Professional Agency for Student Teachers

The practicum in teacher education affords student teachers an opportunity to demonstrate capacity to operate with professional agency. Although the site of the practicum is a school or early childhood centre, preparation for practicum occurs in a tertiary institution. This paper discusses the findings of an investigation into the effectiveness of links between 'social integration' in the tertiary institution and 'system integration' in the early childhood practicum. Findings from the study revealed that capacity for student teacher professional agency in the practicum was hindered by lack of effective links between the systems. I argue that student teacher professional agency in the practicum is reliant on the effectiveness of links between social integration in the tertiary institution and system integration in the practicum.