AcknowledgementWe wish to thank Prof S. Schulze for her mentorship on this research project and acknowledge the contribution of Prof I. Sonnekus. AbstractThis study focuses on the views of Unisa distance education (DE) students enrolled for the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) who had completed their teaching practice. The research questions were: What are student teachers' experiences of the way in which Unisa prepared them for teaching practice, the school context in which they practised teaching, the mentoring they received or did not receive and the way they were assessed? Socio-constructivist learning and situated learning theory were used as the theoretical framework. A maximum variation sampling technique was used to select 16 participants who had completed 10 weeks of teaching practice to participate in the study. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that, in preparing students for teaching practice, all role players need greater clarity on what is expected of students with regard to learning outcomes, assessment criteria and lesson plans. Students need to be placed at schools that will provide constructive learning environments, mentoring teachers should receive training and there should be greater clarity on the who, what and how of the assessment of students during teaching practice.

This research explored the possible advantages of a partnership, grounded in a learnership programme, between a school and an Open Distance Learning Institution to address the need for more and better qualified teachers. A headmaster at a primary school in Gauteng felt that this need for qualified teachers with the necessary teaching expertise could be addressed by implementing an apprenticeship or internship programme similar to that employed in the corporate world. A learnership programme was created under the supervision of the headmaster and with the approval of rest of the staff, whereby participating student teachers would enrol for a professional teaching degree at an Open Distance Learning Institution while completing the practical teaching component of the degree programme at the school. The findings of this research relied mainly on qualitative data obtained through interviews with the participating student teachers. These findings were supported by profiling the participating student teachers, thus, obtaining quantitative data. By exploring and comparing the student teachers' comments there emerged certain identifiable themes based on the theoretical framework of situated learning and workintegrated learning. The benefits for all the participants in this learnership programme were identified. Conclusions as well as recommendations were made in regard to the practical implications of a partnership-learnership programme between schools and an Open Distance Learning Institution in the future.

To meet the demands in an era of career-oriented education, the training of future teachers through Open Distance Learning must be scrutinised to see if it meets these demands. Especially the teaching practice aspect of training teachers through Open Distance Learning offers its own unique challenges to ensure that student teachers gain the best possible teaching experiences during this period. This is due to the Open Distance Learning environment where there is a distance in space and time between the lecturers responsible for the Teaching Practice modules and the student teachers doing their practical teaching at different schools. Teaching Practice modules are grounded in situated and experiential learning experiences. The theoretical frameworks for this study are experiential learning and situated learning theory. The data were collected from student teachers busy with their final year BEd (Intermediate Phase and Senior Phase) who had already completed their five weeks teaching practice for each of the four years. By taking note of the answers supplied by these student teachers, the lecturers endeavour to better understand the context of teaching practice within an Open Distance Learning context/environment. The data presented the following themes: students' experiences, the mentoring process and empowerment, and finally the feasibility of conducting teaching practice at a distance. This also assists the lecturers in attending to any problems or difficulties that the student teachers identified and enables them to concentrate and build upon the positive aspects regarding their Teaching Practice modules. The findings are important as a basis for further recommendations to improve student teachers' successes during their teaching practice period within the framework of an Open Distance Learning environment.

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