The Ten-Week Certification Practicum is the heart of the UBC BEd experience. During this challenging experience, teacher candidates take what they have learned and apply it in the classroom. The extended practicum provides teacher candidates with opportunities to demonstrate that they are capable of assuming the responsibilities of a beginning teacher.

The goals of the extended practicum are as follows:

• Teacher candidates attend a practicum of sufficient duration to demonstrate that they can independently plan, implement, and evaluate instruction in the manner expected of a beginning teacher.
• Immersion into teaching is gradual, permitting teacher candidates to assume increasing responsibility as they demonstrate proficiency.
• Within the framework of an extended practicum, teacher candidates participate in a variety of teaching and observational experiences.
• Teacher candidates are involved in the assessment of their own teaching practice.
• The practicum provides opportunities for teacher candidates to systematically and analytically reflect upon teaching in a professional and educational community. This includes regular meetings with school advisors concerning the teacher candidate’s teaching performance.
• Because of the pivotal part they play in the preparation of teacher candidates for the profession, faculty and school advisors continually reflect on the nature of their own responsibilities.

Prior to arriving at the school for the extended practicum, teacher candidates are expected to have unit plans completed for the initial subjects/topics they will be teaching. The school advisor(s) should arrange with the teacher candidate ahead of time when they expect to see these units, as well as subsequent units to be taught during the extended practicum.