Abstract:
School based practitioners are assumed to learn from their interactions and relationships with teacher educators. However, the existence of a reciprocal learning relationship where teacher educators learn from practitioners has received little attention in the literature. The intention of this research is to make explicit this less commonly acknowledged direction of the learning relationship between the two.
This paper reports findings from an ARC funded research project investigating teacher educators' construction of knowledge for teacher education and focuses on 'what' teacher educators learn in their relationship with school-based practitioners. This research continues a self-reflective study which addressed issues relating to professional partnerships in teacher education, and was premised on parity of esteem between school based practitioners and university based teacher educators.
Findings on what university based teacher educators say they learn from school based practitioners suggest there are two main foci to this learning: first, teacher educators appear to learn directly from school based practitioners' classroom practice and the realities of their work outside the classroom. Second, they also learn from being in the school context and seeing the impact of system policies on the work of teachers, in particular changes in curriculum, professional practices and school policy. In addition, the learning of both teacher educators and practitioners is mediated by working with student teachers in the school context. These findings are presented within the context of a developing understanding of the work of teacher educators, the nature of the teacher educators' knowledge and the role of professional practice in its construction. The question of the real value of this knowledge to teacher educators is also considered.
This paper reports findings from an ARC funded research project investigating teacher educators' construction of knowledge for teacher education and focuses on 'what' teacher educators learn in their relationship with school-based practitioners. This research continues a self-reflective study which addressed issues relating to professional partnerships in teacher education, and was premised on parity of esteem between school based practitioners and university based teacher educators.
Findings on what university based teacher educators say they learn from school based practitioners suggest there are two main foci to this learning: first, teacher educators appear to learn directly from school based practitioners' classroom practice and the realities of their work outside the classroom. Second, they also learn from being in the school context and seeing the impact of system policies on the work of teachers, in particular changes in curriculum, professional practices and school policy. In addition, the learning of both teacher educators and practitioners is mediated by working with student teachers in the school context. These findings are presented within the context of a developing understanding of the work of teacher educators, the nature of the teacher educators' knowledge and the role of professional practice in its construction. The question of the real value of this knowledge to teacher educators is also considered.