Universitetinės pedagoginės praktikos turinio ir struktūros projektavimo konstruktyvistinės įžvalgos
Constructivist Insights on Content and Structure Projection in University Students’ Teaching Practice

Summary/Abstract: Teaching practice is a significant stage in vocational training of educators. Its contents and structure are renewed with regard to the changing social- cultural context and the society’s needs. A new model of teaching practice is currently stepping into use on the national level while improving teacher training and initiating quality renewal in the scientific, academic, methodical and practical aspects. The essential dimensions of the teaching practice model are as follows: the duration, contents and structure of teaching practice. They are interrelated. In the qualitative respect, the interrelations between the dimensions of duration and contents are important. Two varieties are possible in forming duration and contents: either the contents of teaching practice are defined first and then the duration of their realisation is adjusted, or the duration is set first followed by projection of related contents. Currently, the second variety has been selected on the national level, i.e. the duration of teaching practice has been set first with respect to duration of teaching practice existing in other countries. In designing the contents of teaching practice, following the constructivism paradigm is purposeful, as its key concepts reflect the specific character of teaching practice to the best level. The basic constructivist paradigm is as follows: learning is related with the context and environment and is an active process of designing knowledge through cooperation. Meanwhile, teaching practice is an active process where learner experiences develop. A relevant choice of the vocational environment, as well as matching of different activities should be treated as a constructivist prerequisite for vocational competence development. Therefore, a harmony between diverse vocational activities at secondary school and the pedagogical competences developed should be ensured in formation of teaching practice contents. The constructivist viewpoint is important in modelling the development of an educator’s particular vocational competences. When performing teaching practice, students often have to overcome psychological-inertia-induced contradictions between previous experiences and their application in new activities. In order to reduce the said inertia, development of vocational competences has to be planned relevantly, and detailed transition from simpler vocational activities towards more complicated ones should be foreseen thus providing conditions for their consolidation and reflection. The aforementioned teacher training expectations may be achieved by means of a relevantly planned structure of teaching practice, i.e. regular teaching practice organised in stages.

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