Clinical Practice Guiding Principles

We regard teaching as an intellectual and a moral endeavor, and as the primary mechanism in our society for achieving social justice. Therefore, we provide our pre-service teachers with theory and practice to enable them to work toward educational equity and to promote the fundamental values of democracy.

The sequence of field experiences that we provide is a critical component of teacher preparation. That sequence is guided by these core principles:

• Field experiences are the heart of teacher preparation. They must be deeply integrated into students’ preparation. Classroom work and fieldwork are interdependent.
• Field experiences should provide students the opportunity to learn about and work with diverse students. While in the program, to the extent possible and when appropriate, students should have experiences in settings in which they could both observe and work with students of diverse racial, ethnic, religious, socio-economic, linguistic, age, grade, and ability backgrounds.
• Field experiences should be sequenced to ensure that all pre-service teachers see a variety of teaching practices and have an opportunity to build their skill sets over time.
• Field experiences should give pre-service teachers necessary practice in order for them to develop their skills in instructional planning and implementation, engaging and teaching students, and using modern methods including new technologies.
• Field experiences should help students learn how to teach all students by working with individuals and small groups and learning how to customize instruction to meet the needs of individual students.
• Clinical faculty and mentor teachers should be carefully chosen on the basis of their ability to model good practice and to teach new teachers effectively. They should be familiar with the core values and goals of Temple’s teacher preparation program and able to model Temple’s best teaching practices.
• Field settings should be philosophically congruent with our programs’ core values and goals.
• Field settings and students’ field experiences should be designed to combat deficit ideologies and to work toward closing the achievement gap.
• Field-based school leaders, instructors and teachers should be strategic partners, working collaboratively with university faculty to design and carry out rich, varied, and instructive field experiences.
• Field experiences prepare students to enact Temple’s standards and best practices for skillful teaching.
• Field experiences should support pre-service teachers in preparing for leadership roles in the future and thinking about teaching and learning in broader social and political contexts, including the community, society, and world.

Download/print in PDF format: Clinical-Practice-Guiding-Principles [pdf]