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The purpose of this concept study was to propose a comprehensive model for assessing student teachers’ competences in teaching practice. The study answered the following question: How can student teachers be holistically assessed for teaching practice using a comprehensive model? Teaching practice is a crucial component of initial teacher education (ITE) preparation programmes. However, while teaching practice is one of the most widely studied areas in ITE, international studies indicate fragmented trajectories in the assessment of teaching practice. In addition, very few studies in South Africa have reflected on how assessment is done for teaching practice during ITE programmes. In most of these programmes, performance-based, observation-based, or on-demand assessments are given preference at the expense of others. Against this background, this study was designed to produce a comprehensive model for assessment of teaching practice during initial teacher preparation from the available literature. Epistemologically, the study was underpinned by social constructivism and theoretically supported by an integrated curriculum approach. The study followed a narrative literature review approach, focusing on studies that explored ways in which teaching practice is assessed in ITE. From this analysis, the study provided a holistic and comprehensive model for assessing student teachers’ professional competences during teaching practice.

In the study reported on in this article, we explored the preparation practices used to prepare student teachers to use English language skills in disciplinary content teaching. Despite studies which emphasise generic academic literacy where language is a subset of this field discourse, there is a dearth of research studies on the use of English in the specific context of disciplines in initial teacher education (ITE), which is addressed here. Guided by social constructivism, we collected data from 102 purposively selected student teachers from 3 universities. A qualitative multiple case study design was used as the methodological tool, and data from focus group discussions and document analysis were collected, documented and analysed. The results of the analysis show that the student teachers were prepared using structured and unstructured English Across the Curriculum (EAC) pedagogical activities. Structured activities are content oriented learning processes that are largely rigid and prescriptive, while unstructured activities are rooted in the academic values and identity that are held in the institution. Although drawn from a relatively small sample, these findings may assist ITE institutions to develop a curriculum that attends to multiple strategies for developing student teachers’ strategic competence in EAC.

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