Research Summary: Practicum in host educational contexts: school students’ perceptions in Ecuador

A research study published in Frontiers in Education investigated host school pupils' perceptions of student teachers during their practicum placements in Ecuador, addressing a critical gap where classroom pupils have historically been overlooked in teacher training evaluations. Employing a mobile application with age-tailored measurement scales, the study analyzed 2,453 evaluations from 1,140 students to assess the perceived support, influence, and reliability of pupil evaluations in host educational contexts.

Why it matters

Integrating the perspectives of direct service beneficiaries offers educational systems a rigorous mechanism to assess workforce training and practicum efficacy. Evaluating pupil sentiment helps bridge the gap between theoretical pedagogical instruction and practical classroom impact. Establishing whether young learners provide reliable evidence can fundamentally transform quality assurance and partnership frameworks between training institutions and host organizations.

Key insights

• Teacher practicum research traditionally emphasizes student teachers, mentors, and institutional partnerships, largely omitting the perspective of classroom pupils.
• The Ecuadorian study collected 2,453 valid evaluations from 1,140 host school pupils to examine their perceptions of student teachers' presence, support, and influence.
• Data collection leveraged a mobile application featuring pictographic scales for younger cohorts (early childhood to grade three) and verbal scales for older students (grade four onward).
• Surveys were administered by both student teachers and external project research staff to examine the credibility and utility of student-derived feedback.

Source

Frontiers in Education — https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1974190