Effect of internship on B.Ed. trainees

Abstract

Background: An internship is actually an important part of the Bachelor of Education, (B.Ed.) programme, and it basically readies aspiring teachers for the profession while also honing their professional competencies. According to the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) Regulation, 2014, the B.Ed. teaching internship has been set for 16 weeks, and it gives practical exposure, which is intended to build both subject knowledge as well as pedagogical knowledge. Objective: The aim is to check how teaching internship affects the growth of subject knowledge and pedagogical knowledge in B.Ed. trainees, then see how that growth differs across various academic streams, and finally to find out the relationship between subject knowledge and pedagogical knowledge, if any. Method: For this present work, a Descriptive Survey approach was used. The sample consisted of 90 B.Ed. trainees, chosen randomly from different academic streams, after they finished their teaching internship. Information related to subject knowledge and pedagogical knowledge was gathered using suitable tools and then it was processed through statistical methods, which included comparisons across streams and also correlational analysis. Result: The results showed that the B.Ed. trainees experienced noticeable development in both subject knowledge and pedagogical knowledge after completing the teaching internship, and this was quite clear. Also, no statistically significant difference came up in how much subject knowledge and pedagogical knowledge developed among trainees from different academic streams. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between subject knowledge and pedagogical knowledge, so improvement in one area seemed to go along with improvement in the other, more or less. Conclusion: The teaching internship really plays a crucial role in enhancing both the subject knowledge and also the teaching know how of B.Ed. trainees, no matter which academic stream they come from. There is a significant positive correlation between the two domains, so it basically shows that content mastery and pedagogical skill are interdependent, for effective teacher preparation. Overall, these results lend support to keeping a structured, adequately-durationed internship programme inside teacher education curricula, because it helps in the holistic professional development of future teachers.