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Contribution
This project explores an area where the contested qualities of educational research are strikingly evident. It deals with the 'theory practice divide' that is experienced by beginner teachers, 'systemic divisions' and those involved in early professional development of school teachers in faculties of education and local authorities and how they vary, not only from country to country but from region to region within countries. As a way of coping with these complexities we have tried to identify key threshold concepts which can offer a unified vision of what constitutes professional progress for all participants in the process of teacher formation and, most importantly, the beginning teachers themselves. This research project was funded by a major award from the Society for Educational Studies in 2005-2007 and carried out in the context of the Scottish education system where probationary teachers are guaranteed a year in one school with a structured and mentor supported induction programme. The project explores how student and probationer teachers construct professional knowledge and develop an understanding of their evolving professional identity and how the social contexts of three learning communities (mentors in faculties of education, school based mentors working for local authorities, and informal and formal support networks) contribute to the breakthroughs and transformations in their understandings of what it is to be an effective teacher. The project draws upon the theories of troublesome knowledge (Perkins, 1999), threshold concepts (Meyer and Land, 2003) and social capital (Field, 2003, Morrow, 1999) and applies these to the context of initial teacher education. Social capital theory is just beginning to be applied in school contexts but still lacks sufficient empirical basis for its heuristic potential. The research project sought to answer the following key questions exploring the intersecting dimensions of troublesome knowledge, threshold concepts and social capitalo What are the key networks of professional support that are available to students and probationer teachers, and by what means are these sustained? o At what points, and by whose induction, do beginning teachers adapt their academic 'subject discourse' to professional discourse, values and sense of identity? o What social value do beginning teachers and their mentors place on such transformative experiences? o What crucially transformative or integrative 'threshold points' do students and probationer teachers recognise and cross in teaching a range of subjects, within both primary and secondary sectors? o Could threshold concepts be used as a framework to re-configure initial teacher education provision? The methodology used was predominantly qualitative and allowed for triangulation by drawing upon data from multiple perspectives which included a cohort of 25 probationer teachers employed in 10 Scottish local authorities (ranging from rural to urban), 12 primary and secondary local authority mentors working within these authorities, and 8 experienced and beginning university mentors in a faculty of education.Data was collected and analysed from the following sourceso taped focus group interviews with 25 graduating students (June 2005) o on-line questionnaires administered half way through the probationary year (Jan 2006) o taped semi structured interviews of the probationer teachers (May 2006) o taped semi-structured interviews of local authority mentors (May 2006)o taped focus group interviews of the faculty mentors (June 2006). Follow up meetings with probationers and taped focus groups meetings with faculty mentors allowed the validity of the findings to be tested within the communities generating the initial data.Ten possible threshold concepts (Cove et. al., 2006) have been identified. These 'threshold concepts' are encountered and crossed individually but their fullest realisation often depends upon the insights and empathy of those who accompany students and probationary teachers on their professional journey. Therefore this paper would seek to explore whether these threshold concepts can assist in structuring dialogic opportunities for professional knowledge transformation within different systems of teacher education across Europe.Cove, M., J. McAdam and J. McGonigal. 2006. Threshold Concepts and Social Capital in the Mentoring of Beginning Teachers. Paper presented at Threshold Concepts within the Discipline: Glasgow Symposium, Aug-Sept 2006 at University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Field, J. (2003). Social Capital. London: Routledge. Meyer, J. and R. Land. (2003). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge: Linkages to ways of thinking and practising in the disciplines, in Rust, C. ed., Improving Student Learning: Improving Student Learning Theory and Practice - Ten Years On. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development. Morrow, V., (1999) Conceptualising social capital in relation to the well-being of children and young people: a critical review. The Sociological Review 744-765 Perkins, D. (1999) 'The many faces of constructivism', Educational Leadership 57 (3) British Journal of Educational Studies
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