Field Experience I FAQ

A: Field Experience I placement schools are generally confirmed and assigned in mid to late September. Field Experience works to confirm Field Experience I host schools throughout the Spring and Fall.

A: Yes, commute times are considered!

Community-Based Placements: 

• Every effort is made to place student teachers within a reasonable traveling distance from their place of residence, however, based on available school sites, this cannot be guaranteed.
• Out of Area Field Experience placements are made with the understanding you have access to a vehicle. We cannot make accommodations for transit in areas outside of Calgary - please ensure you are able to get to the places requested. 
• Placements may have a travel requirement of up to 90 minutes from your home. Our priority is to give you the best placement possible with a focus on partner teacher availability and school willingness to host pre-service teachers.

On-Campus Students / Calgary & Area placements: 

• For Field Experience I, we will do our best to resolve excessive commute times but cannot guarantee your field placement will be changed. Remember, your 430 section will prioritize your Field Experience placement in a specific area or quadrant in Calgary and Area. Please know that placement sites are limited, and we appreciate your flexibility. If your commute time is longer than 90 minutes, we will do our best to resolve, however we are limited to schools within your EDUC 430 section, the cohort model, and host school cohort sizes. The commute time limitation is applied to both public transit and vehicle times, one-way. 

• Commute times are considered for Field Experience II and III/IV. 

A: Yes, Police Information Checks are required of all Bachelor of Education students heading into a field experience semester.

A: October 10-20, 2023

Length of placement: 2 weeks

Time Commitment: Full-time, Monday-Friday participation is required. 

A: No! Your Field Experience I placement will be secured by the UPE Field Experience Team.  Under no circumstances should you recruit or pre-arrange your placement with a school or school board.

A: No, only Field I is informed by your EDUC 430 registration section. Field Experience II, III and IV placements will be informed by the 'Field Experience Placement Information Form'.

A: Your seminars will be scheduled during your time at the Practicum School during Field Experience. Calgary and Area seminars are in your placement school; Community-Based seminars are held via Zoom. 

A: No, final placement decisions are made in the Undergraduate Programs in Education office and are contingent on placement availability. Preferred school divisions are not guaranteed. The faculty will assign student teachers to specific schools and supervisors/ instructors for the field experiences. 

Please remember:

• On-Campus students placements in Field Experience I are informed by EDUC 430 section registration. 
• Community-based students placements in Field Experience are informed by application address and placement information forms.  

A: Yes! Please anticipate completing your Field Experience in the classroom, in-person. Field Experience practicums are in-person, as that is what teachers will be doing. We are emulating the realities of K-12 education in our placements.

A: Accommodation requests are best addressed by the Directors of Field Experience.

If you are requesting accommodations for Field Experience, we recommend you contact the Directors of Field Experience directly, in addition to the University of Calgary Student Accessibility Services office, as appropriate.