Abstract
This paper reflects on the needs of early career, pre-service and newly qualified teachers (NQTs) in the English education system, specifically the contested place of what we term the academic dimension within their pre-service professional formation. This largely theoretical paper begins with a philosophical review of an established debate concerning the relationship between theory, research, and professional knowledge in teaching, arguing that the discussion is irreducibly normative. Hogan's notion of teaching as "heart work" is extended to include "head work" and the case made for teachers developing a conceptual map as part of their professional formation to guide them in making good judgements in classrooms. From this, a pedagogical problem follows, in developing new approaches to engage teachers with theory given this is relatively absent in the English context. Four themes are identified from a brief review of existing studies concerned with engaging teachers in the academic dimension of pre-service teacher education which we relate to illustrative comments we have gathered informally from our own students which suggest they may appreciate the value of critical reflection on practice promoted by universities more than some policy makers in this context recognise. We conclude by suggesting ways in which one innovation in ITE in England with which we have been involved, Philosophy for Teachers (P4T), integrates the academic dimension and developing practice which relate to the four themes found in the review of existing literature, while focused on educational theory specifically. P4T fosters, we maintain, characteristically humanistic and relational reflection that is otherwise under-represented in professional formation for pre-and in-service teachers in England.
Highlights
This paper reflects on the needs of early career, pre-service and newly qualified teachers (NQTs) in the English education system, the contested place of what we term the academic dimension within their preservice professional formation
We have found in England that pre-service teachers can be enabled to engage with philosophical ideas and to reflect on, potentially transform, their practice from the outset, despite it not having “settle[d]” ( John & Prior, 2003) so as to create the critically important double helix style relationship between educational theory and practice previously identified
In this paper we have considered the role of theory in teacher education in depth to justify our concern that it is largely absent from provision in England
Summary
Our particular concern has been to make philosophy of education accessible, given the popular perception of philosophy as a remote and abstracted ivory tower activity. We have found in England (see Orchard et al, 2016, 2020) that pre-service teachers can be enabled to engage with philosophical ideas and to reflect on, potentially transform, their practice from the outset, despite it not having “settle[d]” ( John & Prior, 2003) so as to create the critically important double helix style relationship between educational theory and practice previously identified. Philosophers of education trained in Philosophy for Children (P4C) argued convincingly that meaningful and productive reflection on ethical dilemmas might arise from exploring examples of incidents identified and experienced by teachers. Through exploring the concept and related practical concerns, clarificatory and specific further questions arose, using a P4C strategy known as concept stretching This helped participants to think about ways forward in other situations when reflection was needed to articulate reasons for actions. Theory is woven in from the outset, enabling participants to think deeply and practically when learning in this environment
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