Facilitating Preactive Decisionmaking for Preservice Teachers

The way teachers plan educational activities and materials has received a considerable amount of attention in the past few years (Zahorik, 1975; Clark and Yinger, 1979; Yinger, 1980; Marland and Caldwell, 1981; Kerr 1981). Some attempt has also been made to investigate the planning processes used by preservice teachers (Copenhaver, Mclntyre and Norris, 1981; Court, 1982). This would seem to represent an important direction for research, especially in view of the results of a recent Western Australian study (Deschamp and Tripp, 1980). This study indicated that preservice students perceived the need for more time to be devoted to such things as programme and lesson planning, planning in groups and being exposed to exemplars of teachers’ plans. Such needs, coupled with accumulating research evidence, represent an important area of concern for teacher educators. In this paper, I would like to suggest some ways in which these concerns might be met.