Focusing on the last stage of the Initial Teacher Education - the practicum experience/preservice program - this paper explores some of the most significant aspects of the initial teaching experience. Concentrating on preservice teacher’s perspectives, the paper encloses the main experiences and perceptions related to “becoming a teacher”, presenting some of the major gains and difficulties inherent to this process. The answers of a group of 229 student teachers from Minho University to the “Inventory of Experiences and Perceptions at Practicum” (Version for Teacher Education Students), applied at the beginning and at the end of the practicum, showed positive oscillations in the way student teachers live this stage of their professional development. Among the five dimensions explored by the Inventory (“Professional and Institutional Socialization”, “Social and Emotional Aspects”, “Learning and Professional Development”, “Support/Resources/Supervision” and “Vocational Aspects”), results suggest higher levels of satisfaction and major gains on “Institutional and Professional Socialization”, “Learning and Professional Development” and “Vocational Aspects” dimensions.
Practicum (preservice program); Young-adults development; University-work transition; Teachers’ education
