Time to Transform: Challenges and Opportunities for Teaching Practice During COVID-19 and Beyond

Teaching practice is one of the most significant components of a teacher education program that prepares prospective teachers for a fast-changing and technology-infused world. However, in many developing countries like Pakistan, it has remained stuck in the traditional methods (face-to-face, without proper utilization of technology) which made it vulnerable during COVID-19. This study explores teaching practice methods and strategies used by Pakistani universities before and during COVID-19. It further identifies the causes behind its deficiencies to prepare prospective teachers for the challenges of the current era. Using semi-structured interviews, data was gathered from nine teaching practice supervisors from nine different universities. The study found that before COVID-19, eight universities used traditional methods and strategies for teaching practice. During COVID-19, the universities used four different approaches (online teaching practice in mock classes, online teaching practice with real students, microteaching 2.0, and teaching practice through emails and WhatsApp groups) for its continuation. Ignoring modern tools and technologies, lack of focus and attention, and a clerical approach were reported to be the main reasons behind its deficiencies to prepare prospective teachers for the challenges of the current world. The study highlights the importance of using blended modes for teaching practice, allocating some credit hours/modules for purely online teaching practice, giving more importance to it, and providing specialized training to teaching practice supervisors and cooperating teachers so that they can supervise and assess prospective teachers more effectively.