Southeast Asia Early Childhood Journal, Vol.

9 (2), 2020 (166-180)

eISSN 2821-3149
http://ejournal.upsi.edu.my/index.php/SAECJ

BELONGING, BEING AND BECOMING: LEARNING-TO-TEACH

DURING INTERNSHIP
Josephine M. Calamlam1*, Siti Eshah Mokshein2
1
Faculty of Education Sciences, Philippine Normal University, Manila, Philippines
2
Faculty of Human Development, Sultan Idris Education University, 35900 Tanjong Malim,
Perak, Malaysia

[email protected], [email protected]

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37134/saecj.vol9.no2.12.2020

* Corresponding Author
Received: 16 June 2020; Accepted: 19 December 2020; Published: 28 December 2020

ABSTRACT

Literature has identified varied internship models yet preparing early childhood pre-service teachers (ECPSTs)
to confront the realities and challenges of learning-to-teach during internship remain scarcely examined. The
qualitative single-case study sought to uncover ways to optimize ECPSTs’ latent knowledge and skills given a
limited time for internship. Findings revealed that the three ECPSTs learned to draw upon insights by reflecting
on their daily teaching and learning experiences, relying on their own personal characteristics, forming a
conference group among themselves and action-taking to address problems of practice during their internship.
The processes of belonging, being and becoming implicate the re-imagination of internship programs to
consider learning-to-teach as iterative, unpredictable and unstructured process.

Keywords: learning-to-teach, internship, early childhood pre-service teachers

INTRODUCTION

Internship is a significant feature of a teacher education program where a student teacher is

immersed in the rudiments of teaching set in the real teaching and learning environment.
During internship early childhood pre-service teachers were deployed to partner schools
where they experienced the whole process of teaching and learning under the supervision of
cooperating teachers. It was expected of these pre-service teachers who had reached this stage
to put into practice the pedagogical content knowledge they acquired from related courses
prior to internship (Teacher Education Council, 2015). It is through this practice teaching
component that EC pre-service teachers should be given all the opportunities to develop their
full potential as they are mentored by their cooperating teachers. Internship is where practical
teaching takes place that brings pre-service teachers into a programme of cooperative and
interactive guidance by experienced teachers (Feiman-Nemser & Parker, 1992; Chong,
2006).

The exploratory purpose of this study probed into the tacit learning-to-teach
experiences (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005) of EC pre-service teachers which often
draw less attention due to the many concerns that need to be addressed in partner schools.
Understanding EC pre-service teacher learning through uncovering the spoken as well as the

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unspoken aspects of their internship experiences identified elements that yielded explanation
and rich description of their learning would then be used to improve teacher education
practices.

Learning-to-teach as a hyphenated phenomenon (Silverman, 2014) draws attention

from the researcher because, learning-to-teach in the context of teacher preparation has not
been fully examined. The dynamics of learning-to-teach which encompass practical
knowledge, theoretical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, skill and predispositions
are more inclined to surface during internship hence, the right timing for exploration to see its
impact in nurturing EC pre-service teachers’ life-long learning may be different in the context
of teaching in disadvantaged communities. Thus, this study was underpinned by the
questions: How do EC pre-service teachers learn to draw upon insights from teaching
experiences and use them to address concrete problems of practice during their internship?

Literature Review

At the core of this study is the understanding of early childhood pre-service teachers’
learning-to-teach during internship. Since the 1980’s the research landscape has seen
significant changes in the way initial teacher education has been viewed triggering inquiry on
the key paradigms and practices that relate to understanding learning-to-teach phenomenon.
Teacher education programs envision to imbibe in the teachers to think pedagogically, reason
through dilemmas, investigate problems, develop appropriate curriculum for diverse group of
learners as a product of their reflection with student learning (Darling-Hammond &
Bransford, 2005) This scheme therefore challenges internship programs to teach what good
teaching is – to reflect pre-service teacher’s learning-to-teach. Caires et al. (2012) noted the
gradual shift leaning to the process of learning-to-teach, which focuses on the way teachers
think about what they do, their cognitive processes during teaching and the numerous factors
that they have to deal with in their ongoing interaction in the classroom.

The Internship Program

Early childhood pre-service teachers’ learning intensifies during the internship program, a
component in teacher preparation within which they are deployed to partner schools for a
defined period of time. They are assigned to cooperating teachers from whom they receive
support and guidance. According to Machado and Meyer-Botnarescue (2005), cooperating
teacher’s style in guiding student teachers is placed on a degree of control continuum
between directives (high structure) to collaborative (unstructured). This continuum has been
implemented by the Department of Field Study and Student Teaching in the University
(Student Teaching Handbook, 2015) for decades which needs review.

The pre-service teachers benefit from internship as part of their learning in the
following ways: (a) exposure to an authentic environment that will make them acquire the
competencies considered as outcomes of teacher preparation (Teacher Education Council,
2015); (b) provision for a setting where they receive collaborative and interactive mentoring
by experienced teachers (Hudson, 2013); (c) a venue to learn to reflect on their actions and
decisions in the classroom (Student Teaching Handbook, 2015); and (d) a foundation where
pre-eservice teachers will have a clear conceptualization of themselves as teachers, develop

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their own philosophy and chart their professional growth (Titilayo, 2012). Despite the
benefits enumerated above, the kind of university-school partnership lacks the envisioned
understanding and transparency (Ayob et al., 2014) that could have fostered equal partnership
which respects the role of the university supervisor and the cooperating teacher. Ayob et al.
(2014) further argues that a partnership practicum must be established where teachers in
partner schools are not merely treated cooperating teachers.

Learning-to-Teach Patterns during Internship

Research on pre-service teachers’ learning-to-teach conceptions, attitudinal aspects, cognitive

and regulative strategies and aspects of emotion regulation are components that consistently
shape the different patterns of pre-service teachers’ learning (Donche et al., 2015). Corollary
to this Stürmer and Seidel (2017) introduced the “concept of professional vision” to gauge
features of pre-service teachers’ knowledge pointing to the contextualized and situated nature
of real-world demands of the teaching profession. Pre-service teachers’ professional vision
needs to be identified so that their theory-practice integrated learning (Stürmer & Seidel,
2017) can be supported during their internship. Analyzing pre-service teachers’ theoretical
awareness of learning, Brante et al. (2015) studied the variation theory of learning. Variation
theory assumes that for one to claim to have learned something there must be recognition of
new and more developed aspects of the object of learning. As applied to learning-to-teach,
pre-service teachers are not only expected to transfer theories to practice but to develop ways
to construct understanding of their own learning. Qualitative analysis of study identified three
categories of student answers characterizing their theoretical understanding: emergent,
premature and unaware (Brante et al., 2015). The use of this categorization was considered to
identify which level of awareness the EC pre-service teachers have about their learning
demonstrating how they relate their prior knowledge to learning-to-teach.

Oosterheert and Vermunt (2001) established a number of consistent relationships

between different learning-to-teach components which have been identified as different
‘patterns’ of learning-to-teach. Teacher education degree programs has further revealed that
the way in which students learn-to-teach can be examined in a multidimensional way by
focusing not just on attitudinal aspects, but also on interrelated learning components such as
learning-to-teach conceptions, cognitive and regulative strategies and aspects of emotion
regulation.

Learning-to-teach patterns during internship is subject to a relatively degree of

change- it largely depends on how student teachers are receptive to learning opportunities.
Donche et al. (2015) identify four types of students based on how they acquired learning: (a)
independent meaning oriented students are those who need the least supervision and can
improve their teaching by enhancing their knowledge base, making use of available sources
of information as required by their courses or sought elsewhere and relate this information on
their own, (b) dependent meaning oriented students are those who do not see the importance
of their own experience as a learning source and could not decide for themselves which
aspects of their own teaching still require improvement making them distrustful of their own
observation and relies on their trainers for awareness-development processes, (c)
reproduction-oriented students are those who improve their teaching on the basis of their
existing knowledge and are oriented towards the further development of this knowledge, (d)
survival-oriented students believe that with constant practice of teaching, they will

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automatically end up learning the job, paying no attention to developing their own frame of
reference. Of the four types, an independent meaning-oriented way of learning has to be
developed for learning-to-teach and is considered as the most essential in pursuing a career in
teaching.

Challenges and Opportunities during Internship

The pressing problem of addressing the issue of equipping pre-service teachers with adequate
competence to cope with the complexity of the classroom context can be attributed to the pre-
service teachers’ preparation. Three key elements have been identified that could induce the
effectiveness of teacher education programs: (a) construction of an integrated body of
knowledge about teaching, (b) the application of theories to practice, and (c) the development
of a cognitive lens for analyzing teaching-learning processes (Eilam & Poyas, 2009)
however, these remain to be a challenge which can be surmised from the consistently dismal
performance of teacher graduates in the Licensure Examination for Teachers (Cristobal,
2020).

Having been trained in the university in the first three years of teacher preparation,
EC pre-service teachers are expected to have acquired the pedagogical content knowledge
and right set of skills to be applied in the internship. In the course of their training, EC pre-
service teachers have developed beliefs over many years of schooling through classroom
observation, called “apprenticeship of observation” (Lortie, 1975). The term apprenticeship
of observation sends a negative notion because it has been equated to claims that “teachers
teach on the way they were taught” (Schön, 1987). Abundance of literature objects to this
claim asserting that teacher candidate’ prior experiences during their apprenticeship of
observation can be utilized in productive ways (Feimen-Nemser, 2001; Zeichner & Liston,
1996). One of the ways to use EC pre-service teacher’s internship experiences has been
emphasized in recent studies that focus on pedagogical leadership. Kahila et al. (2020) point
to opportunities for growth within the context of distributed leadership perspectives by
focusing on early childhood education teachers’ essential role in enhancing other actors’
participation in leadership. EC pre-service teacher learning is enhanced if teacher educators
provide opportunities to critically analyze the previous experiences and to guide pre-service
teachers to newly craft their beliefs about teaching practices.

The conceptions of learning of both EC pre-service teachers and in-service teachers

were further examined. Chi-hung et al. (2013) emphasized the participants’ qualitative and
quantitative conceptions of learning are integral to the understanding and application of what
one has learned; giving least importance to memorizing and reproducing important facts.
These conceptions of learning enable early childhood pre-service teachers to understand their
own nature and abilities which leads to the more use of child-centered approach to teaching.
Thus, EC pre-service teachers’ internship has to be imbedded early in the existing early
childhood education program.

Clearly, much of a pre-service teacher’s understanding of knowledge-in-practice will

be further developed during internship but for practice-based teacher education to be
transformative, Vartuli et al. (2016) posit that teacher educators continue to indefinitely learn
more about best practices to enhance pre-service teacher learning and development.

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METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The use of single-case case study research, blending the use of instrumental and exploratory
strategies (Yin, 2014) enabled the researcher to conduct a systematic, critical inquiry
generating understanding to contribute to cumulative knowledge about early childhood pre-
service teachers’ learning-to-teach experiences. The particularity and complexity of EC pre-
service teachers’ learning-to-teach qualified the use of single-case study that helped the
researcher emphasize episodes of nuance, the sequence of events in context and the
wholeness of the individuals (Stakes, 1995) who participated in this study.

Method of Data Collection

Given the emphasis for in-depth understanding of a phenomenon, data for qualitative
research is drawn from purposefully selected, relatively small but “information-rich cases”.
The use of discriminant sampling (Creswell, 2017) was seen to be appropriate allowing the
researcher in depth examination of the event three early childhood pre-service teachers
assigned in a partner school situated in a disadvantaged environment were selected as ideal
participants for the study. Their ability to communicate orally and in writing was deemed
necessary for the researcher to obtain data from interviews, focus discussion and journal
entries.

The researcher employed in-depth interviews, (Yin, 2014) focus group discussions
(Silverman, 2014), structured and unstructured observations and document review (Creswell
2017) as means of generating rich data. The use of multiple sources of data from multiple
data collection methods resulted to “thick description” (Yin, 2014) of the case. Thus, the
importance of preserving the integrity of individual accounts and carrying out ‘within-
interview’ analyses established validity.

Method of Analysis

Interviews and classroom observations were recorded and transcribed, and were analysed as
documents. Journal entries, instructional materials and physical design of a learning event
were treated as artifacts and used for content analysis. Prolonged engagement with the
participants and the site enabled the collection of naturally occurring data. These were treated
as field notes and were utilized for narrative analysis. Analysis commenced with getting
familiar with data sets. Data were then carefully understood as answers to the research
questions. Consequently, framework was developed to identify the broad ideas, concepts,
behaviors or phrases and codes were assigned to them. This process was useful in giving
structure and labelling the data. Finally, patterns and connections were identified. This
process led to identification of data to surface reformulated meanings which were used to
frame categories and themes.

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Ethical Consideration

Having been granted approval from the institutional review board of the university, the
researcher set to employ in-depth case study by meeting with the research participants prior
to the conduct of the study in order to inform them of the purpose and nature of the study and
how the results of observations and interviews may be used. To address researcher’s
subjectivity and strengthen the credibility of the study, various procedural safeguards were
taken, such as sample triangulation, data triangulation and data analysis triangulation.
Communicative validation was sought where the results were fed back to the respondents
who were sources of information, and were asked to agree or disagree with the result to
ensure that the transcribed responses were interpreted correctly.

FINDINGS

The three EC pre-service teachers learned to draw upon insights by reflecting on their daily
teaching and learning experiences, relying on their own personal characteristics, forming a
conference group among themselves and acting on to address problems of practice during
their internship. From the voluminous verbatim transcripts, significant statements were
extracted. The participants repeatedly mention that internship brought relevant insights to
them in terms of using appropriate strategies, preparation of instructional materials,
management of class and children’s behavior, evaluation of learning and dealing with
everyday challenges in school such as school supplies needed by the pupils and issues
concerning the parents of their pupils. It can be noted that EC pre-service teachers were
concerned about the behavior of children that pose challenges in the way they managed the
class. However, they turned these challenges into learning opportunities as they tried out
different strategies to teach the topic and to manage pupils’ behaviour.

EC pre-service teachers expressed their understanding of learning-to-teach in the

following excerpts taken from interview transcripts and journal entries. The verbalizations
and journal entries that follow illustrate the changes in their perspectives during their
internship.

Reflection on Daily Teaching and Learning Experiences

Interns’ journal entries and interview transcripts mirror their reflections of their everyday
experiences. Reflective journals made them look back and take stock of how they develop
overtime. It is where they wrote their “highs and lows” (Ces). It is in their journals where
they intimated their “fears and failures and plans to do better” (Kai). It is in their journals
where they “celebrate their little triumphs” (Aneth) and be motivated to be “better versions of
themselves for their pupils” (Aneth). The researcher found that it was worth the time to read
and analyze every entry which provided rich descriptions of their everyday lives as interns.
Kai learned to teach by doing it every day, seeing to it that she had enough time to talk with
children and her presence to be felt in class. She attributed her understanding of self by
examining closely her journal entries, confronting her flaws and planning what better things
to do to avoid committing the same mistakes. Kai had this to say:

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“I learned to teach, maybe...really on my own. Like I was exposed to ...at first,

I was culture shocked. So I had to study how to treat them, like, what should
my strategies and techniques be so that I’d learn how to teach them. Although
my cooperating teacher was of course, assisting me, but, it’s still different
when I was teaching...I was learning to teach. I learn through the process of
teaching them while talking to them, while being in the classroom. It’s there
where I learned more. I evaluate myself after I teach...after the class...I
evaluate myself in terms of what happened today. Through journals...
whenever I see my journals, oh, this is where my flaw is, so tomorrow this is
what I’ll do…” (Kai)

Relying on Personal Characteristics

Because of the challenges posed by teaching in a real setting, Aneth, Kai and Ces discovered
their own strengths and managed to learn from their mistakes. The verbalizations of the three
participants confirm that they understand the profession they have chosen to enter and
internship played a big part in their training. Although they had on-campus student teaching,
which they implied as an ideal setting, internship in partner schools gave them what Ces
called “preview to reality”. The three interns beaming with positivity defied what seemed to
be an insurmountable task during their internship particularly in this school that cater to
children from disadvantaged community.

Another salient point of EC pre-service teacher’s learning-to-teach is the

understanding of their own value and how they developed overtime making them discover
the value of the teaching profession. As mentioned,

“In teaching, everything should be done with grace under pressure.” (Kai).

Describing herself as creative, Ces looked for inspiration in the way her pupils
reacted to the instructional materials she prepared for her class. She always thought of ways
to put her skills to action and in the process discovering more opportunities to learn. Here are
some extracts from her journal:

August 9, 2017
I only recently discovered that these materials can also be used for behavior
management. The original idea for this material was to help students
concretize Mathematics through the use of manipulatives. This time as a
behavior management tool, each group was given a container and I just add
plastic eggs or get back the eggs depending on their behavior. I noticed how
much energy I saved by just using these eggs. Instead of getting angry or
shouting at the child, I just deduct the eggs. It is human tendency to want for
more, to be recognized as the best and it is evident in children. (Ces)

However, there was an incident where Ces admitted her limitations and feeling of
helplessness. Ces expressed how an unfortunate event has brought tremendous insight in the
way she perceived her cooperating teacher’s weakness that turned to courage as they
confront the problems of disadvantages. Here, Ces learned through her reflection in her
journal entry.

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August 18, 2017

Today I witnessed the heart of a teacher. My CT cried when a parent of one
of our students came and confirmed that the child had to transfer to another
school. After the fire, they had nothing left here and it would be troublesome
to have a young child and not be able to provide her needs. My CT left the
room for some time to cry, partly questioning why this has to happen to a
child. And their situation finally hit me. I think this is what I saw in the eyes
of my CT: I will miss this student, I may cry because I will miss her but I
have to be strong for the entire class for the entire year. No one will take this
student’s place in my heart but I have forty more students who need to learn.
And just like the families whose homes were burned to ashes, I must rise and
get back again. I didn’t expect my CT to have this kind of a weakness but I
confirmed how lucky I am to be under her supervision. (Ces)

Forming Conference Groups

Apparently, in the limited time given for post conferences, the three EC pre-service teachers
turned to each other for support. Kai sought her fellow interns’ suggestions when it comes to
expressing their reactions to some events. She wrote in her journal,

“I told Ate Aneth about my sentiments. I was ranting to her about what I
experienced today and she felt the same. We both talked about things and
what we should do to handle such situations.”

It can be noted that Kai called Aneth, “Ate” which meant that Kai considered Aneth
her older sister whom she could unload her grievances and she felt safe in doing that. Kai
mentioned in her journal that she did this every time she needed someone to talk with. Aneth,
who is the oldest among the three participants, in this instance assumed the role of a mentor
friend to Kai.

Aneth described this lunchtime conversation as way to learn how to adjust to each
other’s personality. She recalled,

“We come together during lunch with our packed lunch. There we don’t only
share ideas but we also share our “baon” (packed lunch). It’s also the time
for us to unwind.” Aneth added, “Doing that everyday made us best friends
although we have different personalities. We learned to adjust to each other’s
character.” Ces remembered the time when they had to make costumes for
their students. She said, “We get to do several things together at the same
time. We learned not to count the hours, we enjoyed each other’s company.”

They made their lunch break the time to catch up and compare notes on how they
progress. The three interns started to recognize the importance of having someone to talk
with and found time amidst their busy schedule for these meetings. They regarded these
meetings as “conference” where they drew insights from the experiences of each other and
benefit them cognitively and emotionally.

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Taking Action

EC pre-service teachers confronted problems in terms of taking action by teaching children

from economically marginalized communities and how they reflected on them. Analyses of
their journal entries yielded data that were not captured in interviews. At some point during
the internship, the interns questioned some practices but they chose not to verbalize their
comments and questions but instead implement changes in the way they design their lessons
and instructional materials. Excerpts from their journal entries illustrate the insights and show
some instances that can be considered as evidences of their learning overtime.

Ces intimated in her journal entries how she struggled to make sense of her internship
journey. Despite the self-doubt and difficulties she encountered she managed to take each day
in stride. The “roller coaster ride”, as she described it is characterized by the unexpected
turns of events which she made evident in the series reflections she wrote in her journal.

A deeper description of their learning-to-teach experiences by taking concrete actions

were also offered and verbalized:

“I feel that I need to adjust- adjusting all the time to fulfil... fill-in the children’s
need and the things that I need to do.” (Ces)

“For me, teaching is a masterpiece because it takes time to polish...like an

artwork. With teaching, it also takes time for you to grow as a teacher. And I
learn through actions because every day is a new learning experience. We
build relationship with our CT... it’s more learning everyday then we talk
about it informally. I learn from my students as well by learning new
strategies...because it works with some kids and did not work for some. So I
am learning that a different strategy should be used with different students.”
(Kai)

“I view teaching as a commitment expressed in taking action…. At the end of

the day that’s still what you need to do. You’re still the teacher who will open
their snacks for them. You’ll prepare lesson plans for them. Yourself too,
you’ll still aim for self-growth…because you value your profession...and
during internship I saw myself as a- uhm- mud or pot... my CT is the potter.
She is polishing (circles her hand as if mixing something) she’s polishing us.
So every demo teaching, when we go to school, we’re like really being
molded. There’s something changing in what I am as a student teacher.
Because the more that I get molded (circles hand as if mixing something) by
my CT, then I can see their needs, I can see what needs to be done. There…I
felt that teaching became more meaningful.” (Aneth)

Learning-to-Teach as Iterative, Unpredictable and Unstructured Process

The researcher’s prolonged engagement with the research participants and the research site
enabled her to gather thick and robust description of the EC pre-service teachers’ learning-to-
teach during their internship in a disadvantaged environment vis-a-vis the kind of mentoring
they experienced from persons who had a hand in shaping their learning. Three interesting

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themes emerged relative to the internship continuum in which EC pre-service teachers were
immersed over a period of three months. Almost a month was spent for waiting to be
deployed and the next two months were the intensive immersion in the partner school. Based
from the journals, interviews and documents that were analyzed, the EC pre-service teachers
underwent three phases of learning which were mentioned repeatedly during the interviews as
Belonging, Being and Becoming.

Although it can be conveniently termed as three phases, it does not mean to say that
the three phases are stages in an upward linear manner. The continuum is characterized as
iterative, unpredictable and rumpled which can be attributed to Ces’ description of her
experience as “a roller coaster ride” and Kai’s repeated mention of the statement, “I am
shocked” even towards the end of their internship. Unlike Aneth, the most matured intern of
the three took her journey in stride, never missing a point for learning despite difficult
circumstances. Any of the three, Belonging, Being, Becoming, may come first second or last
– it all depends on the maturity, openness and readiness of an EC pre-service teacher for his
or her internship, not to mention their previous experiences with children especially with
marginalized background. To sequence the phases of learning-to-teach in an orderly
arrangement is a misunderstanding and an understatement of this complex process of pre-
service teachers’ learning-to-teach.

Belonging

‘Belonging’ is the phase where EC pre-service teachers are oriented on the process of
learning-to-teach. This is when they tried ‘to learn the ropes’ and ‘test the waters’ to fit in the
new environment. The long wait for their deployment was used to be acquainted with the
policies set by the Institute for Teaching and Learning and the requirements for Admission to
Practice Teaching had to be complied. The endorsement letter signalled the Belonging Phase
where the interns ready to be deployed to partner schools. ‘Belonging’ phase is more than
getting to know the principal, teachers and other personnel in the partner school, the interns
needed to understand the culture, climate and the norms pervasive in the new setting.
Nevertheless, the interns felt that they are welcome and they are willing to adjust to the new
environment.

This feeling of belonging was what Ces wrote in her journal “the preview to reality”
as she tried to grasp her purpose in this seemingly new phase of her preparation.
Unfortunately, the sense of Belonging may not be felt when an intern is prevented to take part
in the lesson and was just cautioned to sit and observe, which Kai experienced on the first and
second day. Kai felt she ‘belong’ after her cooperating teacher trusted her with the children.
For Ces and Aneth, ‘belonging’ entailed challenge as to how they could enter the world of
their pupils.

Being

A sense of ‘being’, a state of having existence, gradually develops as the three interns saw
their place in the classroom in particular and in the school in general. Aneth remembered
when after two weeks, she heard her cooperating teacher introduced her to a parent by saying;

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“Siya si Teacher Aneth, teacher siya dito, katulad ko. [She is Teacher Aneth,
she’s also a teacher like me].”

She felt a sense of pride having been introduced as a teacher. As for Kai, she felt the
sense of “being” when she got used to the routine and her pupils started to follow her sans her
shouting. Ces knew that she reached this ‘being’ phase when her cooperating teacher stopped
questioning her about the ‘new’ things she introduced to class. She felt some space and
freedom to make decisions for the class. The ‘being’ phase does not flow smoothly. There
were times when the interns were jolted to some realities they had to face like that day when
the community was burned to ashes. That incident was something they did not anticipate
which caused them to a lot of adjustment. Ces learned to see the deeper side of her
cooperating teacher when she saw her CT cried knowing that they would have one pupil less.
She went back to ‘belonging’ as she saw herself in her CT. Despite the challenges the
incident brought they saw how teachers normalize the situation by continuing the activities
and the lessons set for the coming weeks that they too would have to go back to ‘belonging’
as they moved on.

Becoming

The ‘becoming’ phase was marked with confidence and optimism in the profession. Aware of
the challenges they were put through, the interns thought that they were on the road to
become professional teachers. It can be noted from their philosophy of teaching, as one of the
entries in their portfolio, that they have already formed their beliefs not based on practice
alone, but accompanied by principles and theories which they explained in their write up.
Each completed anecdotal reports of a pupil that they helped to read, although at first it was
just a requirement but later on they learned to see that they could be enablers too. That
experience brought a sense of ‘becoming’, as Aneth pointed out,

“Feeling ko po ang kulang na lang ay lisensiya (I feel that I’m short of getting
my license)”.

In fact, during the first two weeks of Internship in the partner school, Aneth has
exhibited knowledge and skills becoming of a teacher. The next weeks were just polishing
the latent skills that were waiting to shine.

Given these instances however, reaching ‘becoming’ phase is never bereft of rough
spots. Kai was confidently ready for her final demonstration teaching a day before that grand
demonstration day when she found out that the materials she prepared days before and her
laptop was stolen in their house. Despite the suggestion by her cooperating teacher to
postpone her demonstration teaching, she decided to go on with it as scheduled. Kai’s
cooperating teacher was proud of her seeing that she performed well despite the problem. But
reading Kai’s reflection of her demonstration teaching proved that she is capable of
evaluating herself and learning from that experience.

Reaching that point of ‘becoming’ made the EC pre-service teachers see what they
could do for children affected by disadvantages. They thought of advocacies they would want
to be associated with. Ces, for example started intensifying a project on Global Citizenship
being an officer of the UNESCO Club in the university. Kai has been active in the activities

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of the church, while Aneth started her own organization called ‘Duyan’ (Cradle), a group of
EC pre-service teachers who will help orphaned Marawi children in the partner school

DISCUSSION

Using the lens of qualitative single-case case study research, the study yielded lessons learned
(Yin, 2014) from the in-depth study of the three major participants. The findings drawn from
a small sample but purposively selected research participants were instrumental (Stakes,
1995) in understanding learning-to-teach in the context of disadvantaged environment. It is
interesting to note that the findings this study proved to cause a paradigm shift in the way EC
pre-service teachers’ learning-to-teach is viewed. It is noteworthy to know that by and large,
the study points to the development of a mentoring model that needs to be informed mainly
by experiences of the EC pre-service teachers and their cooperating teachers in actual
settings. Likewise, the information obtained from the principal and the university supervisor
illuminate the phenomenon under study.

As shown in the study, learning-to-teach amidst adversities stretched EC pre-service

teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge through meaningful engagement with children.
The learning-to-teach experiences as demonstrated by the research participants prompted
rethinking how internship can be maximized. The dynamic and continuous process (Caires et
al., 2012) of initiating the early childhood pre-service teachers into the educational
community during internship may no longer fit to the model being used in the universities as
seen in student teaching handbook (Student Teaching Handbook, 2015). Reconsidering the
early childhood internship practices has been recommended by Mohd Sharif et al. (2020) in
which it emphasizes the need for childcare practitioners to undergo certification process. In
that way, certified and experienced childcare practitioners will be more adept in mentoring
early childhood pre-service teachers. Training EC pre-service teachers during internship is
more than following a predictable pattern of experiences if their individual differences have
to be considered.

Donche et al. (2015) identified four types of students based on how they acquired
learning which had been useful in analyzing EC pre-service teachers’ learning-to-teach
experiences. The learning stages are indicative of where and how they understand a particular
context and not on particular points during internship viewed as a progressively occurring
continuum. For example, although the interns know and understand the Kindergarten
curriculum, they realized that an unfamiliar strategy was implemented in response to the
needs of the children in the partner school. The strategy which they called explicit teaching
ran counter to the principles of developmentally appropriate learning activities so they
resorted to observing their cooperating teacher and asked questions about it.

Realizing that the cooperating teacher could hardly have the time to discuss explicit
teaching to them, they acted on it because this unfamiliar strategy piqued them. So, they used
all possible means to understand it and they even had discussion about it over lunch which
they consciously reflect on it. Having understood the concept and the principle behind
explicit teaching, they were confident to use it in class. However, it did not stop there because
whenever they encountered something that created confusion and doubt, they adopted any of
these moves to learn or re-learn something new. In this situation in which they have found
confidence to use the strategy, they were already self-directed. The situations entailed EC

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pre-service teachers to adopt behaviors for them to assume the reaction and the responsibility
they were called on.

Similar to the findings of Ellis et al. (2016) that the transformative effect of direct
experience is dependent on the social composition of the placement school, these EC pre-
service teachers’ learning experiences have not been adequately examined in many studies,
and teacher educators especially the ones supervising pre-service teachers have not optimized
the capability of the interns to be independent meaning-oriented learners (Donche et al,
2015). This will remain to be problem if the usual training permeates in the way EC pre-
service teachers are trained. In the time of changing policies, standards and programming in
the early childhood education, this study sought to contribute in the area of educating the EC
pre-service teachers in terms of capitalizing on their ability to be self-aware in
contextualizing their actions and decisions which is needed in teaching vulnerable children.

Undeniably, the early childhood pre-service teachers as participants in the study were
seen to have exhibited growth during internship even in a given limited time. They have
characterized their internship experiences as to having ‘highs and lows’, ‘smooth and rough
rides’, never static but a dynamic one, at times transparent and at sometimes opaque. In the
internship timeline, milestones have been defined as belonging, being and becoming not as
stages but points in the continuum. The development of the EC pre-service teachers could not
be ascertained at any fixed point which is different from the model of Furlong and Maynard
(1995) in which the five stages of pre-service teacher’s development was identified. The
model showing a ladder-like growth of an intern during internship is being implemented by
the university where the EC pre-service teachers came from and frames the way interns were
prepared by their mentors (Practice Teaching handbook, 2017).

The unpredictability and iterative process of learning-to-teach is evidenced by the

many intervening factors caused by the difficult circumstances they faced. Despite the
occurrences of challenging situations, the participants brought with them the insights of
teaching vulnerable children. As shown in the study, the professional vision of early
childhood pre-service teachers flourished. These findings are parallel to the findings of
Grudnoff et al. (2013) that student teachers perceived their internship in disadvantaged
communities did prepare them to teach in such context. Additionally, EC pre-service
teachers’ exposure to multicultural classes – a diverse mix of Christian and Muslim children
has trained them to understand inclusivity in diversity. This finding clearly illustrates the
need to include multicultural education in the early childhood curriculum and training
curriculum of in-service trainings of teachers as implied in the study of M. Abdullah and A.
Abdullah (2018).

The content analyses of interviews, observations, documents and artifacts gave fresh
insights on EC pre-service teachers’ learning-to-teach during internship. The promising
visage of seeing the understandings and perceptions of EC pre-service teachers’ learning-to-
teach and the processes in which they drew their learning in relation to the processes they
were mentored cast an inspiration for the researcher to look at the problems that beset
internship. Understanding of the intern’s beliefs and learning-to-teach experiences, finding
out what may constraint their learning and how mentors will be able to adjust and influence
their interns’ development.

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CONCLUSION

The findings revealed that all the three participants learned to draw upon insights by
reflecting on their daily teaching and learning experiences, relying on their own personal
attribution, forming reflective conversations among themselves and action-taking to address
problems of practice during their internship. A conclusion that is drawn from this finding is,
EC Pre-service teachers learned to reflect on their learning-to-teach experiences through the
various activities they had in the partner schools during internship. Thus, the interns’
immersion in a school that serves children from disadvantaged communities transformed
them to become resourceful, creative and agentive. Further, the different behaviours EC pre-
service teachers demonstrated are learning strategies that made them resilient and responsive
to different challenges they encountered during internship. Belonging, Being and Becoming
are learning points in the internship continuum which can be iterative, unstructured and
unpredictable. It is therefore paramount for cooperating teachers and university supervisors to
have a “trained eye” to determine the learning-to-teach points of EC pre-service teachers at
any given time. Having too much expectation will not help EC pre-service teachers to
develop their potentials.

The opportunity afforded the researcher to witness EC pre-service teachers’ learning-

to-teach experiences in the light of internship program being implemented in the university
led to the appreciation of the relevance of partner schools in relation to educating the head,
hand and hearts the future teacher professionals. Ongoing evaluation of the internship
program needs to be directed at finding out on a timely basis any problems or issues that may
stand in the way of pre-service teachers’ learning-to-teach. Formative assessment of ECPSTs’
performance through the cooperation of cooperating teachers and university supervisor
contribute to their development. It is also recommended that an internship pre and post
assessment of the interns be conducted to better prepare them and manage their expectations.

The lack of time has been identified as a major problem to optimize learning-to-teach
experiences; it is recommended that internship be extended to two terms (six months) in
partner schools to ensure the development of the EC pre-service teacher in terms of content
knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, attitudes and other relevant skills. During the course of
internship, the university should have activities that are designed for interns to relate to and
be able to use in the field especially in addressing adversities during their practicum.
Impliedly, an authentic university-school partnership program needs to be developed pushing
for equal and complimentary roles of both partners for EC pre-service teachers to learn-to-
teach effectively.

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