The emerging professional:Teacher education students’ developing conceptions of the relationship between theory and practice before, during and

after a PGCE programme

Rupert Knight, University of DerbyR.Knight@Derby.ac.uk

TEAN Conference May 2012

Background and rationale

• The complex nature of teachers’ professional knowledge (e.g. Shulman, 1986, Hagger & McIntyre, 2006)

• The challenge of integrating theory and practice in learning to teach in two settings (Thomas, 2007, Korthagen, 2010)

• The changing face of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) (Department for Education, 2010)

The study

How do teacher education students’ conceptions of the relationship between theory and practice in their learning develop before, during and after a PGCE programme?

The focus is students’ own conceptions – a central case group of 5

Mainly qualitative data: not only what the changes / developments are but what triggers this and how it happens

A longitudinal study, beginning with preconceptions before course begins (Lortie, 1975, Hobson et al, 2008) and tracking this through to first employment

The trouble with ‘theory’…

• A contested term: the need for ‘verbal hygiene’? (Thomas, 2007)

theory practice

unitary

plural (adapted from Thomas, 2007)

The trouble with ‘theory’…

• A contested term: the need for ‘verbal hygiene’? (Thomas, 2007)

• A problematic concept in education: a ‘dirty word’? (McIntyre, 1993)

• The place of theory: theory into practice or practice into theory? (e.g. Korthagen, 2010)

• How and when to introduce the term: perpetuating the dichotomy vs. the ‘elephant in the room’. (Laursen, 2007)

Methodological tensions and dilemmas

• The dual role: separation of roles and data; ‘bureaucratic burden’ (BERA, 2011); benefits for the case group vs. the whole cohort

• Conducting an ongoing conversation: ongoing analysis (Flowers, 2008); prompts; varying the interaction

• Capturing development over time: changes to participants as a result of participation; different contexts for data collection

• The ‘unique case’: sampling; the ‘uniqueness fallacy’ (Pring, 2004); ‘fuzzy generalisations’ (Bassey, 1999)

The story so far…

What are we learning?

How (and where) do we learn?

How do we make links?

What are we learning?

A focus on ‘content’.

Teaching as delivering the curriculum

Teaching is primarily about engaging

learners.

Belief in a body of professional knowledge

(but what is this?)

A need for underlying principles that go

beyond practice, but T&P not discussed as

separate entities

A broader conception of

subject knowledge

A variety of pedagogies.

A developing understanding of children’s needs

Moving from theory as a set of facts to theory as

tentative and uncertain

Immediately before course By end of Placement 1 During Placement 2

A focus on age-appropriate pedagogies

Assessment for learning and

personalisation to the fore

Increased ownership of theory: adapt and theorise

How and where do we learn?

Learning in school centres on observing

and mimicry

University’s function is to give the

background and pointers to enable survival in school

Interpersonal issues barely mentioned /

anticipated

Learning through personal

experience.

Not just feedback but also joint

reflection

Relationship with the mentor (class teacher) is critical.

University is valued as a place to share and make sense of

practice

Immediately before course By end of Placement 1 During Placement 2

Feedback on own teaching, but

observation of others again prominent

The importance of teamwork: working

with a fellow professional

University learning has been useful to

look back on – makes sense after

practice

How do we make links and make sense?

Linking university and school seen as fairly

uncomplicated

Theory, including research findings and

M Level study could be useful for practice

Worries centre on workload and the

intensity of the course

Reflection has a central role: the

need for space and time to reflect

As well as offering some ideas for

practice, theory has an important role in

making sense of practice

retrospectively

Realisation of the complexity of the role.

Strong evidence of the emotional dimension

(confidence etc)

Immediately before course By end of Placement 1 During Placement 2

Overload at first but makes sense after Placement 1

Not a conscious influence, but

relevance seen. M Level study

especially useful – fosters a way of thinking critically

Understanding the role: feeling like a

teacher

Next steps in data collection

• June:participant feedback on findings so far: a new source of data

• June:whole cohort questionnaire

• September / October:final interview (retrospective, ‘graph’ as stimulus)

Possible questions arising at this stage

• Is there scope for students working in different ways with mentors or university staff in school in order to make practice-theory links in situ?

• Do we need to break up long blocks of teaching with opportunities to reflect and ‘theorise’ at university?

• Do we need to get preconceptions out in the open at the outset and work together to define the professional knowledge required?

• Do we make enough of students observing their mentors in a new way later on in the process?

Theory is…

Someone’s idea or perspective on an issue, sometimes based on

research or experience. It can be an aid or a guideline for practice.

Rather than being a solid fact, theory is open to interpretation and

is not always 100% concrete.

Composed from Focus Group responses Dec 2011

Bassey, M. (1999) Case study research in educational settings, Maidenhead: Open University Press

British Educational Research Association (2011) Ethical guidelines for educational research (2011), [internet] available at http://www.bera.ac.uk/files/2011/08/BERA-Ethical-Guidelines-2011.pdf (accessed 30.10.11)

DfE (2010) The importance of teaching: the schools white paper 2010 [internet] available at: www.education.gov.uk/b0068570/the-importance-of-teaching , accessed 23.12.11

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