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Abstract The study investigated the challenges faced by the prospective teachers during teaching practice. The sample of the study comprised 34 prospective teachers enrolled in the final semester of B.Ed. (Hons.) program at University of the Punjab and University of Gujrat. The prospective teachers were trained in using student-centered pedagogies in teaching practice. Data analysis revealed that there was a noticeable transformation towards the use of teaching methods other than lecture method in their classroom. The major challenges included dealing with poor physical infrastructure, scarce and underused academic resources, inflexibility in classroom arrangement, non-professional attitude of school administration, and trying out innovation without challenging the prevailing school norms. Teaching practice has helped prospective teachers to strike a balance between their expectations and reality of schools and classrooms.
A closer interaction among university, school, prospective teachers and students beyond teaching practice is essential to increase mutual familiarity addressing the surprise element of challenges faced by the prospective teachers.
Keywords: Student centered pedagogies, classroom environment, teaching practice Introduction Teaching practice is challenging for prospective teachers (Grossman, Hammerness, and McDonald, 2009), however, greater attention on this aspect of teacher education is evident in recent literature (Grossman and McDonald, 2008; Reid, 2011). The expectations of prospective teachers and classroom realities are different (Melnick and Meister, 2008; Yildiz, Geçikli, and Yesilyurt, 2016). The profession is far more complex than prospective teachers' expectations. The level of freedom expected by the prospective teachers in the school environment does not match with the demonstrated level of school administration (Eptien, 1993; Normore, 2003). The students do not behave the way prospective teachers expects them to behave (Saarnivaara and Sarja, 2007). The material required for interactive methodologies is hardly available, tightly planned scheme of studies does not allow the flexibility expected by the prospective teachers to try out idealized teaching pedagogies (Kilgore, Ross, and Zbikowski, 1990).
Ball and Forzani (2009) highlighted teacher education should prioritize the clinical aspect of teaching, 'To make practice the core of the curriculum of teacher education requires a shift from a focus on what teachers know and believe to a greater focus on what teachers do (p. 503)'. In this scenario, Grossman et al (2009) pointed out, empirical evidence is needed to fully understand how access to various aspects and...