Muffled Voices from Thai Pre-Service Teachers: Challenges and Difficulties during Teaching Practicum

Abstract

The study aimed at exploring the perceptions pre-service student teachers had about their challenges and difficulties that hindered their teaching. The present study espoused a convergent mixed-methods approach, which adopted a questionnaire and semi-structured focused-groupinterviews as the research instruments. The participants of this small-scale study were B.Ed. Students at a university in Thailand. There were 78 participants in a quantitative phase, while 17 of them participated in a semi-structured-focus-group interview. The findings demonstrated around 4 dimensions of various constraints and challenges. This embodied: communication factors, instructional factors, student-related factors, and support-related factors. Based on OneWay ANOVA, most students appeared to face similar challenges. However, pre-service student teachers at early childhood and primary school levels highlighted the different challenges which they encountered during their practicum experience concerning various teaching methods used in their lessons. The findings also addressed some areas which needed improvement in the teacher education program. Recommendations were suggested to enhance practical and effective teacher education among future teachers in Thailand.