Processive Changes in the School Practicum Experiences of Pre-service School Health Teachers: Focusing on the Development of Roles, Professionalism, and Teaching Efficacy

This study explored the experiences of pre-service school health teachers during their school practicum and how these experiences evolved over time.Through an inductive analysis, the practicum was identified as a processive learning experience where professionalism is formed through changes in participation, social interaction, and reflective reconstruction of meaning.Participants were 17 senior nursing students enrolled in a teacher education program, and data consisted of practicum journals, reflective reports, and seminar records collected after the placement.Using qualitative content analysis, the study structured the practicum experience into three developmental processes: (1) a transition from peripheral participation focused on observation to active participation involving direct performance and judgment (2) a reconstruction of professionalism from a knowledge-and-skill-centered view to one based on contextual judgment, relationships, and collaboration and (3) the formation of teaching efficacy and job proficiency, which stabilized through a cycle of anxiety, trial-and-error, and the accumulation of small successes.Based on these findings, the study proposes a practicum design principle that integrates 'gradual release of responsibility' and reflection-based feedback, thereby extending existing discussions on school health teacher training into a process-oriented conceptual framework explaining how professional socialization unfolds during the practicum.These results offer practical implications for improving school practicum operations and supervision systems to facilitate the professional socialization of pre-service school health teachers