Abstract
Abstract The article reports on the University of Johannesburg’s efforts at offering a practice-based teacher education program in partnership with a university-affiliated school (a ‘teaching school’) with a view to developing inquiry-oriented novice teachers. The research aimed at exploring what it takes to develop a ‘learningplace’ (Conway, Murphy and Rutherford 2014) conducive to student teachers’ development of professional practice knowledge and the role of mentoring in this regard. A two-phase process of generating data was used. In the first phase the published research on the university-affiliated school was analyzed, using qualitative content analysis to look for patterns across the historical unfolding of the findings of these papers. In phase two a questionnaire was administered involving final year student teachers in the teacher education program. The research shows that a teaching school, if integrated into the program design and delivery, provides a rich practice learning site for student teachers. In addition, mentoring in cognitive apprenticeship mode could indeed be a powerful contributor to student teachers’ professional development. However, the overall programme design is decisive. The preparation of teachers with strong professional practice knowledge requires attention to four interrelated aspects of program design, namely program identity, organizational structures, curriculum and teacher education pedagogy. Addressing these aspects in an integrated manner would be difficult without working closely with one or more partnership schools.
Highlights
Using qualitative content analysis (Merriam, 1998) we looked for patterns across the historical unfolding of the findings of these papers, reflecting the views of multiple role players; focusing on how the teaching school operates as a space for student teachers to learn in and from practice, and what their mentoring in this learning comprises
This poses some difficult questions: who decides what a model school environment entails and what the criteria for a model environment are? And, should the emphasis be on preparing student teachers for schools that are or schools that should be? Here it is important to mention that the University of Johannesburg (UJ) teaching school is an everyday public school and the teachers in the school are employees of the local department of education and not the university
Our research shows that a teacher educationfocused partnership with a school allows for intentional development of student teachers’ professional practice knowledge in ways that would be difficult to achieve without a close collaboration
Summary
AND CONTEXTIn many countries the notion that teacher education is too theoretical is widely purported to be the cause of new teachers not coping with the practical aspects of classroom teaching (Darling-Hammond and Baratz-Snowden, 2005; Darling-Hammond et al, 2005; Jones et al, 2016). Smagorinsky et al (2003, 1400) note the perceived disconnect between university-based teacher education and the complex world of classroom teaching as university teacher educators being “aloof within the ivory tower, espousing ideals and the principles that govern them,” while teachers engage in practice “in the teeming world of the classroom.” Some claim that the coursework in teacher education programs is not relevant to practice, or alternatively, that student teachers do not see the applicability of their coursework (Barrow, 1990; Kosnik and Beck, 2009).Developing Professional Practice KnowledgeA similar critique was leveled at South African teacher education. At a Teacher Development Summit in 2009, the prevailing view was that initial teacher education programs foreground theory and neglect the practice demands aligned to the needs of schools (Education Labour Relations Council, 2009). Stakeholders collaborated to develop the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development in South Africa 2011– 2025 [Department of Basic Education Department of Higher Education Training (DBE DHET), 2011]. The Framework responds to the criticism that teacher education should be more practice-focused and foresees stronger collaboration with schools in teacher education. This policy directive is in line with the practice/practicum turn internationally (Mattsson et al, 2012), which sees schools as sites for workplace learning featuring prominently in teacher education
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