Problems of pre-service teachers are a result of several factors that include inexperience in authentic settings, low self-efficacy, and a lack of support, collaboration or professional development opportunities.
Studies have shown that the strongest predictors of teaching commitment are general and personal efficacy, or the degree to which teachers believe they can affect student learning. Teachers who have higher personal and general efficacy tended to maintain a longer commitment to teaching. While personal efficacy cannot necessarily be taught, colleges, universities and school systems can provide opportunities for pre-service teachers to learn and make mistakes in a structured environment while receiving quality feedback.
Many of the problems of pre-service teachers can be traced back to pre-service teacher education. Most colleges and universities have adopted a model for teacher preparation that requires at least one semester spent in an actual classroom, but this one semester may not be enough time to build adequate skills and self-efficacy.
Classroom, or clinical, experience provides teachers with the opportunity to hone and develop their craft, but many pre-service teachers are not able to effectively transfer the skills learned during their clinical experience. As a result, some schools have adopted other models that either lengthen this time in the classroom, or supplements this time with practice outside the classroom.
The classroom is a place of adaption. Teachers need to be able to adapt their lesson plans, classroom management techniques, and time management. Teaching adaption requires authentic practice in the classroom along with extensive and professional feedback. Through repetitive practice, pre-service teachers can work to gain self-efficacy by successfully adapting to situations and receiving feedback for self-reflection.
The simSchool, founded by Dr. David Gibson, is a simulated classroom that provides both authentic experience and practice outside of an actual classroom. The idea is similar to aviation simulations where pilots are trained using simulated aircrafts and situations a pilot may encounter, before they actually encounter these situations. While this model is effective in building self-efficacy, a hybrid model using both simulated and real classroom experience may be the answer.