Expectations and experiences of English teacher-trainees on their cooperating teachers during the teaching practice process

The cooperating teacher and teacher-trainee relationship is one of the most crucial sides of the teaching practice procedure. Additionally, expectations of teacher-trainees from their cooperating teacher may offer insightful interpretations. According to the Higher Education Council cooperating teachers have certain official duties and responsibilities in the EFL teacher practicum process. Accordingly, cooperating teachers have duties, such as making suggestions about TTs' activities; guide, monitor, evaluate activities, monitor teacher-trainees development and guide them accordingly. However, to what extent these responsibilities are facilitated by cooperating teacher is questionable. Furthermore, whether teacher-trainees expect official duties from their cooperating teachers can also be questioned. In this study, teacher-trainees expectations and experiences from the practicum process is worked upon. Specifically, teacher-trainees expectations from aspects such as general teaching competencies, 21st century skills, and mentoring skills are highlighted. Mixed research design is used to cover all aspects of teacher-trainees' expectations and experiences. Convenience sampling was used in the study and 58 teacher-trainee who studied at Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy university participated in the study. Through online surveys that were facilitated before and after the practicum, expectations and experiences of teacher-trainees was comprehended. Furthermore, ideal cooperating teacher for teacher-trainees was implied from interviews and open-ended questions that are added to online surveys. Collected quantitative data is analysed through descriptive analysis via Google Office Suit applications. Content analysis was used for qualitative data to highlight similarities and differences of teacher-trainees opinions. According to the findings, teacher-trainees expect feedback, sincerity, being energetic and polite to students, behaving TTs as a colleague, reflection, guidance in career decisions, etc. Although most of the acts and behaviours are not unrealistic, emotional supportive acts are not mentioned in policy documents. When expectations and experiences of teacher-trainees are analysed quantitatively it is clear that seeing TTs as future colleagues and accessibility expectations are met and introducing the school environment responsibility is less than expected. Other duties of cooperating teachers that include 21st century skills, general teaching competencies, and mentoring practices are slightly lower than expected. Suggestions like improving certificate criteria, the certification procedure, and educating cooperating teachers regarding their roles and duties have been suggested to enhance the relationship with their teacher-trainees