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Session Information
10 SES 10 D, Reflections and Considerations from the Practice
Paper Session
Contribution
A recent European policy document indicates that Initial Teacher Education (ITE) is an area where the foundations are laid for teachers’ capacity to adapt to changing contexts and circumstances (European Commission, 2015). It suggests that processes such as action research can be used in ITE to develop collaboration, reflection and inquiry. It also suggests that lesson study can be used by experienced teachers as part of their Continuing Professional Development (CPD). The use of action research as a development strategy for pre-service teachers is not a new one. Strategies have also been developed to further prompt pre-service teachers to reflect critically on their “personal theories” (Bullough and Gitlin, 1995) and to think about “who they are as teachers and students” (Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 1999, 283). This involves refining critical skills through systematic, autonomous and collaborative engagement in teacher led research. Toom et al (2010, 333) stress the need for “reflective teachers who are capable of using research in their teaching … able to base their pedagogical decision-making on a theoretical foundation.”
This paper describes the results of pre-service teachers’ research into their pedagogic practices through engagement in action research and lesson study projects. These activities are required components of a two-year postgraduate initial teacher education programme in a university in Ireland. In year 1, each pre-service teacher is tasked to individually identify a pedagogical dilemma, to undertake detailed Reconnaissance from which they plan and implement a course of action. The process and significant outcomes are presented in a research report which is formally assessed and accredited. In addition to the report, the pre-service teachers are asked to address the following three questions:
- What is your self-identified pedagogical problem?
- What assumptions about teaching and learning were challenged during your engagement with this project?
- What were the pedagogic benefits and challenges for you in conducting this research?
In year 2, the same pre-service teachers undertake Lesson Study in self-selected, cross-curricular groups. They are tasked to work together to identify an overarching, shared pedagogic goal common to all. Each group sets about researching, planning, teaching and critiquing (in evidenced ways) a number of study lessons (iteratively linked) based on the agreed pedagogic dilemma. The process and significant outcomes are presented in a public poster event which charts key points of learning. Posters are neither formally assessed nor accredited.
The frame for this research combines Schon’s (1983:40) concept of problem setting as “a process in which, interactively, we name the things to which we will attend and frame the context in which we will attend to them” with Loughran’s (2002:35) view that “a problem is unlikely to be acted on if it is not viewed as a problem” and Brookfield’s (1995) assertion that we should engage in hunting the assumptions that underpin our practice.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Brookfield, S. D. (1995). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Bullough, R. V., & Gitlin, A. D. (1995). Becoming a student of teaching: Methodologies for exploring self and school context. New Yprk: Garland Pub. Cochran-Smith, M & Lytle, S. (1999). Relationships of Knowledge and Practice: Teacher Learning in Communities Review of Research in Education, 24: 249-305 European Commission. ET2020 Working Group on Schools Policy. (2015). Shaping career-long perspectives on teaching: a guide on policies to improve initial teacher education. Loughran, J.J. (2002). Effective Reflective Practice : In Search of Meaning in Learning about Teaching Journal of Teacher Education 53: 33-43 Schön, D, (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in action London: Temple Smith. Toom, A., Kynäslahti, H., Krokfors, L., Jyrhämä, R., Byman, R., Stenberg, K., Maaranen, K. & Kansanen, P. (2010). Experiences of a Research‐based Approach to Teacher Education: suggestions for future policies. European Journal of Education, 45(2), 331-344.
Programme by Network 2019
00. Central Events (Keynotes, EERA-Panel, EERJ Round Table, Invited Sessions)
Network 1. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations
Network 2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Network 3. Curriculum Innovation
Network 4. Inclusive Education
Network 5. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Network 6. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures
Network 7. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Network 8. Research on Health Education
Network 9. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement
Network 10. Teacher Education Research
Network 11. Educational Effectiveness and Quality Assurance
Network 12. LISnet - Library and Information Science Network
Network 13. Philosophy of Education
Network 14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Network 15. Research Partnerships in Education
Network 16. ICT in Education and Training
Network 17. Histories of Education
Network 18. Research in Sport Pedagogy
Network 19. Ethnography
Network 20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Network 22. Research in Higher Education
Network 23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Network 24. Mathematics Education Research
Network 25. Research on Children's Rights in Education
Network 26. Educational Leadership
Network 27. Didactics – Learning and Teaching
Network 28. Sociologies of Education
Network 29. Reserach on Arts Education
Network 30. Research on Environmental und Sustainability Education
Network 31. Research on Language and Education (LEd)
Network 32. Organizational Education
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