Lesson planning: An induction into a community of practice

This paper draws on research that we have been conducting into the ways in which student teachers from contrasting disciplinary areas (Science and English) transform their academic knowledge into 'pedagogical content knowledge' (Schulman, 1986) by lesson planning. We explore the role of lesson planning as a vehicle for student teachers to participate in a professional discourse about teaching and learning, enabling them to learn to think like teachers. We conceive of lesson planning as a mediating text between the culture of the university and the culture of the classroom and the school, whereby neophytes are able to make their emergent pedagogical reasoning public and engage in a professional dialogue with others.