Jane McNicholl

Investigating the Relationship between Subject Content Knowledge and Pedagogical Practice through the Analysis of Classroom Discourse

A previous study highlighted the perception among secondary science teachers that they faced considerable challenges to their pedagogical practice when teaching unfamiliar areas of the curriculum; for example, when teaching out of subject specialism. One of the major challenges cited by the teachers was being able to give appropriate and effective science teaching explanations in the classroom. Since talking in order to explain science is at the centre of what science teachers do, this concern is a significant one for teacher educators. This article considers some of the methodological issues about how to investigate the relationship between teachers’ subject content knowledge and their pedagogical practice. The research outlined focuses on a single science teacher’s practice in giving science teaching explanations when teaching in and out of subject specialism. Although the findings from a single case are of limited value in terms of generalisability, this study adds to the discussion about future research into the relationship between teachers’ professional knowledge bases and their pedagogical practices.

Science teachers teaching outside of subject specialism: challenges, strategies adopted and implications for initial teacher education

This article reports a research study that investigated, through semi‐structured interviews, the perceptions of a range of 18 science teachers, including trainee teachers, of teaching outside their main subject specialism. In particular, the aim was to understand the issues and challenges science teachers face in teaching outside their subject specialism, to investigate the expertise experienced teachers, working in their school and department contexts, bring to meet these challenges and to understand in what ways and to what extent the trainees’ perceptions of these challenges are similar and/or different to those of experienced teachers. Although the findings indicate that the challenges the respondents faced were mostly consistent with previous research, this study demonstrates that such perceptions were very similar regardless of the level of teacher experience. The findings also revealed interesting insights into the strategies the respondents used to overcome the challenges described and highlighted the role of the workplace in teachers’ learning how to teach outside their subject specialism, an area where there has been limited research conducted. The article finally considers the implications of the findings for science teacher education.

Mentor skills in a new context: working with trainee teachers to develop the use of information and communications technology in their subject teaching

This article reports on the findings of a study looking at the role of the school‐based mentor in developing the competence of trainee teachers in relation to the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in the classroom. One key factor in determining the contribution of the mentor appears to be the level of confidence in his/her ability to use ICT, both personally and in the classroom, which in turn has an effect on both the nature and range of the support given to the trainee teacher. Questionnaire and interview data indicated that many mentors feel that their ICT expertise is often not as great as that of the trainee (and therefore feel less confident and/or willing to offer guidance in this area) and that they are unable to offer support to trainees in relation to contexts that involve the use of ICT in the classroom. The authors would suggest that traditional approaches to mentoring might need to be reviewed in the light of this and they would argue that there could be benefits from adopting more innovative ways of working whereby the trainee’s ICT knowledge and skills might be used to full effect when combined with the mentor’s understanding of classroom teaching and learning. Such a model has implications for the providers of initial teacher training and these are discussed.

Modular mayhem? A case study of the development of the A‐level science curriculum in England

This article investigates the costs and benefits of the increased use of modular or unitized qualification designs through a case study of the GCE A‐level science curriculum in England. Following a brief review of the development of modular A‐levels, the various proposed advantages of modularity—short‐term goals and regular feedback, flexibility in curriculum design, and improved progression possibilities—are counterpoised by arguments about the disadvantages—such as fragmentation of knowledge and more instrumental approaches to assessment and learning. The article argues that on balance the costs of the move to modularization in terms of the impact on teachers’ capacities to help young people understand science outweigh the perceived benefits of improved examination success rates. Given this balance we account for the growing popularity of modular approaches using a path dependency model and increasing returns process which combine features of the English educational landscape, in particular narrow accountability systems, to the increasing desirability of modular approaches to curriculum design for learners, teachers and educational organizations.

A difficult realisation: the proletarianisation of higher education-based teacher educators

Written collaboratively with research participants, this article reports the main findings of the Work of Teacher Education project that studied the labour of 13 higher education-based teacher educators in England and Scotland over the course of a year. The priority of maintaining relationships with schools (and between schools and student teachers) is noted and ‘relationship maintenance’ is advanced as a defining characteristic of teacher educators’ work. Policy changes and their impact on institutional structures and roles, variations in organisational arrangements and research activity are also discussed. The paper concludes by arguing that a new conceptualisation of the work of teacher educators as academic work is essential for the discipline and higher education institutions as a whole.

Developing a Multi-Layered System of Distributed Expertise: What does Cultural Historical Theory Bring to Understandings of Workplace Learning in School-University Partnerships?

The chapter provides the rationale for a rethinking of the institutional conditions in which pre-service teacher education occurs. An intensification of a school-university partnership, the rethinking involves creating what the authors describe as a ‘multi-layered system of distributed expertise’ where partnerships focus on research and professional learning as well as pre-service teacher education. The central argument is that the processes of pre-service teacher education can usefully be reshaped to include an emphasis on working within and on the practices experienced by pre-service teachers in schools. A Vygotskian cultural historical account of professional learning is offered, with the authors explaining that learning arises in a dialectic between the learner and the practices they inhabit, and is enhanced when the demand in the practices is increased. They then draw on recent and ongoing studies to suggest that demand is enhanced in settings where university-based teacher educators bring their research expertise into the practices of the school.

Transforming teacher education, an activity theory analysis

This paper explores the work of teacher education in England and Scotland. It seeks to locate this work within conflicting sociocultural views of professional practice and academic work. Drawing on an activity theory framework that integrates the analysis of these seemingly contradictory discourses with a study of teacher educators’ practical activities, including the material artefacts that mediate the work, the paper offers a critical perspective on the social organisation of university-based teacher education. Informed by Engeström’s activity theory’s concept of transformation, the paper extends the discussion of contradictions in teacher education to consider the wider sociocultural relations of the work. The findings raise important questions about the way in which teacher education work within universities is organised and the division of labour between schools and universities.

School subject departments as sites for science teachers learning pedagogical content knowledge

This paper reports a study that explored science teacher learning of pedagogical content knowledge and the factors that facilitated this in their workplace, schools. The research design employed interview and observation in two secondary school science departments in England. A seven part construct of PCK was used to analyse all data and the findings indicated that, routinely, teachers collaborated in social settings to share knowledge, principally in relation to two areas of PCK, subject matter and teaching strategies and resources. The main resources teachers drew on were colleagues as well as a key material artefact, shared teaching schemes. While recognising our view of PCK does not abandon the idea of teacher knowledge as being individually stored and applied, rather the argument here is that school science is now so broad, complex and context-dependent that much of it needs to be off-loaded onto material artefacts and distributed amongst teachers. There are practical implications of this study for both ITE and CPD programmes in shifting the focus away from individualistic provision far removed from teachers’ workplaces to that which works in the school context and at the department level where teachers are able to benefit from, and contribute to, shared knowledge and expertise therein.

Introduction to the special issue on the work of teacher education : policy, practice and institutional conditions

This special issue of the Journal of Education for Teaching focuses on the practical activities and material conditions of higher education-based teacher educators’ work. The articles address questions of concept and practice, discourse and labour and the ways in which teacher education as an activity of higher education is related to the institutional contexts within which the activity is located. The material conditions of academic work have become the focus of much renewed interest in higher education as a series of intellectual, cultural and economic trends (Hartley 2009) have converged so as to question the roles and responsibilities of teacher educators as a category of academic workers. Generally, research suggests that partnership teacher education, in which universities and colleges work with schools to train teachers, is highly successful and there is plentiful evidence in support of this fact (e.g. Iven 1994; Christie et al 2004; Ellis et al. 2011). However, concerns about changes to initial teacher education towards more school-led approaches persist internationally. Much contemporary policy discourse has been framed around the belief that schools are best placed to train teachers and, while there may be an implied consensus of intention to support beginners in their learning during practice, the discussions do little to suggest that the notion of a research-informed teaching profession is an aim worth addressing. Troublingly, as Christie et al. (2012) recognise, the erosion of the role of higher education in teacher education may not only lead to volatility and reductions in funding and employment opportunities in education departments but is likely, by extension, to impact adversely on research capacity in teacher education institutions. Clearly, research which explores the activities and perspectives of teacher educators, their expertise and yet their increasingly difficult positioning within higher education more generally, has the potential to inform the development of the profession from within and, importantly, the strengthening of an academic culture of teacher education.

Relational agency and teacher development: a CHAT analysis of a collaborative professional inquiry project with biology teachers

Teacher quality largely determines student outcomes and many argue for high quality teacher training and professional development (PD). Much PD has been heavily critiqued and what constitutes effective provision for teachers remains contested. Disenfranchisement of teachers, through neglect of prior expertise and failure to acknowledge teachers’ working contexts, some argue, are to blame. A PD project with five biology teachers and a teacher educator, grounded within a cultural, historical activity theoretical (CHAT) tradition, was initiated to address these shortcomings. Edwards’ concept of relational agency was employed to investigate and interpret teacher collaboration. Teachers’ perceptions about the project were gathered using free-response questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, with the data being analysed using a CHAT framework. The positive impact on teacher practice reported here was related to having opportunities to own and be responsible for one’s own and others’ development, exploiting the distributed expertise available and supporting collaborative work.