Adapting Student Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison of Perspectives and Experiences

Abstract Elementary student teachers in both a yearlong and one-semester student teaching design were impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This phenomenon forced the closure of placement schools and their universities, and drastically changed the roles and responsibilities of student teachers. This qualitative phenomenology study sought to capture and describe the lived experiences through two different student teaching designs and their student teaching coordinators. This manuscript reports findings from analysis of student teacher and student teaching coordinator surveys that describe both beneficial and disappointing preparation experiences, as they navigated the ever-changing educational environment of student teaching during the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The lived experiences of these student teachers captured how varying educational learning and teaching experiences were impacted due to the pandemic. Throughout these lived experiences, student teaching coordinators of both student teaching designs became an integral part of the communication chain for student teachers.