education Professions. Meeting sessions will be arranged between education experts and the educational supervisor or lead expert teacher to ensure quality of the continuous performance assessment process.

Practical Application Supervision Committee (PASC)

The Practical Application Supervision Committee (PASC) includes representatives of at least three entities, namely:

1.	Supervisory member from the school (evaluating supervisor or expert teacher);
2.	Supervisory member from the training team (educational advisor); and
3.	Supervisory member from KPTE consultants.

Training Supervision Curve of Practical Application

During the practical application phase, training supervision adopts the cognitive coaching approach. This model focuses on teacher and student development as self-oriented learners who can productively adapt and survive in a technical and vague international future. During the practical application phase of INTEREDU™ , cognitive coaching covers in detail the developmental levels of cognitive training which is based on conscious planning; reflection on practices and problems; reaching autonomous solutions by reviewing the practices in light of the learning data and evidences; an reconsidering the practices. This practice is an extension of the previous INTEREDU™ phases which focus mainly on “Reflective Practitioner Teacher”.

Supervisory Visits and Coaching Sessions

Throughout the Practical Application Phase, a trainer receives (9) supervisory visits and (12) cognitive coaching sessions by PASC. The visits and sessions are distributed equally over the three practice phases, i.e. three visits in each phase. The first two visits in each phase are formal as the trainee teacher is informed. In line with the Cognitive Coaching approach, the trainee attends a discussion session before and after each formal visit. The sessions cover specific questions which will be elaborated when explaining the types of sessions. The table below shows the outline of visits and sessions over the Practical Application Phases.

Types of Practical Application Visits and Sessions

Pre-Visit Session

This session is carried out before the formal visit to the trainee. The trainee, expert teacher and in-house supervisor meet and discuss the lesson to be attended. The discussion covers different topics based on the phase of application, but it mostly provides answers to these questions.

The six questions to be answered in the pre-visit session:

1.	What do you expect the students will learn? What knowledge and skills will they gain?
2.	How do you know they have learned? What evidences will you collect to prove their learning?
3.	How will you manage to teach them the lesson?
4.	What plans will you adopt to assist the students who couldn’t learn the lesson?
5.	What plans will you adopt for the students who will learn the lessons before their classmates and yet need enrichment?
6.	What will you do to develop your skills in catering for students’ learning needs?

Supervision Visit

Any or all of the PASC members attends the classroom session while the trainee is teaching. The purpose of this visit is to collect data or provide support and evaluation based on the objective of each practice phase. The supervisors use a checklist and descriptive records to monitor the flow of practical teaching during the session. This visit could be informed for the purpose of support or non-informed for the purpose of evaluation.

Post-Visit Session

The trainee, expert teacher and PASC member who paid the visit meet to discuss the six questions and the data collected during the visit.

The six questions to be answered in the post-visit session::

1.	What did the students learn? What knowledge and skills have they gained?
2.	How did you know they have learned? What evidences did you collect to prove their learning?
3.	How did you assist the students who couldn’t achieve the learning objective?
4.	How did you manage to assist the students who learned the lessons before their classmates?
5.	What practices will you keep and what will you eliminate?
6.	How will you develop you skills? What human and material resources will you use to improve your performance?

Support Session

The trainee meets with the PASC members to discuss the data and evidences collected in the trainee’s portfolio and the data on his/her administrative performance at school. Consequently, assistance is provided based on the needs of the discussed application phase. The trainer then is informed of the expected expectations for the next practical application phase.

Final Evaluation Session

The trainee and PASC members meet to assess the trainee’s performance on the basis of Arrowad Model for Educational Competencies – Competencies for a Teaching Career. The trainee prepares and presents the portfolio all the data collected during the whole course of the Practical Application Phase. PASC runs the discussion on the basis of the data presented in the portfolio and the data collected by PASC visits, attendance record and other administrative data such as contribution and involvement with colleagues.

Requirements for Passing the Practical Application

Most Ministries of Education around the world, such as that in the USA, Singapore, Japan, the UK, Finland to name but a few, stipulate that in order for anyone to have a teaching license, he has to obtain a minimum a university degree. In addition, he has to pass a professional competency test; gain practice in-classroom training under supervision of an expert teacher; and earn a recommendation to work as a qualified teacher. The recommendation is made by a specialized evaluation committee. Once appointed as a teacher, he works as an observer teacher, assistant teacher, participant teacher, and then head teacher. But to reach this level, the teacher has to:

1.	Maintain a minimum attendance record of %80 of the working days (i.e. at least 12 full weeks);
2.	Go through all the practical application phases (with a minimum of 45 hours, 15 hours in each phase inside classroom);
3.	Attending the final evaluation session and receiving a pass from PASC (which is comprised at least of KPTE consultant, in-house supervisor or his deputy, and educational advisor) (The evaluation report covers the technical aspects based on the supervisory visits and sessions and the administrative aspects based on trainee’s interaction with the colleagues and administrative record at school.); and
4.	Completing the trainee portfolio based on the rubrics introduced to the trainee in the first training course “the teacher as a reflective practitioner”. The trainee starts creating the portfolio on the first day of reference to the school. The trainee collects data and evidence based on Arrowad Competency Model for Education Professions - Competencies for a Teaching Career, which is the premise of INTEREDU™ . At the end, the trainee should be competent for teaching. (Refer to Arrowad Competency Model for Education Professions – Phase One Competencies booklet).