Examination of the teaching practice program for pre-service primary school teachers in Germany

In this study, teaching practices in place for pre-service primary school teachers in Germany were examined. The Classroom Teaching Program carried out in Turkey is revised periodically. With the arrangements, it is aimed to solve the problems in practice. In Turkey, one of the greatest problems in teacher training is observed to be the theory-practice balance. The teacher training program, developed in 1998 as part of the "National Education Development Project" in cooperation with YÖK and the World Bank, is one of the first steps taken to solve this problem. This process started with the addition of School Experience I-II and Teaching Practice courses to the curriculum and continued with some changes, including 2006, 2009 and in the recent past in 2018. As a result of these changes, the School Experience course was completely removed from the curriculum. In the new Classroom Teaching Program, which was put into practice gradually in 2018-2019, the practices were arranged as Teaching Practice I-II. In contrast with all studies, it seems that the same problems have been existed long since. For training qualified teachers, it is indicated that teacher trainings systems should be developed by considering successful countries' practices. In this context, it is thought that the presentation of teaching practices in Germany that is successful in this regard will contribute to the field for future studies. This study is employing embedded case study methodology, one of the qualitative research method patterns. Within the scope of this study, in selecting the country and university to be studied the purposeful sampling method appropriate to the nature of the qualitative research was employed. The study group consists of pre-service teachers (n = 6) and teaching staff (n = 4) in Europa-Universität Flensburg, the only institution that trains primary school teachers in Schleswig-Holstein State of Germany. During the research process, the internship regulations on which the Teaching Practice Program for pre-service primary school teachers in Europa-Universität Flensburg is based, how the program was run, the program's executive stakeholders and the roles of these stakeholders were examined. The study was carried out for one year in total, including the 2017-2018 academic year, in Flensburg, Germany. Document collection and interview techniques were used in the data collection process. In the research, "Interview Guide Approach" from Patton's interview types was used. The data obtained from the documents were supported by the data obtained through interviews. Descriptive analysis was applied to the collected data; In this way, it was aimed to present the program to the reader in detail using frequent direct quotations. According to the study results; it was determined that 1) Due to the fact that Germany is a federal state, the provinces have an autonomous structure in the field of education; the structure of the primary school teacher training program in Schleswig-Holstein Province encompasses postgraduate education following graduate education and provides specialization in two subject matter areas; the Primary School Teacher Training Program in Europa-Universität Flensburg was founded on the theory-practice balance, 2) The field experiences carried out in Europa-Universität Flensburg spread from the first year of teacher training to the last year of training, 3) The teacher training semester is designed as a block related wit university courses, 4) The executive stakeholders of the Teaching Practice Program are composed of Europa-Universität Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, the Institute for Quality Development at Schools Schleswig-Holstein and practice schools, and also all internship procedures are handled by Zentrum für Lehrerinnen- und Lehrerbildung in Europa-Universität Flensburg, 5) The mentors working in the Teaching Practice Program are practice teachers working in practice schools, and also the mentors and pre-service teachers are in constant communication in practice schools, 6) The mentors are directly responsible for the development of academic and professional identity of pre-service teachers , 7) Pre-service teachers' lecture assessments are made as reflective assessment, 8) Pre-service teachers have to produce portfolio and scientific research in the process, 9) The Teaching Practice Program is evaluated as Pass/ Fail and 10) Pre-service teachers think gained teacher identity in this process. Under the headings of similar themes, the study findings are discussed integrally accompanied by literature. Finally, recommendations were made for future studies.