Perceptions of D.El.Ed. Pupil Teachers Towards School Internship Programme in West Bengal

Abstract

The core aspects of the primary teacher education programme primarily depend on its curriculum implementation at the elementary school level, the interactions in actual school classrooms, assessment, evaluation, and the appropriateness of the D.El.Ed. course. The paper examines the experiences and viewpoints of pupil teachers in the Colleges of Teacher Education affiliated with the West Bengal Board of Primary Education. The main objective of the study was to uncover how pupil teachers view the school internship program that was launched in the 2014-16 academic session. The study employs a descriptive survey design since its main objective is to assess the perception of the nature and effectiveness of the internship programme. The group consisted of Second year (Part-II) pupil teachers from West Bengal. The sample area includes five Teacher Education colleges from both rural and urban regions of Birbhum, Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, and Uttar Dinajpur districts in West Bengal. A systematic Random Sampling Method was utilized to create a sample of 422 Pupil Teachers. The researcher utilized a five-point Likert scale for gathering data. The questionnaire with 16 items was tested and adjusted based on expert feedback and was given out directly. The data gathered from the questionnaire was examined using descriptive statistical methods by calculating means and standard deviations and subsequently presented thematically. Results indicate that while Pupil teachers view the school internship program as advantageous for their career growth, the supervision provided by both mentors and Teacher Educators requires enhancement concerning teaching-learning strategies viewpoints from D.EL.ED. Teacher Educators.