Reframing the Problematic: From Translation to the Interaction of Theory to Practice in Teacher Education

Abstract

The translation of theory to practice is a long-standing ‘wicked’ problem in initial teacher education. Recent policy debates on this problem have focused on superficial issues like the location of the program in either school or universities. These debates have overlooked the critical issue of the mechanisms within these programs that promote or hinder the translation of theory to practice for their students. The authors believe that the critical policy debate establishes a false binary that is not helpful to the practice of teacher education. This book has presented an empirically rigorous and theoretically robust discussion about what enhances the translation of theory to practice in initial teacher education regardless of location. This discussion has highlighted the important of the fundamental relationship between effective translation and implementation science. This relationship is underpinned by a developmental model of learning characterised by reciprocity, collaboration and shared goals between all the stakeholders in initial teacher education. Translation is also enhanced through models of teacher education that grant equal status to practice and theory. This equality negates the need for translation as the program logic and design embodies the abductive reasoning required when learning how to teach.