English

Elizabeth Henning,Gadija Petker,Nadine Petersen

doi:10.15700/201503070014

Abstract

This article proposes that the ‘teaching/practice schools’ formally affiliated to initial teacher education programmes at universities, can be utilised more optimally as research sites by student teachers. The argument is put forward with reference to the role that such schools have played historically in teacher education in the United States (US), and more recently, in the successful Finnish teacher education system, in which research is highly valued as a requisite part of a teaching qualification. The authors propose that the single component of these schools, which has historically distinguished them from schools for work integrated learning (WIL), is that they are also research spaces and have retained some of the ‘lab’ character of earlier schools, such as the one established by John Dewey. In such schools, the authors argue, students learn to be reflective practitioners by positioning themselves as researchers, who reflect on practice in a research-rich environment. In a pilot study, the authors found that university and school personnel hold different views about research in the schools. The article recommends that careful consideration be given to the research function in these public schools as part of teacher training. Keywords : activity systems; Dewey; experimental schools; Finland; lab schools; practice schools; practitioner research;reflective practice; teacher education; teaching schools

Highlights

Research Skills for Reflective Practice In a search of the best ways in which to learn the practice of teaching, some teacher education systems, such as those in the US, Finland and Canada, and of late in the United Kingdom (UK) and Norway, have opted for close collaboration with a specific type of school, known variously as an “experimental school”, a “lab school”, a “professional development school”, a “practice school”, a university “training school” or a “teaching school”
Participants and Data Collection We conducted the inquiry as part of the preparation for a questionnaire that we developed to do a comparative study of student learning at teaching schools in Finland and in South Africa
The four respondents from Finland voiced their opinion strongly, saying that their education reform since the 1970s has been based on the principle that all teachers will have a research-oriented view of their practice, and need to learn the skills for it in the teaching schools

Summary

Introduction

Research Skills for Reflective Practice In a search of the best ways in which to learn the practice of teaching, some teacher education systems, such as those in the US, Finland and Canada, and of late in the United Kingdom (UK) and Norway, have opted for close collaboration with a specific type of school, known variously as an “experimental school”, a “lab school”, a “professional development school”, a “practice school”, a university “training school” or a “teaching school” Such schools have, historically, served as sites of practice learning for education students, and as research sites, where experimental classroom work has been documented, and where different aspects of school life and of child development have been studied at close quarters (Bonar, 1992; Harms & De Pencier, 1996; Mayhew & Edwards, 2007; Wilcox-Herzog & McClaren, 2012). There is currently a South African instance of how these schools might become sites for educational research, in the form of a programme of research on mathematical ( numerical) cognition of young children at a school in Soweto (Henning, 2013)

Methods

Results

Conclusion