Exploring Practicum Models in Maldivian Teacher Education: Structures, Challenges, And Future Directions

Practicum is considered as the core component of any teacher education programs and recent research attests that the structure of the practicum has significant impact on the development of student teachers’ (STs) professional competencies. There has been a large array of international literature on the types of practicum models that teacher education intuitions adopt, and the features of the practicum that governs those models and how it affects the professional growth of the STs. However, there was no formal research documented in the Maldivian context at the time of this PhD study. This paper is focused on one of the objectives of the thesis: investigate main features of the practicum offered in teacher education institutions in the Maldives. This empirical research employed mixed-methods triangulation design and utilized STs data, collected from 317 STs through a survey questionnaire (STQ) and semi-structured interviews. The findings show that different teacher education institutions have different practicum models, for example, most of the teacher education institutions adopt integrated model, while there are institutions that have one practicum round towards the end of the programs. These differences ultimately lead to have varied practicum structures which is attributed to the lack of national level practicum framework. Thus, it is recommended to the relevant authorities to develop practicum frameworks and standards to ensure that the uniformity and quality of student teachers who graduate from various teacher education institutions in the Maldives. Additionally, considering the existing literature and findings, this study recommends to revisit and revise existing practicum structures to provide multiple exposure and extended period of practicum for the STs to develop essential teaching skills, and to reduce everlasting theory-practice gap that exists in the field of teacher education.