Student teachers’ opportunities to learn while in field practice: A latent class analysis

The aim of the study was to identify the number of distinct classes of student teachers with different opportunities to learn through observation, own practice, and feedback, while in field practice in schools in the teacher education program in Denmark. Data from 579 students collected with the Field Practice Experience questionnaire was analysed using the Latent Gold software. A three-class model, which accounted for Local Indicator Dependence (LIND) between two of the three indicators as well as Differential Indicator Functioning (DINF) for two indicators relative to the level of field practice, fitted data the best. LIND and DINF are new terms with meaning similar to local dependence and differential item functioning in Rasch and IRT models. Students in the three classes varied substantially with regards to opportunities to learn through observation, own practice, and feedback, as well as the level of the field practice they had just completed.