Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions About Field Experience

Most courses have different requirements (urban vs. suburban, early childhood vs. secondary, etc.), so you will likely have separate placements for each course.

Unfortunately, the options for field placements that are in the evening are extremely limited.  We have some after-school placements, but these are few and far between. Additionally, these sites usually allow you to complete 1-2 hours per week – not a feasible situation if you need to complete 50 hours of field experience.  You may have to rearrange your work schedule or take a few days off of work to complete your field hours.  Please contact your instructor if you foresee a problem in complete all the required hours for your course.

If you want to do your field hours in the district in which you work, you will need to complete the Employee Candidate Request Form.  Once the course instructor has approved your request, you can begin your field hours.  Many candidates use their planning period or lunch break to complete their field experience hours. Please note that you must get approval through your course instructor before you can begin your field experience hours.

Don’t delay, wait until a holiday break, or hesitate for any other reason before beginning your field work, because this might result in a loss of the placement. Your UA instructor will give you information about when to do your field hours. Teachers are usually very flexible in allowing you to work out a schedule.  Some teachers may also want to know exactly what you will be doing (observing, instructing, etc.) so be ready to discuss your course requirements.  Also, make sure to have a copy of your current (within 1 year) BCII and FBI check to supply to the field site, as this is a requirement for all field experience locations.

Some instructors require you to keep a log and if this is the case, your instructor should provide you with the log.  Always ask your instructor about what your requirements are for the field experience. The Field Experience Office does not have any information about individual course/instructor requirements and does not keep any field logs on hand.

Discuss the problem with your course instructor.  If the course instructor feels that the only viable option is to remove you from the placement, have your course instructor contact the Field Experience Office immediately to begin the process of obtaining a different placement.

By policy of the College of Education as well as requests from our P-12 partners, all field placements must be secured by the Field Experience Office. Any placements of 10 hours or more that have not been approved by the Field Experience Office or your course instructor are not considered official placements and will not count toward the course requirements.