The development of a valid and reliable instrument and related procedures for the assessment of practice teaching is often a protracted exercise requiring inputs from various stakeholders. This paper discusses the challenges of developing such an instrument by the Joint Board of Teacher Education (JBTE) of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus, to replace an existing instrument which had been in use for several years, as part of the effort to reshape the assessment of the practicum which forms an important part of the initial teacher training programmes of the JBTE. 

It has been accepted practice in the University of the West Indies School of Education, and in Ministries of Education and teachers' colleges in the Eastern Caribbean that a significant criterion for recognition and certification as a trained teacher is the student teacher's performance in the final teaching-practice exercise during the final term of a two-year training course.

The external assessment of Year Three Practicum is an important component of the assessment process to certify teachers completing the teacher education programme in Jamaica. Students are required to complete nine credit hours* (16 weeks) of practicum, distributed over the three years of intramural study at the teacher education institution. The period of practice in the first and second years is assessed internally, with the third year externally examined (Joint Board of Teacher Education 2003).