Students studying education at Cabrini University were assigned field placements this past week and some are upset with where they are placed and how far they are traveling. Placements are as far as Chester, Pennsylvania, and others are as close as Radnor, Pennsylvania, and students are blaming the field placement adviser.
Over the course of the next two years, education majors looking to student teach must complete a certain number of hours in the “field,” that way they have experience and know what to expect if they choose to student teach.
Every semester, each student will receive a new field placement at a different school. However, some students are not confident for the years to come regarding placements.
“I feel like this year, I don’t want to say, they are not prepared,” sophomore education major Anthony Frasca said. “The people running the education department, I feel like they are still learning.”
Frasca is one of the many education students traveling at least 40 minutes away from Cabrini every week. The school he will be attending for fieldwork is in Chester, Pennsylvania at the Chester Community Charter School, 20 miles away from Cabrini University, meaning he must be on the road by 7:00 a.m. in order to be at school by 8:00 a.m.
“I wish it was a little closer,” Frasca said. “I wish that we had a say on our fields a bit, instead of placing us wherever. I wish they asked us how far the students are willing to travel.”
Nicole Bydalek, sophomore education major, works with 2nd graders at a school in Norristown. The commute doesn’t bother her, it’s where she was placed for field.
“The location is not the best,” Bydalek said. “Just because it’s in Norristown, but it’s decent. I could have more stress like the students who have to go to Philadelphia.”
The new field adviser, Donald DiPaulo, is aware of these inconvenient placements, but it is all with good purpose. Diversity, over the course of the two years of field placements, will give each student a sense as to where they would like to student teach in the years to come.
“We try to give as diverse of a setting as possible so that when they start to student teach, they know what they want to do,” DiPaulo said. “We need to give them experience in a public school, we need to give them experience in a suburban and urban setting, we need to give them experience with charter or religious school, so the goal over the four courses is to provide diversity so that they can choose where they want to student teach.”
In a perfect world, all field placements would be within 10 to 15 minutes from the university, but in order to allow for diversity, DiPaulo needed to expand and look beyond this suburban area.
“In an effort to give those diverse experiences, we have to cast a wide net,” DiPaulo said. “I try to accommodate every single request I get and I have been able to do that. Out of the 105 students, the vast majority are well placed in a good spot.”
Amanda Lynn, a junior studying Pre-K through 4th special education, has a year off from field because of her work during the summer; she taught classes that fulfilled her requirements for field. For her sophomore year, Lynn’s field placement was at Ithan Elementary school in the Radnor School District; a 15-minute commute and was rarely stuck in traffic.
“Overall, I was very impressed,” Lynn said. “When I went to Ithan, I loved my field placement. I just really liked the fact that my teacher was very helpful, so I got to see from that perspective (2nd graders) and what that was like.”
All students were informed in a meeting about the field assignments at the end of last semester and why there will be long commutes for some assignments. However, not many students attended the two meeting dates.
Even though students are upset about their placements, they will not always have a far commute each semester. DiPaulo is aware of how far he is sending his students and looks to work with them in the future and is happy with how the first week of field played out.
“Even when students come to me and say ‘this is kind of far’ I say ‘I know, I promise you that next semester I will put you in Radnor or close by within 5 or 7 minutes,’” DiPaulo said.
All field placements have been assigned and students are working in the field once a week.
