A Narrative of a Student Teacher’s Internship Experience and Its Implications for Optimizing Practice Teaching Systems: A Case from Guangdong, China

Abstract

This study adopts a narrative inquiry approach to conduct an in-depth analysis of an 11-week internship journal maintained by a student teacher specializing in primary education. It traces her complete developmental trajectory from "romantic immersion" to "belief internalization." The findings reveal that the core growth of student teachers centers on latent dimensions such as emotional resilience, ethical judgment, and the formation of educational beliefs, with their professional learning being highly dependent on "critical incidents." However, the existing support system demonstrates a bias towards "prioritizing procedural compliance over experiential depth." In response, the study proposes a threefold pathway for optimization: in terms of objectives, a shift from a skills-based orientation to fostering "holistic development"; in the process, constructing a scaffolding dialogue community anchored in critical incident analysis; and regarding the improvement mechanism, establishing an evidence-based decision-making loop grounded in narrative evidence. This research provides granular, field-derived evidence and practical insights for reforming practice teaching systems within the context of teacher education accreditation.