Field Experience office staff members, Kelly Vaselenak and Dr. Pamela Adams, Faculty of Education Legacy archive (2009).

This article is part of a 2022 Faculty of Education Legacy digitization project and was first published in Legacy 2009.

The Field Experience office at the Faculty of Education is the nucleus of the practicum program, and a hub of activity throughout the scholastic year. The office arranges practicum placements for student teachers each semester, placing all Education 2500, PSI, PSII, and PSIII students in various schools around southern Alberta, across Canada, and beyond, and connects each one of them with a teacher mentor to guide them on their journey.

Dr. Pamela Adams, Assistant Dean Field Experiences, says that the practicum program is unique in its duration, design, and approach – which makes an Education degree from the University of Lethbridge one of the most highly respected designations of its kind.

“Our Education students go through approximately 27 weeks of professional training in the field, and work very closely with teachers throughout their practicum,” Adams says. “It’s a very well structured and closely monitored program that helps education students thoroughly develop their teaching skills before they become teachers themselves.”

In 2009, the Field Experience office will place approximately 1000 new student teachers in schools. Adams says that every year the feedback from teacher mentors, Superintendents, and school boards is increasingly positive.

“I’ve heard our student teachers described as “Monday morning ready”,” Adams says. “There’s no better feedback than that.”

This article first published in the Faculty of Education Legacy 2009.
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Legacy 2009:
• Faculty of Education LEGACY (2009):“It’s important to have someone with experience guide student teachers through unexpected situations. Teacher mentors are there where theory runs out,” Ken Rogers (BMus/BEd ’86)
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For more information please contact:

Darcy Tamayose
Communications Officer
Dean's Office • Faculty of Education
University of Lethbridge
darcy.tamayose@uleth.ca
Learn more about the Faculty of Education: Legacy Magazine (2008-2019)
Twitter: @ULethbridgeEdu Website: uleth.ca/education
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