Abstract
This study aimed to describe the lived experiences of fourth-year teacher education students in a local college regarding their preparedness for the licensure examination for teachers. This study engaged mixed method design, utilizing convergent parallel approach. The Participants of the study were fourth-year students enrolled in Competency Skills Appraisal 1. There were 89 students who were randomly selected for the quantitative and 14 for the qualitative: 7 for in-depth interview and 7 for focus group discussion which were purposively selected. The researcher conducted thematic analysis to examine the qualitative data. This involved recording participants’ responses, organizing them, and reducing them into themes through coding and refining the codes during qualitative data analysis. In the quantitative phase, specific tools were applied, including the mean to determine the average participants' responses and the standard deviation to measure the variation in survey answers. Based on the result of the study, it was determined that the level of preparedness of fourth-year teacher education students for the licensure examination for teachers is very high. Additionally, the qualitative phase of the study uncovered the lived experiences and coping strategies of fourth-year teacher education students regarding their preparedness for the licensure examination for teachers. Based on participants’ responses, 8 essential themes emerged. The results of the qualitative and quantitative research converge when they are corroborated.
