Implementation of Teaching Practicum for Primary School Teachers: China, Cambodia and Malawi Case Studies Liang Wei a , Foster Gondwe b , Saran Sok c a Guangling Road Primary School, China b University of Malawi, Malawi c Phnom Penh Teacher Education College, Cambodia Abstract This paper reports findings of a qualitative study that compared the implementation of teaching practicum for primary school teachers in China, Cambodia and Malawi. The study used semi- structured interviews and document analysis. Data sources included policy documents, interviews and literature. The systems theory was employed to make explicit the implementation of teaching practicum, including processes and challenges. Findings show different approaches of teaching practicum in the three countries determined by different environmental expectations, all emphasizing providing student teachers with diverse learning experiences. The study also sheds light on some of the challenges of teaching practicum. These findings underpin the importance of local school authorities in ensuring effective teaching practicum. Keywords: Teaching practicum; comparative study; systems theory; primary school teacher Introduction For decades, reform efforts to cultivate high-quality teachers have been featuring in international discourses on teacher education. According to Kosnik, Beck and Goodwin (2016), one of the major challenges confronting teacher education around the world concerns how to integrate theory and practice. The theory-practice gap has particularly led to a ‘practicum turn’ in order to strengthen the practice components of teacher education programs (Mattsson, Eilertsen, & Rorrison, 2011). Although studies confirm that the teaching practicum is an influential component of initial teacher education (Allen & Wright, 2014), there are still debates regarding the organization of teaching practicum to maximize student teachers’ learning. ISSN 1916-7822. A Journal of Spread Corporation Volume 11. No. 1 2022 Pages 190-217 https://journal.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/ajote/index Implementation of Teaching Practicum for Primary School Teachers: China, Cambodia and Malawi Case Studies AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 191 Debates concerning organization of teaching practicum have, among others, prompted questions as to whether teacher education should be more school-based (White & Forgasz, 2016). In OECD countries specifically there has been a remarkable shift from university-based to school-based teacher education. The Blue-Ribbon Panel (2010) in the USA published the American National Council for Teacher Education Report recommending a transformation from coursework-focused teacher education to school-based teacher education, adopting the restructuring of clinical practice as the national strategy. Similarly, in the Carter Review of Initial Teacher Training (2015), the UK emphasized the effectiveness of school-based experiences and recommended partnerships between university-based initial teacher education programmes and schools. Cheng and Lee (2016), however, suggested that both university- based and school-based teacher education have merits and demerits, and an effective way to ensure better teacher education is to improve the linkage between school-based teaching practicum and university-based coursework. Generally, there has been considerable progress internationally in research on teaching practicum. The literature shows research trends on issues such as student teachers’ beliefs and views (Uibu et al., 2017; Maddamsetti, 2018); teacher trainee mentoring by school-based or university-based teacher educators (e.g. Yuan, 2016; Pennanen et al., 2016); and teacher trainees’ perceptions of teaching practicum (e.g. Reynolds, Ding, & Li, 2022). Despite research studies being undertaken in different educational settings, some studies have reported methodological limitations of the literature on teaching practicum. For instance, Lawson et al. (2015) review of the literature observed that most studies were mainly single cases, making it difficult to discern patterns in different cultural and educational contexts. As such, Lawson et al. (2015) recommended more comparative studies across international settings in order to provide greater insight into teaching practicum. This paper reports findings of a qualitative study that compared the implementation of teaching practicum for primary school teachers in China, Cambodia and Malawi. Our interest started from Brown’s (2017) call for “explicit attention to teacher education issues in other regions of the world (e.g., China, India, Muslim-majority countries, Africa, and South America) where teaching and teacher education function in quite different contexts and possibly have different characteristics” (p.123). We purposefully selected the three cases to provide useful insights into similar issues globally (Steiner-Khamsi, 2013), and specifically to provide insights into the implementation of teaching practicum in Asia and Africa. The selected Liang Wei, Foster Gondwe, Saran Sok AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 192 cases exemplify very different approaches to teaching practicum for primary school teachers. Teaching practicum for primary school teachers in China takes place at the end of a four-year university-based teacher education, while in Cambodia it is conducted in two sessions over the two-year teacher training program. In Malawi, the Initial Primary Teacher Education (IPTE) is offered for a period of two academic years within a structure called 2 IN-2 OUT-2 IN in which the student teachers spend the first two terms in college, the next two terms teaching in practice schools, and the last terms of training in college. From the differences and similarities in the implementation of teaching practicum, we hope to contribute to an understanding of teaching practicum from a systemic comparison perspective amidst recent calls to begin conceptualizing teacher education as a ‘system’ (European Commission, 2013). In particular, knowledge gained from comparing the selected country cases can contribute to our understanding of specific ways in which global reform efforts in teacher education manifest themselves in non-western contexts (Brown, 2017). Our comparative study has theoretical significance considering the relatively few studies exploring cross-national educational issues of teaching practicum (Lawson et al., 2015). In practice, the study insights are useful for policymakers in improving teaching practicum at the system level. The findings may also be useful for teachers, researchers and teacher educators interested in advancing teacher education and development with a comparative and international character. In this article, we define teaching practicum as the field experiences where student teachers implement their theoretical learning about teaching in a practical way at schools (Lawson et al., 2015). We begin the article by presenting the rationale for international comparison of teaching practicum, followed by an overview of ‘system’ as a unit of analysis in comparative education research. We then demonstrate and compare the implementation of teaching practicum in China, Cambodia and Malawi. Drawing on the discussion on the different approaches to teaching practicum, we conclude by stating that a stronger role of local authorities is required to enhance the effectiveness of teaching practicum. International comparisons of teaching practicum The focus on addressing educational challenges from an international perspective is evident in policy and practice. In our view, research from an international and comparative perspective can contribute to a better understanding of how to achieve United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, especially, 4C, to “substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing Implementation of Teaching Practicum for Primary School Teachers: China, Cambodia and Malawi Case Studies AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 193 countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing States” (UNESCO, 2012). To illustrate, the international literature shows that the need to link theory to practice has become a global reform effort in teacher education with the view to making it more practical (Kosnik, Beck, & Goodwin, 2016). This comes against a background that teacher education around the world emphasizes theory, which supposedly weakens the impact of pre- service education on the development of teachers. There has been a considerable progress in research on teaching practicum as an essential component in preparing future teachers (Lawson et al., 2015; White & Forgasz, 2016). However, the systematic review of practicum studies by Lawson et al. (2015) reported that most research on teaching practicum has been in the form of small-scale cases. They argued that to generate useful insights for practice, researchers in the field should broaden their focus in terms of methodology and topics. Specifically, the authors concluded that, It is difficult to discern strong patterns in the outcomes of the studies, as the cultural and educational contexts in which practicum are undertaken may have had a major impact on participants’perceptions of them, and therefore comparative studies might make an interesting contribution to the literature (p. 402). A cross-cultural comparison of teaching practicum is necessary“given the increasing mobility of students and teachers between countries, and the growing connections being forged between teacher educators worldwide who are developing a shared interest in improving teacher education practices…” (Murray-Harvey, Silins, & Saebel, 1999, p. 44). To advance this research call, we pay attention to a comparative study of teaching practicum across three country contexts: China, Malawi and Cambodia. Approaches to teaching practicum Mattsson, etal (2011) present nine models of teaching practicum: (1) The Master-Apprentice model, in which student teachers learn the profession from experienced teachers; (2) The Laboratory model, where a University Teacher Training School is established to accommodate students on teaching practicum; (3) The Partnership model, in which university and local schools build partnerships focusing on teaching practicum; (4)The Community development model, in which student teachers go to rural schools as full-time teachers while experienced school teachers go to universities for training；(5) The Integrated model, where student teachers practice teaching in different school types；(6) The Case based model through which Liang Wei, Foster Gondwe, Saran Sok AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 194 student teachers experience sufficient authentic cases to learn teaching; (7)The Platform model, in which teaching practicum builds student teachers' individual needs and interests；(8) The Community of practice model, where participants learn from each other in teaching practicum; and (9) The Research and Development model, in which teaching practicum aims at improving relevant research and school development. Related to these models, White and Forgasz (2016) reviewed the literature and summarized three dominant approaches of teaching practicum: (1) the extended single placement; (2) multiple, shorter block placements distributed throughout the programme; and, (3) part-time placements or a distributed practicum of 1–3 days per week extending over a semester or a year (p. 243). In order to explore the implementation of teaching practicum, including differences and similarities in terms of core elements and challenges, it is necessary to compare different contexts with respect to their approaches. The above diverse approaches to teaching practicum also reflect the diversity in organization structures of teacher education which also vary considerably depending on context. This study considered China, Cambodia and Malawi as instrumental cases due to their diverse approaches to teaching practicum. For instance, the 2 IN-2 OUT-2 IN structure of teacher education in Malawi fits with what White and Forgasz (2016) call the distributed approach to practicum, while the Cambodian case aligns with the multiple shorter block placements. ‘System’ as a unit of analysis for understanding the implementation of teaching practicum Bray and Jiang (2014) elucidated some methodological issues relating to the use of ‘system’ as a unit of analysis in comparative research. In summary, Bray and Jiang highlight the challenge of defining a ‘national education’ system, arguing that the concept wrongly assumes that nations have homogenous education ‘systems’. They adopt one of the Chinese definitions of system as jiaoyu xitong, meaning the “arrangement in which various component parts are linked together” (p.125). They confirm that this definition can work for both subnational and cross-national system comparisons. Since some countries have multiple teaching practicum systems, we utilize this insight to characterize ‘teaching practicum’ as a system. To identify the parameters of comparing three ‘teaching practicum systems’ in the three countries, we adopted Banathy’s (1992) systems theory as a conceptual framework. The systems theory constitutes three interrelated conceptual lenses: the environment lens, the Implementation of Teaching Practicum for Primary School Teachers: China, Cambodia and Malawi Case Studies AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 195 structure lens, and the process lens. The environment lens identifies what the system of interest is. In our case, the system of interest was teaching practicum for primary school teachers. Banathy (1992) recognized three major types of environmental inputs, namely definition, resources and noise. The definition type comprises environmental expectations, demands, policies, and requirements. In this study, we looked at what each country and the profession expect from teaching practicum. For example, to understand the environmental expectations of teaching practicum, we searched for policy documents, such as the Teacher Education Curriculum Standards. In addition, the system of interests can be identified by exploring the expectations of interest groups. Accordingly, we interviewed stakeholders such as teacher educators and school teachers in universities and schools. The resources lens can reflect institutional incentives, people, materials, and facilities for teaching practicum. Noise refers to all those undefined inputs, like cultural norms, terminology, and other unintended factors. We interrogated this aspect by focusing on the concerns of stakeholders in the process of implementing teaching practicum. The structure lens defines the system. Using the environment lens as a basis, this second lens further refines the system of interest by identifying its purpose, functional model, and components (Walton, 2004). Through this lens, we analysed documents such as teaching practicum guidelines to understand the purposes of teaching practicum. We also used this lens to highlight student teachers’ professional development as a way of understanding what occurs during teaching practicum. The process lens looks at how the system transforms inputs to outputs. There are four core processes to transform inputs to outputs: (a) input processing, (b) output processing, (c) transformation, and (d) system guidance (Walton, 2004). For teaching practicum, we used this lens to look at the routes from entry to completion, including ways of transmitting knowledge. We also looked for what the student teachers learn and how cooperating teachers support student teachers’ learning during practicum. Table 1: Parameters of comparison based on the systems theory (Banathy, 1992) The Environment Lens The Structure Lens The Process Lens Environmental expectations of teaching practicum Resources for teaching practicum Purpose of teaching practicum Student teachers’ professional development Duration and Timing of practicum Selection of placement sites Liang Wei, Foster Gondwe, Saran Sok AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 196 Supervision and support Assessment Research purpose and questions Given the increasing interest in considering different contexts on teaching practicum systems, this study presents the implementation of teaching practicum in China, Cambodia and Malawi by using the lens of systems theory to answer the following research questions: (1) How is teaching practicum for primary school teachers implemented in the three countries? (2) What are the challenges, if any, of the implementation of teaching practicum in the three countries? Research context In China, the Ministry of Education (MOE) issued Teacher Education Curriculum Standards to set minimum standards for teachers in 2011 so that each higher education institute could be autonomous in designing their teacher education programs. Most primary school teachers graduate from 4-year degree colleges or universities with bachelor’s degree. The literature presents insight into student teachers’ experiences of teaching practicum in China. Yi, Cheng, and Li (2021) report that teaching practicum has been found to support student teachers’ understanding of the profession and gaining of teacher knowledge. It is also acknowledged that student teachers experienced mentoring that positively met their expectations (Chaaban, Wang, Du, 2021). On the other hand, Yan and He (2010) found that cooperating teachers and student teachers had different views about the aims and content of teaching practicum, and practicum schools were perceived as unwelcoming to the student teachers. Yi, Cheng, and Li’s (2021) study also underscored the need to balance theoretical and practical curricula when designing teacher education curriculum. In Cambodia, primary school teachers graduate from 18 Provincial Teacher Training Centres. In 2015, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) established Teacher Policy Action Plan 2015-2020 which reformed the pre-service training for primary school from formula 12+2 (12 years of public schooling plus 2 years training) to 12+4 (high school diploma plus 4 years training) as of 2020. Two education colleges are currently piloting the 12+4 teacher education program. Additionally, the MoEYS revised teaching practicum guidelines in 2016, including standards for evaluating teaching practicum and increasing the teaching practicum Implementation of Teaching Practicum for Primary School Teachers: China, Cambodia and Malawi Case Studies AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 197 duration from 10 to 14 weeks. There is a dearth of research on teacher education in Cambodia but few studies provide a picture of the issues encountered. Focusing on secondary education, Lee (2021) reviewed the implementation of pre-service teacher education and recommended a shift in teacher education curriculum from technical, competence and knowledge-based to the inner and moral aspect of teachers’ professional identity. King (2018) explored the influence of teachers’ education on their ability to implement pedagogical initiatives as recommended by the Cambodian Ministry of Education. The author reported inadequate pre-service preparation as one of the factors that inhibited teachers’ implementation of the expected pedagogy, suggesting the importance of revisiting teacher education curriculum to address and improve teachers’ pedagogical skills. Williams, Kitamura, Ogisu, and Zimmermann (2016) present systemic factors that affect preparation of quality teachers as well as trainees’ motivation to join the teaching profession. They observe that the development of well-trained teachers is compounded by factors such as limited budgets and relatively low priority given to the teaching profession by high school graduates. In Malawi, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) trains its primary school teachers through a program called ‘Initial Primary Teacher Education’ (IPTE). IPTE is a two-year course delivered through the Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) and Teaching Practice Schools (TPSs). During the college-based phase, trainee teachers are taught pedagogical skills for teaching all subjects offered at the primary school level. Throughout the school-based terms, trainee teachers are supported by mentors to practice the skills they learned during the college-based phase (MoEST, 2008). Meanwhile, the National Standards for Teacher Education emphasizes strong partnership between TTCs and TPSs as they work together towards the goal of producing competent primary school teachers (MoEST, 2014; MoEST, 2016). Upon successful completion of the two-year program, candidates are awarded with a certificate in primary teaching. Existing research provides insights into teacher trainees experiences during teaching practicum in Malawi. Mwanza, Moyo, and Maphosa (2016) investigated monitoring processes of mentoring in the initial primary teacher education. The study revealed inconsistences in monitoring, and that monitoring of mentoring was not supported by clear structures, policies, and standards. Related studies focused on competences of mentors (Mwanza, Moyo, & Maphosa, 2015) and factors that enabled or hindered mentoring (Mwanza, Moyo & Maphosa, 2014). Among others, student teachers reported that school mentors were competent in most of the aspects included in the study (Mwanza, Moyo, & Liang Wei, Foster Gondwe, Saran Sok AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 198 Maphosa, 2015). However, headteachers and mentors reported the mentoring environment was more constraining than enabling, citing factors such as ineffective mentor training, heavy workload, and little or no incentives for mentors (Mwanza, Moyo & Maphosa, 2014). Methodology This qualitative study mainly involved document analysis and semi-structured interviews. We looked at the processes of teaching practicum in official documents such as national standards or guidelines and teaching practicum handbooks of different universities or colleges. Teaching practicum stakeholders such as university supervisors, cooperating teachers, and student teachers were interviewed. The main interview questions focused on descriptions of implementation of teaching practicum, challenges faced during teaching practicum, and how stakeholders coped with these challenges. In China, considering the diversity of teacher education for primary school teachers, the researchers selected two undergraduate programs at a normal university and a normal college, and one master program at one comprehensive university. The first author (a Chinese by nationality) collected the data from October to November 2018. The participants included one dean of the college of teacher education, one staff of the educational practice guidance centre, three university supervisors, two school principals, eight cooperating teachers, and 11 student teachers. The interviews were conducted in the Chinese language and later translated into English. In Cambodia, the third author (a Cambodian by nationality) collected the data at one of the two Teacher Education Colleges in June 2018. Two student teachers who had finished their teaching practicum in different primary schools, one practicum coordinator, one college supervisor from Teacher Education College, and one mentor teacher participated in interviews. The interviews were in Khmer and later translated into English. In Malawi, the second author (a Malawian) analysed the literature and teacher education standards to identify the structure, curriculum and challenges of teaching practicum. The researcher utilized opportunistic data in the form of feedback from a question posted on Edpolicy & TeacherDev Mw, a WhatsApp-based forum where teachers, teacher educators and education authorities discuss teacher education policy in Malawi. Two teacher educators, one teacher and a director in the Ministry of Education offered insights into the question regarding implementation and challenges of teaching practicum for primary teachers. Implementation of Teaching Practicum for Primary School Teachers: China, Cambodia and Malawi Case Studies AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 199 Table 2: Sources of data in the three cases. Country Data collection technique China Documents: The Opinion of the MOE on the Strengthening the Educational Practice of Student Teachers (MOE, 2016); Teaching Practicum Handbooks of three universities Interviews: dean of the college of teacher education (1), educational practice guidance center staff (1), university supervisors (1), school principals (2), cooperating teachers (8), student teachers (11) Cambodia Documents: Guideline and Implementation of Teaching Practice at TTC (2016) Interviews: practicum coordinator (1), college supervisor (1), cooperating teacher (1), student teachers (2) Malawi Documents: National Standards for Teacher Education in Malawi (2016), The Initial Primary Teacher Education Program Handbook (2014), Published journal articles WhatsApp-based conversation: teacher educator (2), director in the ministry of education (1), teacher (1) We used two complementary approaches in the comparative analysis of propositions: (1) comparing the implementation of teaching practicum in the three cases by employing the systems theory; (2) searching for common systemic challenges faced during teaching practicum. Findings The following sections describe the implementation and challenges of teaching practicum for each country. The comparison of the three cases is firstly presented from the lenses of systems theory, followed by an explanation of issues in Tables, and lastly, a description of the challenges of each case. Implementation of teaching practicum in China, Cambodia and Malawi Environment Lens In China, the environmental expectations are that initial teacher education is the period for theoretical knowledge learning, while the practical knowledge of teaching can be learnt during induction of beginning teachers. As the Vice Dean pointed out, “The underlying assumption is only when student teachers learn adequate theoretical knowledge, they can better prepare for Liang Wei, Foster Gondwe, Saran Sok AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 200 teaching practicum. And they can learn teaching practice after working” (Vice Dean). Although each University oversees its own teaching practicum, the local educational administrative departments provide institutional incentives to involve schoolteachers in teaching practicum. Among other incentives, being a cooperating teacher is an important element for the awards and promotion of schoolteachers. In recent years in Cambodia, inadequate teacher knowledge and teaching capacity have become problems characterized by low quality basic education. In order to strengthen the quality and efficiency of the education system, MoEYS issued the Teacher Policy Action Plan 2015-2020, which planned to convert the two-year teacher training to four-year teacher education for primary school teachers as of 2020. The four-year course was initially introduced in Phnom Penh and Battambang Teacher Education Colleges in 2018. There is, however, no budget for stakeholders involved in the teaching practicum. In Malawi, during the two years of the IPTE program, students are assessed on their academic subject knowledge, teaching skills and professional qualities as a potential teacher (MoEST, 2014). The teaching practice is implemented in phases spread over the entire two- year period. In college, student teachers undergo internal teaching practice at a demonstration school (primary schools based at or close to the TTCs). Based on the above-highlighted context of teaching practicum, Table 3 presents a comparison of teaching practicum implementation in the three countries through the environmental lens. Table 3: Implementation of teaching practicum in China, Cambodia and Malawi through environment lens China Cambodia Malawi Environmental expectations  Theoretical knowledge has priority over practical knowledge  Induction of beginning teachers  Strengthen the quality and the efficiency of the education system  Increasing the number of qualified teachers to reduce the qualified teacher- pupil ratio  Practical skills of the theory learnt in college Implementation of Teaching Practicum for Primary School Teachers: China, Cambodia and Malawi Case Studies AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 201 Resources  Becoming cooperating teachers as an indicator of school teachers’ promotion  No budget for stakeholders involved in the teaching practicum  Schools and TTCs contribute teaching resources for student teachers Structure Lens In China, The Opinion of the MOE on the Strengthening the Educational Practice of Student Teachers states that practicum aims to “promote the student teachers to gradually form a good moral quality and professional identity, understand the professional knowledge of education and teaching, master the ability of teaching design and implementation as well as class management and student guidance” (MOE, 2016). To achieve this, student teachers must complete three basic tasks, which include Classroom Teaching, Master Teacher’s (banzhuren) Work, and Educational Research. In Cambodia, teaching practicum guidelines stipulate that student teachers are required to practice two subjects (one main subject and one minor subject). Apart from observing lessons, student teachers are required to write lesson plans for each subject and submit them to mentor teachers and college supervisors before teaching (MoEYS, 2016). Furthermore, pedagogical research is arranged as a professional development opportunity for student teachers. In Malawi, guidelines (MoEST, 2014) stipulate that student teachers be assigned to a class as a teaching pair, each with a responsibility for 50% of the teaching timetable. Student teachers receive supervision, which involves lesson observation, evaluation and feedback on the teaching skills from cooperating teachers, head teachers, and college lecturers. College lecturers collaborate with the school principals and cooperating teachers to assess student teachers’ progress. The guidelines recommend at least two supervision visits of college lecturers for assessment. Student teachers are expected to develop schemes of work, examine whole-school issues, plan lessons, make and use learning resources, attend meetings, complete their School Experience Journals, and keep records of their school experience (MoEST, 2014). Table 4 presents a comparison of teaching practicum implementation in the three countries through the functions/structure lens. Liang Wei, Foster Gondwe, Saran Sok AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 202 Table 4: Implementation of practicum in China, Cambodia and Malawi through structure lens China Cambodia Malawi Purpose of teaching practicum  Forming good moral quality and professional identity, professional knowledge, teaching skills  Helping student teachers have a clear understanding of the contexts for schooling and learn more about their teaching professional  Developing understanding of teaching skills and whole-school issues Student teachers’ professional development  Classroom teaching (lesson planning, actual teaching)  Master Teacher’s Work (class management, pupil guidance)  Educational Research  Observing lessons, assisting cooperating teachers, planning lessons, preparing resources, managing pupils and observing curricular activities  Pedagogical research  Engaging in planning, reflection and self- and peer- evaluation, and receiving mentor feedback and support Process Lens In China, teaching practicum in university-based teacher education programmes is during one structured block in schools prior to graduation. Some local education administrative departments play the role of ‘broker’ (Lunenberg, Dengerink, & Korthagen, 2014), that is, contacting universities and schools for building teaching practicum partnerships. During teaching practicum, each student teacher has one to two cooperating teachers (one cooperating teacher responsible for subject teaching, while another one responsible for master’s work). If the subject teacher is also a master teacher, the student teacher is allocated to only one schoolteacher. For assessment, each university has its own teaching practicum portfolio system including the teaching practicum plan, lesson plan, attendance records, practicum summary, and assessment. At the end of teaching practicum, cooperating teachers provide a summative assessment and give written feedback to the student teachers. Implementation of Teaching Practicum for Primary School Teachers: China, Cambodia and Malawi Case Studies AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 203 In Cambodia, teaching practicum is organized in two separate sessions spread over the entire two years of the program. In the first year, student teachers have a six-week practicum session, two weeks of which they observe classes. In the second-year, student teachers have eight weeks to observe classes and start mini-practice of teaching (MoEYS, 2016). In the four- year teacher education program, there are 22 weeks for teaching practicum, divided into four sessions per year: (1) two weeks for school experience, (2) five weeks for teaching assistantship, (3) five weeks for teaching practice I, and (4) ten weeks for teaching practice II. During the school experience, student teachers observe lessons in primary and secondary classes for one week respectively. The Provincial Office of Education (POE) selects practice schools based on the request from the Teaching Practice Committee at national or sub-national level (MoEYS, 2016). Specifically, POE confirms the practicum schools chosen by the Teacher Education Colleges according to criteria that satisfy MoEYS guidelines. Prior to teaching practicum, there are two formal meetings involving student teachers, instructors, cooperating teachers, and school directors (MoEYS, 2016). The first meeting is with team leaders (college supervisors, cooperating teachers and the school principal) who coach the student teachers, while the second meeting informs student teachers about the code of ethics and requirements. A team of college supervisors and mentor teachers ought to assess student teachers’ practicum experience (MoEYS, 2016). In Malawi, assessment of practicum is guided by principles of fairness and accountability and includes various kinds of tasks and examinations. To track their professional development as prospective teachers, student teachers are required to keep a teaching practice file and school experience journal. The TTC Assessment Committee is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the development of the TTC-based assessments, while the Malawi National Examinations Board sets the final exams at the end of Year One, moderates the grading of teaching practice, and advises colleges on the conduct and standards required for the continuous assessment component (MoEST, 2014). At the end of the course, students who successfully pass the required assessment tasks both in college and during teaching practice are awarded with a certificate in primary teaching. Liang Wei, Foster Gondwe, Saran Sok AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 204 Table 5: Implementation of in China, Cambodia and Malawi through process lens China Cambodia Malawi Duration and location  2-3 months at the end of 4- year teacher education program  14 weeks (6 weeks of first year and 8 weeks of second year)  22 weeks (2 weeks for school experience of first year, 5 weeks for teaching assistantship of second year, 5 weeks for teaching practice I of third year, and 10 weeks for teaching practice II of fourth year)  Two terms (3 months per term) school- based Selection of placement sites  Through local education administrative departments  Selected by the Teacher Education College  Done by the ‘Teaching practice coordinator’ based at the college Supervision and support  Each student teacher assigned 1-2 cooperating teacher  Mentor teachers and college supervisors fill in at least three different forms: the observation form, the evaluation form for the semi-practice stage, and the final evaluation report form of student teachers' practice  Professional and reflective skills; lecturer- student contact (including at least 2 supervision visits per student) Assessment  Each university has its own teaching practicum portfolio system, including the  All stakeholders receive orientation by Teacher Education College and MoEYS about teaching practicum  TP Assessment is based on observation  Mentors and supervisors check contents of Implementation of Teaching Practicum for Primary School Teachers: China, Cambodia and Malawi Case Studies AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 205 teaching practicum plan, lesson plan, attendance record, practicum summary and assessment the Teaching Practice file Challenges of teaching practicum in the three countries China Teaching practicum takes place in the fourth year of initial teacher education, which clashes with student teachers’ job hunting and various exam preparations. Student Teacher 3 observed, “The time of teaching practicum coincidence with writing thesis and preparing for Teacher Entrance Examination. I am struggling to manage the time.” Student teachers are required to pay attention to several things during the teaching practicum, affecting their concentration on teaching practicum. Moreover, interviewed student teachers seemed to have a limited view of the expected tasks and goals of teaching practicum because of the clash of teaching practicum schedule with the Teacher Recruitment Examination. Interview data also showed that to pass the Teacher Recruitment Examination, student teachers mainly focus on teaching skills and practical knowledge of subject teaching and ignore the learning of other important aspects of the teaching profession, such as educational values and school activity organization. Beside the theory-oriented curriculum system of the teaching practicum, the ‘administrativization’1 of university is another challenge. The university seems to have administrative power and academic power. The conjugate state between the administrative power and academic power shows the balance of the order and autonomy of university. Interview results showed that the ‘administrativization’ of university leads to the separation 1This term is used to express the phenomenon of administrative power over academic power in the Chinese university context (Guo, 2013). Liang Wei, Foster Gondwe, Saran Sok AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 206 between decision-making and implementation of teaching practicum. The following interview extract illustrates the case in point: Researcher: Considering the time clash, is it possible to move teaching practicum to the third year of the teacher education program? Vice Dean: The educational administration department is in charge of the teaching practicum, but the actual teaching practicum is located to each school, in this structural system, who has enough motivation to make change? In addition, participants frequently mentioned the challenge of insufficient communication between university and school. Some participants observed that the Teaching Practicum Handbook did not include any information on requirements of cooperating teachers; consequently, cooperating teachers’ mentoring was aimless, random and unsystematic. Moreover, participants attributed the insufficient communication between university and school to the sporadic and inadequate visits of university supervisors to schools. Further inquiry from university supervisors revealed some reasons for this. One practicum supervisor noted the low status of the work of practicum supervisors in universities: “The evaluation system of universities focuses on research, which has weakened the teaching. The salary for supervising teaching practicum is not too much, so that university teachers are not willing to be the university supervisors for teaching practicum” (University Supervisor 3). Finally, the study found the disparity in leadership of school principals among teaching practicum bases to be a challenge. Some school principals were highly enthusiastic and ensured effective organization of teaching practicum. For example, participants reported that School Principal 2 explained the school culture to student teachers and held meetings with cooperating teachers at the beginning of teaching practicum. Conversely, some school principals were cold and inactive, which did not provide an environment supportive of teaching practicum. Apart from assigning student teachers to cooperating teachers, they seldom monitored the mentoring of cooperating teachers. Cambodia Inadequate financial support for stakeholders is a significant challenge mentioned for this country. College supervisors are expected to supervise students at practicum sites, but TEC does not refund the cost of transportation because it is not budgeted for. TEC has around 5000 Riel (1.25 USD) for each supervisor to buy refreshments for the meeting before the teaching Implementation of Teaching Practicum for Primary School Teachers: China, Cambodia and Malawi Case Studies AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 207 practicum starts. A practicum coordinator claimed that, “We have a limited budget around 5000 riels for each supervisor to buy refreshments for each meeting, and we give the money directly to supervisors” (Practicum Coordinator). The interviewed cooperating teachers also expressed their dissatisfaction with the costs they incur during teaching practicum: “We spend a lot of time with student teachers during teaching practicum, but we did not receive any reimbursement for our work” (Cooperating Teacher). Moreover, training of cooperating teachers is insufficient; hence, the mentors are unclear of their roles. Prior to commencing teaching practicum, TEC provides orientation about the practicum regulation, protocols and other operational concerns to different stakeholders, in particular student teachers, mentor teachers, and college supervisors. However, these stakeholders do not receive documents outlining their roles. For student teachers, the workload of preparing lesson plans was reported as an enormous challenge. During teaching practicum, student teachers had to spend a significant amount of time on their lesson plan because they had to teach different subjects (Khmer language, Science, Social Studies, and Mathematics) during the week following classroom observation. For instance, one of the student teachers stated that, “I taught grade one and four, thus I had to prepare the lesson plan according to my class schedule of five subjects as well as teaching material” (Student Teacher 1). Interview data also showed that there was little communication between TEC and practicum schools. College supervisors mostly communicate with cooperating teachers when scoring student teacher performance (Pin Tork in Khmer) as well as when student teachers have difficulty during their teaching. One cooperating teacher indicated that the partnership was weak: “There was no cooperation because most college supervisors did not go to observe student teachers at practicum school” (Cooperating Teacher). Additionally, some supervisors did not provide feedback to student teachers during teaching practicum because they were attending in-service training. Malawi Key challenges for Malawi reported by the voluntary respondents through the WhatsApp conversations were mainly about logistics, mentoring, teaching practice school conditions, and capacity of other stakeholders in contributing to teaching practice. On challenges related to mentoring, one teacher educator wrote: Liang Wei, Foster Gondwe, Saran Sok AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 208 The current situation is that qualified teachers are paired with student teachers, but the qualified teachers are not helping them much. To them, it is as if they are now on holiday. So, the student teachers most of the times are handling the classes alone (Teacher Educator 1). Another TTC lecturer corroborated these views, citing prevalent challenges such as cooperating teachers and head teachers of teaching practicum who themselves were untrained in addition to qualified teachers who were reluctant to support student teachers. Notably, the above challenges are consistent with what has been reported in the literature and in the country’s teacher education policy. Recognizing that well-coordinated training for cooperating partner teachers is lacking, Malawi’s Ministry of Education in response to the challenge developed standards to apply for planning professional development for teachers and teacher educators. Thus, the national standards recommend that staff in partner schools receive effective training in monitoring, mentoring and supporting student teachers (MoEST, 2016). The continuing professional development framework for teachers and student teachers operationalizes these policy aspirations (MoEST, 2018). Furthermore, while acknowledging the logistical challenges faced during teaching practicum, the national standards for teacher education expect efficient use of resources for supervision visits so that students receive support when they need it (MoEST, 2016). Delayed payment of allowances for student teachers and supervisors was one logistical challenge cited by a teacher. Related to this, funds for effective supervision, teaching resources, and allowances for students and supervisors were also reported to be insufficient. The large classes that lead to ineffective teaching practice further worsen the teaching practice schools which are already constrained with inadequate teaching and learning resources. For instance, in the school year 2017/18, 25% of all public primary schools had a Pupil-qualified Teacher Ratio (PqTR) of 87:1 or higher and 10% of all schools had a PqTR of 107:1 or higher. Despite detailing the policy guidelines on managing school and TTC partnerships during teaching practice, Mwanza, Moyo, and Maphosa (2016) found a lack of policies, code of practice (norms) and standards for monitoring mentoring practices. As already highlighted in this paper, mentors and headteachers also reported that the mentoring environment was more constraining than enabling (Mwanza, Moyo & Maphosa, 2014). Discussion This study aimed at understanding the implementation of teaching practicum in China, Cambodia and Malawi. Generally, viewed in line with a snapshot of research on student Implementation of Teaching Practicum for Primary School Teachers: China, Cambodia and Malawi Case Studies AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 209 teachers’ experiences of teaching practicum (e.g. Yi, Cheng, & Li’s, 2021 in China; Mtika, 2011 in Malawi; Lee, 2021 in Cambodia), it is clear that the three countries consider teaching practicum as an essential component of teacher education. We also note that teaching practicum challenges in the three countries underscore the need to improve structures, teacher education curriculum design, and resources that can support professional development of student teachers as prospective teachers (Mwanza, Moyo, & Maphosa, 2014, 2015, 2016; Lee, 2021; King, 2018). In the following sections, we utilize the system theoretical lens to discuss the differences and similarities of the three teaching practicum systems. We also discuss challenges of the implementation of teaching practicum in the three countries. The Environment Lens: Different environmental expectations The three compared countries show different approaches to teaching practicum. In China, there is a variation of teaching practicum among universities that take 8-12 weeks at the end of the initial teacher education program. Cambodia and Malawi use national guidelines for teaching practicum in all teacher training programs. In Cambodia, the teaching practicum is integrated into the whole teacher training and teacher education programs, which allocates 14 weeks in two-year teacher training and 22 weeks in four-year teacher education. In Malawi, under the 2 IN-2 OUT-2 IN teacher education model, there are two terms of teaching practicum. Following the systems theory, such approaches of teaching practicum are determined by environmental expectations of teacher education in each country. Teacher education in China emphasizes the theoretical knowledge in pre-service teacher education and puts the responsibility of actual practice of teaching to the in-service teacher education, especially the induction. As Han (2012) pointed out, professional development opportunities are widely arranged for in-service teachers as a recent reform in teacher education in China. In this context, teaching practicum is an extended single placement occurring in the fourth year of the university-based teacher education program. In Cambodia, qualified teachers ought to contribute to students’ learning so they can improve the quality of education. Specifically, upgrading primary teachers to bachelor’s degree has become one of the most urgent tasks for pre-service and in-service provision (MoEYS, 2014). The better-qualified graduates from four-year teacher education can replace the retiring and contract teaching staff to improve education service provision. In Malawi, the environmental expectations for teacher education is to increase the number of qualified teachers to reduce the teacher-pupil ratio. For instance, Malawi introduced free primary Liang Wei, Foster Gondwe, Saran Sok AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 210 education in 1994 to increase pupil enrolment which in turn led to a great demand for primary school teachers. The one year of teaching practicum serves to increase teacher supply by letting student teachers perform the role of full-time teachers. Moreover, through one-year practices, student teachers can master the tasks of teachers and easily enter the teaching profession. The theory-oriented curriculum system of teaching practicum seems to be the main challenge of teaching practicum in China. Previous research also found that the timing and duration of teaching practicum in China was inappropriate and insufficient (Manzar-Abbas & Lu, 2013). Researchers pointed out that the time allocated to teaching practicum in China was too short to gain mastery of teaching skills and an understanding of the real context of the field (Yan & He, 2010). This suggests that ensuring adequate time for teaching practicum is important to effective teaching practicum. However, it is worth noting that spending more time in schools does not ensure better outcomes of teaching practicum. In Malawi, the two-term teaching practicum reflects the nature of an ‘apprentice’ model (White & Forgasz, 2016), which focuses on a short-term basis to meet immediate needs of teacher supply. The one-year teaching practicum places responsibility on schools and schoolteachers. The untrained cooperating teachers and reluctant qualified teachers supporting student teachers was reported as a big challenge of teaching practicum in Malawi. In Cambodia, through updating the teacher training formula from 12+2 to 12+4, the duration of teaching practicum is increased and the types of teaching practices are enriched. Since the reform has just been initiated, the quality of teaching practicum is still unknown. The Structure Lens: Diverse learning experiences From the function lens, while the three countries differ in their teaching practicum approaches, they all place value on providing diverse learning experiences for student teachers. For instance, the two cooperating teachers of subject teaching and masterwork are allocated to student teachers in China. In Cambodia, student teachers go to different schools to experience varied contexts and observe cooperating teachers’ classes in different subjects and grades. In addition, pedagogical research is highlighted as a valuable part of teaching practicum. In Malawi, teachers teach all primary level subjects and sometimes handle multi-grade classes. Thus, practicum schools act as a site to get student teachers involved in a variety of school level activities. Implementation of Teaching Practicum for Primary School Teachers: China, Cambodia and Malawi Case Studies AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 211 Providing diverse learning experiences can enhance the effectiveness of teaching practicum (Beck Kosnik, 2002). However, diverse learning experiences require effective mentoring by cooperating teachers, who are often reported to lack qualified mentoring capacities. One of the challenges of the implementation of teaching practicum in the three cases is little support and training for the cooperating teachers, many of whom are unclear about their roles and responsibilities. This observation confirms what is reported in the literature and underscores the need to address structures of student teachers’ professional development, including improving the quality of mentorship (Yan & He, 2010; Mwanza, Moyo & Maphosa, 2014, 2015, 2016).) The Process Lens: Support from local authorities When looking through the process lens, a key finding is that the local authorities play a big role in teaching practicum. Firstly, the local authorities negotiate different interests by standardizing the management of educational practice, especially in China and Cambodia. For example, although each university in China has the autonomy to design and implement teaching practicum, the local authorities support the teaching practicum by encouraging schoolteachers to perform the role of cooperating teachers and using it as an indicator of schoolteacher promotion. In Cambodia, local authorities are involved in the process of the practicum through the Teaching Practicum Committee at the provincial level. Local authorities, representing the Ministry of Education through the Provincial Office of Education (POE), are partially involved in the teaching practicum planning. In addition, before teaching practicum, the TEC cooperates with the MoEYS to hold orientation for all stakeholders. Secondly, local authorities are involved in the implementation of the teaching practicum through selecting teaching practice bases. In China, universities identify the potential teaching practicum bases and then build teaching practicum partnerships with primary schools through local education administrative departments. In Cambodia, POE select the teaching practicum schools based on requests from the local teaching practice committees. In Malawi, school allocation is done by the college-based ‘Teaching Practice Coordinator’. It should be highlighted that the findings also show that most of the challenges of the implementation of teaching practicum in the three cases relate to the inadequate support from local authorities, especially at the school level. In China, the lack of local administration’s involvement in the supervision of teaching practicum contributes to the disparity in leadership Liang Wei, Foster Gondwe, Saran Sok AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 212 of school principals for teaching practicum in primary schools. In Cambodia and Malawi, insufficient budgets for stakeholders feature as a major challenge. Collaborative relationships between university and school As our findings show, the common challenge of teaching practicum in the three countries is inadequate communication between university and schools. Teaching practicum has a marginal status in initial teacher education programs in China. Under the research-orientation context of higher education, the salary for university supervisors is so low that teachers lack motivation to take on this role. Worse still, as university supervisors, some teachers rarely visit teaching practice schools. This is an indication of the low status of university supervisors within the group of teacher educators. Furthermore, the insufficient communication between university and school has resulted in universities paying inadequate attention to teaching practicum and to “power imbalances” among university supervisors (Cooper & Grundnof, 2017) as the knowledge gained through the university is perceived more important than the practice. The differences in cultures of work tempo and the nature of professional time between universities and schools make for few interactions between schoolteachers, student teachers, and teacher educators during teaching practicum partnerships (Gu, 2016). Due to timetable constraints, Cambodian cooperating teachers are often unavailable to discuss the pedagogical needs of the student teachers with the college supervisors after the lesson presentations. The college supervisors cannot meet mentor teachers because they are busy with other academic obligations. Similarly, the lack of regular and ongoing feedback on student teachers’ teaching practices is evident in teaching practicum in Malawi. The constrained interactions between university and school often lead to the disconnection of supervision between university mentors and school cooperating teachers (Ochanji, et al., 2015). Furthermore, guidelines on how to structure the relationship between university and schools have not been transformed into policy. The criteria for selecting cooperating teachers vary based on institutional contexts. In particular, the inadequate support and virtual lack of mentoring for most student teachers in Malawi are partly due to the ‘incompetence’ of mentors (Mwanza, Moyo, & Maphosa, 2016). Further structures will need to be put into place to stimulate the interests of universities and schools to establish collaborative and sustainable teaching practicum relationships. Previous studies have shown that teaching practicum partnerships which rely upon the temporary provision of external resources are very likely to fail in the long term (Gu, 2016). Implementation of Teaching Practicum for Primary School Teachers: China, Cambodia and Malawi Case Studies AJOTE Vol.11 No.1 (2022), 190-217 213 Our study underpins the important role of local education authorities in ensuring effective teaching practicum. For example, in China, local educational administrative departments consider the experience of being a cooperating partner teacher as an important element for the promotion of schoolteachers and for granting of awards to them. This promotion criterion seems to motivate schoolteachers to mentor student teachers during teaching practicum. Conclusion This study compared the implementation of teaching practicum in China, Cambodia and Malawi through the lens of systems theory. By paying attention to teaching practicum, this study provides insights into reforms that will make teacher education more practical. Among others, the article presents differences in teaching practicum in the three countries, with findings suggesting that teaching practicum has similar purposes yet is implemented differently producing different outcomes. Despite different approaches to teaching practicum, providing student teachers with diverse learning experiences and the role of local authorities emerge as similarities among the three cases. In this way, the paper adds support to the international literature suggesting that teacher education around the world has similar aims but differs in strategies. The study also sheds light on challenges facing teaching practicum in different contexts. One of the major challenges facing schools and universities in establishing partnerships is managing the difference in cultures. The three countries face the common challenge of limited communication between teacher education institutes and schools during teaching practicum. Our findings suggest that local authorities might mediate building collaborative relationships between teacher education institutions and schools. The question we can now ask concerns how this critical role of the local authorities can be stimulated. 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