Approaches to supervision of student teachers in one UAE teacher education program

•Most student teachers preferred the collaborative approach to supervision.•Cooperating teachers were more collaborative than university supervisors.•University supervisors had negative views about student teachers' abilities.•Supervisors should use a developmental approach to supervision.•The traditional triad structure of the practicum needs to be reconsidered.

This study investigated approaches to supervision of student teachers in one UAE teacher education program. Student teachers completed a researcher-developed supervisory inventory and responded to a questionnaire of closed- and open-ended questions. Cooperating teachers completed a questionnaire and university supervisors were interviewed. The study found that student teachers preferred the collaborative approach to supervision. The collaborative approach was used by cooperating teachers, but the directive approach was used by university supervisors. Moreover, unlike cooperating teachers, university supervisors had negative views about student teachers' levels of commitment and abstraction.