Abstract
This study investigates how student interns perceive the implementation of Teaching Assistantships in Indonesian vocational high schools, focusing on the key drivers, challenges, and support mechanisms essential to program success. Grounded in Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory and Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory, this qualitative case study employed maximum-variation sampling across 27 undergraduate interns from four commercial education programs during the 2025/2026 academic year. Data gathered through open-ended reflections and semi-structured interviews were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, supplemented by Python-assisted NLP workflow audit procedures. The findings reveal that successful implementation extends beyond pre-departure university preparation. Although campus coursework establishes an essential pedagogical foundation, authentic school environments introduce unpredictable classroom complexities, emotional pressures, and administrative transition friction that expose the limits of purely theoretical knowledge. To bridge this gap, student adaptation relies heavily on multidimensional support: granular pedagogical feedback from mentors, administrative role clarity, and psychological encouragement from both peers and host school staff. Ultimately, this study conceptualizes Teaching Assistantships as a process of supported adaptive professional learning. Consequently, teacher education programs must shift from viewing field placements as static applications of university coursework toward offering dynamic, experience-sensitive scaffolding that enables preservice teachers to translate field challenges into enacted professional readiness.