office of field experiences & internship

Attendance

Attendance is expected on all designated field experience days.   Unexcused absences may result in removal from field experiences and/or a grade of “U” or “F”. 

Absences from Field Experiences Prior to Internship

• Candidates must contact the front desk of school sites when an emergency arises that causes the student to be unable to attend the scheduled visit.
• Candidates must also ask for the teacher’s voice mail to leave the message for the teacher.
• Candidates must contact the course instructor/university supervisor of the absence within eight hours of the scheduled visit.
• Candidates must arrange for a make-up with the course instructor/university supervisor in conjunction with the classroom teacher, at the classroom teacher’s convenience.

Appearance: Professional Decorum

• Candidates should check school district and individual school policies, regarding teacher dress code, prior to beginning field experience.
• Candidates should dress as professional visitors and teachers-in-training on all field experience days.  Candidates should never wear blue jeans, T-shirts, revealing clothing, clothes that reveal tattoos, or jewelry for piercings (except earrings).
• If more than one teacher candidate is in a classroom, candidates should avoid interacting/talking among themselves.  Interacting/talking among candidates is distracting to students and teachers.
• Candidates should sit in separate areas of the classroom.  Sitting apart from other field experience students will enable separate observations and personal reflections. 
• Candidates should wait to share comments after leaving a school site.
• Candidates should use soft voices and act in a distinguished manner in hallways

Communication Protocol

The professional chain of command protocol applies to all communication related to field experiences.

Communicate issues of concern or problems immediately to the appropriate person. 

• Interns should direct questions and concerns to the Cooperating Teacher and/or the University Supervisor. 
• Cooperating Teachers should address questions to the University Supervisor.
• Cooperating Teachers should address concerns to the University Supervisor after discussing the issue with the intern.
• University Supervisors should address concerns to the Program Chairperson or the Field Placement Director.

In all cases, if the immediate step has been exhausted without satisfactory results, or if the problem is egregious, the Program Chairperson should be advised and/or consulted immediately.

For the intern or cooperating teachers to circumvent the communication chain of command and discuss concerns or problems with other college students/interns, other teachers at the school, or other college faculty or staff is inappropriate.  For cooperating teachers to keep their school principals (or their designee) apprised of field experience issues is understood.

Transportation and Safety

Providing his or her own transportation to and from field experiences is the responsibility of the intern/ CCU student.  The student is also responsible for carrying all automobile, health, and personal injury insurance to cover any personal needs or liabilities related to participation in the field experiences.  Coastal Carolina University and the Spadoni College of Education do not assume any responsibility or liability for expenses related to participation in field experiences.

On occasion, CCU students may participate in short group field experiences where the University provides transportation.  On these occasions, students are required to use the provided transportation unless they notify, in advance, the university faculty of an alternate transportation form for that specific field experience.

Interns should contact the Director of Field Placement if there is a problem with transportation.

Punctuality

It is professionally responsible to arrive to class and field experiences prior to the announced start time.  Punctuality, for all field experiences, is expected from all CCU students.  Repeated tardiness will result in a grade of “U” or “F” and/or removal from the field experience.

Ethics for Educators

Candidates are expected to demonstrate full adherence to the letter and the spirit of all policies and expectations of the Coastal Carolina University Catalog, South Carolina Department of Education Standards for Professional Educators, and local school district policies’ manual.

Legal and Confidentiality Issues

The records, classroom interactions, personal and family information, behaviors, and performance of individual public school students are considered confidential and are protected against disclosure and/or discussion with anyone except the student, the student’s parents or legal guardians, and the teachers and staff directly engaged in the instruction and supervision of the student.  In all cases, teacher education students and interns must observe this confidentially protocol.  The demonstration of “preserving confidentiality of student/school information” is one of the nine dispositions for the Spadoni College of Education.  In cases where there is doubt concerning the confidentiality of an issue, candidates should defer to the judgment of someone in a position of authority and always err on the side of caution and silence.

Termination of Field Experiences/Internships

The responsibility for terminating a candidate’s participation in a field experience lies solely with the Dean of Education upon consultation with the program chair, Director of Field Placement, and the public school designee.