Partnerships

PARTNERSHIPS IN EDUCATION: THE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Nancy Hiscock Pugh

Discovery Collegiate, Bonavista

All educators, at one point in time, were required to complete a student teaching and/or internship program. In previous years, students attempting to complete internships in the rural areas of Newfoundland would be supervised by a member of the Faculty of Education. Unfortunately, the distance between the University and the individual schools created problems with the frequency of supervision. Not wanting to deny students the opportunity to have experience with the smaller school and/or teaching closer to home, the Faculty of Education at Memorial University proposed that supervision of the interns be the responsibility of the cooperating teacher(s) and the school board officials in the district where the intern was placed.

In October of the 1997-1998 school year, cooperating teachers, school board officials, past supervisors and interns came together with members of the Faculty of Education to discuss the Reflective and Critical Internship Program. It was an attempt to define the roles and expectations of the partners more succinctly as well as to make suggestions for the future.

The present internship program is based upon a "quad" model. There are four major partners in the model: the intern, the cooperating teacher, the internship supervisor, and the subject matter. There was some indication during the institute that students should be included in the partnership because they can influence or be influenced by the intern. For the internship to be successful for everyone involved, all partners must work together as a cohesive unit. In this article, I will be focusing on the suggestions that were proposed for the partners in the internship program.

1. Choosing the Cooperating Teacher

The first step in any internship program is to choose the cooperating teacher. This is affected, of course, by the area of training for the intern. It was agreed that the cooperating teacher should have at least 5 years teaching experience, have a positive attitude towards teaching, be devoted to the job and to the students, and perform other duties such as extracurricular activities. Generally, the best person would be one who could contribute to the overall experience of the intern, not one who would take advantage of having "someone to do the work." The cooperating teacher should see the intern as someone who can contribute to his/her knowledge of new teaching methods, current curriculum information, and variety in the classroom. The two should exist as a cooperative unit where team teaching can take place, but also individual teaching on the part of the intern. It is important to realize that the internship is an opportunity for a new teacher to explore teaching methods to determine which one(s) work for him/her, not to emulate or copy another person.

In many schools it may be possible for the intern to have more than one cooperating teacher. It was believed that the intern would benefit greatly from such a situation because he/she would be exposed to different teaching styles, perhaps other courses in his/her field or possibly other fields, as well as different types of student personalities and learning styles. This situation can also help the cooperating teacher(s) as well. It is very difficult to grade a person who has been team teaching with you on a daily basis. A panel of cooperating teachers makes that task less intimidating.

2. Timing of the Internship Program

The interns who participated in the institute believe that September would be a better time to begin their teaching experience. Currently, internships begin in January and are completed in April. The intern then has to complete another semester before he/she can graduate. The interns at the institute stated that this prevented them from applying for some jobs. It would also be easier for the intern to come into the school at the beginning of the school year rather than the end because there is a disruption in the students daily routines and it may be easier for the intern to integrate into the school community.

3. Cost of the Internship

The cost of the internship to education students is a major concern. Many students want to experience teaching in the larger schools in larger communities away from home or they may have to leave their community because of a lack of opportunity to teach in the area. Therefore, the cost of the internship increases for these students when the cost of tuition, travel, accommodations and living expenses are taken into account. It has been a longstanding argument that the internship should be considered a work term as it is in the Engineering and Business faculties. However, there is opposition to that suggestion. One idea proposed at the institute in October was to require the intern to pay for only one course/credit. This would substantially reduce the financial burden of the intern, especially when you consider that they are actually WORKING as well as learning during their internship.

4. Role of the School Board, Administration and Cooperating Teacher Prior to the Start of the Internship

Prior to the start of the internship, the school board should meet with the administrators involved and the cooperating teacher(s) to devise an information package for the intern. This package should include details concerning such matters as who will be evaluating and the dates for the evaluations, when videotaping of lessons taught will be done, the dates for submissions of daily journals and units of work, the dates the intern will be spending with resource and specialty teachers, and the amount of teaching the intern should be accomplishing at each stage in the internship. Not only will this help the intern, but it will also help the cooperating teacher(s).

5. Role of the Intern Prior to the Start of the Internship

It was also suggested that opportunities for the intern to meet the school board officials, administration and the cooperating teacher(s) of their assigned school be made the week before the program begins. At this time the information package should be provided to the intern as well as any information regarding the courses the intern will be teaching, school policies, discipline codes, extracurricular activities, etc. In many schools teachers receive such packages at the start of the school year; therefore, the intern, who will be a staff member for a number of months, should also receive this package.

6. Interview of Intern on Completion of the Internship

The school board, it was suggested, could enhance the experience of the intern further by conducting a mock job interview for the interns placed in their schools at the end of the internship. The interns would apply for the job(s) and receive an interview. This process is a very important one for any person leaving school to enter the job market. The intern can get help with job applications and resumes, preparation for interviews, and the types of questions to expect during an interview. After the interview, the interviewer should discuss the results with the intern, pointing out positive aspects of the interview as well as aspects that the intern should improve on. If there are problems, the intern can "fix" them before he/she has to apply for jobs in the real world.

7. Grading Suggestions

One problem that exists with the internship at the moment is the fact that a mark has to be given to the intern by the cooperating teacher (and any others involved). There are many negatives associated with this. For instance, interns may not want to criticize the person who will be contributing to their mark; therefore, they may not ask questions of their cooperating teacher or they may not explore alternative teaching methods. This will also influence their journal entries where they are supposed to be reflecting critically on what they have done and seen because they know that the cooperating teacher has to read it. Another problem with grading is the pressure that interns place upon themselves relative to their performance. Any intern will tell you they feel that they have to receive at least an 80% in the internship to be competitive in the job market. Unfortunately, an 80% for one individual may not be equal to the 80% received by another. Two alternative grading schemes were proposed. One alternative would see either a pass or fail given to intern, the other would assign letter grades. The interns involved in the discussions suggested that they would have been satisfied with the pass or fail alternative. Personally, I believe a letter grade would cause some of the same problems as did the number grade; therefore, a grade of pass or fail would be acceptable. However, there are pros and cons associated with each alternative and competition relative to performance will still occur. The only way to avoid variations in the way different supervisors and cooperating teachers grade interns is by having in-service sessions conducted by the Faculty of Education explaining what is to be expected and what constitutes certain grades, that is, a checklist of sorts. Consistency is the buzzword in education today and we must learn to be consistent with the marks given to our interns if they are to remain one of the ways employers will distinguish between exceptional and good teachers. Letters of recommendation completed by the cooperating teacher and supervisor should also help identify the strengths and weaknesses of new teachers in relation to job performance.

8. Acknowledgment of the Partners

Upon completion of the internship, the contribution of all partners must be acknowledged. There were several suggestions made by the group as to the appropriate reward that would show the value of the contributions made by each person. There is a monetary stipend given to the school boards for each intern in the district. It is up to the discretion of the school board how that money is divided. Some boards give money to both the intern and the cooperating teacher; some boards do not give anything. For any program to be effective there has to be consistency among boards as to the monetary rewarding of those involved with the program. Cooperating teachers and interns who discover that someone else received money when they didn’t may not feel valued.

Instead of making monetary rewards, the University can offer the cooperating teacher (and the intern) a free course. Teachers are constantly upgrading their education to keep up with the changing dimensions of the education field. If one of the purposes of the internship program is to bring new teaching methods to individuals already in the field, then it would make sense to reward their efforts with an opportunity to keep learning and improving in their chosen career. This appears to be a solution that would benefit all parties involved. At the very least, a letter should be sent to the intern, cooperating teacher(s), and supervisors thanking them for their contributions.

Conclusions

It is obvious that the internship is a very valuable experience for any new teacher. The experiences of that internship can be negative or they can be positive. If all the partners involved in the program collectively work together to ensure that there are positive results from the internship, then the new teachers graduating from Memorial University may feel as if they are adequately prepared for their chosen career. They must be given the opportunity to explore their own personalities and teaching styles or they will not be able to bring any individualism to a school staff. They must feel that what they are doing actually is contributing to the staff and to the students of that school. It must be disappointing when the intern walks away from his/her learning experience feeling jaded about the teaching profession. Therefore, the key to any successful partnership is, of course, communication. If the partners do not communicate effectively with one another the intern may feel that he/she did not learn anything or did not contribute anything. Some of the suggestions put forth in this article address the issue of communication and collaboration among all the partners.

We must ask ourselves, "What should the intern learn from the internship?" and "What did he/she learn?" If the two questions have different answers then we did not correctly do our job. If the purpose of the internship is to promote reflection about actions and consequences in the intern, we must all accomplish this same task. In effect, isn’t it a reflection on us, the partners, if the intern’s experience is negative?