Title:
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Developing a pre-service teacher education programme in Egypt in the light of the British experience
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The main purpose of the thesis is to examine the process of the professional
preparation of students to become FL teachers in two contexts: Egypt and England. It
also aims to explore how far the ideas of the British model could help to make
development and improvement in the Egyptian ITE programme. The thesis addresses
key issues in the professional preparation of FL student teachers and looks beyond the
problems that they encounter in their field experience. It is in an attempt to explore the
context in which FL teachers are taught and are going to teach. Framed with the
qualitative perspective, it is a naturalistic inquiry with data collected through an indepth
study of the participants and their social contexts, i. e., schools and the teacher
education institutes they belong to. The study confirms the deficiencies and
weaknesses in the current teacher education programme in the Egyptian university
covered. Chief among these are: no sense of partnership between the university and the
training schools; no proper supervision; lack of resources; no adequate admission
criteria and lack of effective tools for assessment. Pertinent literature was surveyed and
major themes and issues emerging from the analysis of the data explore the interplay
between the student teachers' professional actions, epistemological positions and
cultural experiences. The study gives insights into the impact of culture on the
professional preparation of FL student teachers. The analysis suggests that there should
be a shift from the technical rationality paradigm towards a more reflective paradigm
in learning to teach a FL in the Egyptian university covered in this study. The study
concludes with a brief discussion of the findings and suggests some of the
developmental implications that might help to move things forward and bridge the gap
between the university, the schools and policy makers in the Egyptian context
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