Julian Kitchen

Passages: Improving Teacher Education Through Narrative Self-Study

Narrative inquiry, the study of experience as story, is a methodology that can enhance our understanding of ourselves as teacher educators, our contexts and our practices. In the International Handbook of Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices, Clandinin and Connelly (2004) stated, “Narrative inquiry is a multi-dimensional exploration of experience involving temporality (past, present and future), interaction (personal and social), and location (place)” (p. 576). Narrative self-study, they suggested, opens up “understandings about participant knowledge” (p. 575). In this chapter, I trace my narrative self-study over 16 years in order to illustrate ways in which personal experience methods employed in narrative inquiry can contribute to deeper understandings of the personal and social dimensions of teaching and teacher education practices. Developing deeper understandings of our “personal practical knowledge” (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988) through narrative self-study can provide a solid foundation for improving our practices in the future. Narrative inquiry has been central to my own development as a teacher, educational researcher and teacher educator. I first encountered narrative inquiry in 1992, well before I became a teacher educator in 1999 or encountered self-study in 2002. I began inquiring into my teacher education practices in order to understand how my stories of experience informed my practices and how well I was meeting the needs of teacher candidates in my classes. Today I continue to employ narrative inquiry to study myself in my practice setting. When I was introduced to self-study, I discovered a community of teacher educators who share my interest in understanding the complexity of teacher education within its practice settings. Equally important, we share a commitment to researching practice in order to develop a more effective pedagogy for teacher education. We are pragmatic in our willingness to use a variety of research methods to understand and improve teacher education.

Self-Study and Diversity

The two volumes of Self-Study and Diversity serve as landmarks on the journey of the self-study methodology and community in responding to issues of diversity, equity and social justice in teacher education.

Making It Better for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students through Teacher Education: A collaborative self-study

Teacher education programs have a critical role in helping incoming teachers develop a deeper understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues and their moral and legal obligations to counter homophobic bullying. In this self-study, two educators – a university professor and a classroom teacher, who facilitated a workshop titled “Sexual Diversity in Secondary Schools” in a faculty of education in a mid-sized Canadian city – reflect on the feedback provided by teacher candidates on workshop evaluation forms in relation to their experiences as teacher educators delivering the workshops. In particular, they consider (1) their commitment to this work; (2) why they taught the way they did; (3) the impact their approach had on teacher candidates in the workshops; and (4) what the study revealed about their teacher education practices.

Narrative inquiry, curriculum making, and teacher education

This is a book for teacher educators. It is also a book for teacher candidates and educational stakeholders who are interested in using storied practice in teacher education. It is about teacher educators and teacher candidates as curriculum makers (Clandinin & Connelly, 1992) who engage in narrative inquiry practice. As editors of this volume, we came to this important writing project as a result of our respective work using narrative inquiry that originated from our studies with Dr. Michael Connelly and Dr. Jean Clandinin. In a large sense, this book represents our interpretations, as second-generation narrative inquirers, of three main ideas: narrative inquiry, curriculum making, and teacher education. Narrative inquiry, curriculum making, and teacher education are vitally interconnected concepts that offer an alternative way of understanding the current landscape of education. Narrative inquiry in teacher education would not have been possible without the groundbreaking work of Connelly and Clandinin.

Developing Capacity in Indigenous Education: Attending to the Voices of Aboriginal Teachers

In this article, the authors attend to the voices and stories of Aboriginal teachers concerning the educational needs of their communities and how teacher education can better serve them. To provide a context for understanding, they situate their stories within the context of colonization and decolonization. From the learning and teaching experiences shared by six early career teachers in a Talking Circle in Ontario, Canada, emerge the following four themes relevant to teacher education: facing the realities of Aboriginal students and communities, examining self-identity and cultural identity, teaching culture and language, and enriching teacher education experiences. The authors critically examine the findings to offer recommendations for teacher education intended to serve the needs of Aboriginal teachers.

Allowing Idiosyncratic Learners to Thrive

Abstract School-within-a-school programs are an alternative school choice that can provide differentiated learning opportunities for academically gifted students, but they are often politically contentious. In a recent study, we interviewed 530 students and teachers in gifted and regular streams in three publicly funded secondary schools with different approaches to high-ability school-within-a-school programs: gifted, International Baccalaureate, and science-focused. Although teachers and students across conditions expressed strong satisfaction with the academic challenges provided by the special programs, they also expressed serious concerns about the relationship between these programs and the larger schools within which they are housed. Taking into consideration concerns about gifted education usurping resources from more urgent educational and societal goals, we discuss policy implications of our findings, considering ways to “allow idiosyncratic learners to thrive” (in the words of a teacher interviewed in this study), while minimizing misconceptions, prejudices, and perceptions of elitism.

Imagining a Reader Exploring Issue 14(2) of Studying Teacher Education

One of the most important roles of editors involves envisioning what will interest current and potential readers. When founding editors John Loughran and Tom Russell approached Routledge with a proposal to launch Studying Teacher Education, they had to identify a subject (self-study of teacher education practices), an audience (teacher educators, beginning with the S-STEP community but extending to all teacher educators), and ways in which such a journal would benefit its readers. As the editors of a successful journal now publishing its 14 volume, we continue to consider what will interest and benefit regular and prospective readers. The readership is diverse and changing. Dedicated subscribers may read the journal cover-to-cover while regular readers of the print version may browse topics of interest. Electronic readers are often drawn to particular articles by the author names, article titles and keywords. Those new to self-study may find all the articles fresh and insightful, while established readers may be looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives on perennial themes. As editors, we attend to these issues through the selection and development of articles that advance the field. While thoughtful and well-written submissions are always valued, manuscripts that speak to current concerns or shed light on new contexts are particularly valued, as are ones that offer fresh theoretical and methodological approaches. In this Editorial, we illustrate our vision of the readership through a fictional account of a regular reader sitting down with this issue of the journal. Robin, a teacher educator for 10 years, has long enjoyed reading Studying Teacher Education. It is summer in the Northern Hemisphere and Robin is feeling relaxed without the pressure of daily classes. As she pours her second cup of coffee, she looks forward to reading the August 2018 issue that recently arrived on her desk. Many articles over the years have resonated with her experiences and fostered her development as a practitioner and scholar. Robin hopes that some of the articles in this issue will inform her planning for courses in September and her research agenda for the coming year. A glance at the Table of

Critically Reflecting on Masculinity in Teacher Education Through Narrative Self-Study

In this chapter, I focus on how teacher educators can critically reflect on masculinity in education through narrative self-study. The chapter begins with a review of some important themes in the academic discourse on masculinity, including how the construct of masculinity affects straight men, women and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA) communities. I then employ narrative self-study as a means of reflecting on, and critically engaging with, masculinity in teacher education contexts. In order to illustrate narrative self-study as a reflective practice, throughout I share stories of such inquiry and unpack them in relation to this theme.

Approaches to Teacher Education

Initial teacher education programmes vary in guiding principles, structure, format, funding, and pedagogies. At the same time, most are similar in touching on a wide-range of topics and themes without clear guiding principles. This has contributed to the contention amongst various stakeholders that we do not “do” teacher education well. The limitations of these conventional approaches used in universities around the globe have prompted significant innovations internationally, including alternative approaches to teacher preparation outside the university. To understand and learn from a range of teacher education programmes and practices, this chapter examines initial teacher education examples that typify the three crucial elements of theory, practice, and reflection. This chapter also explores initial teacher education programmes that attempt to systematically and thoughtfully integrate all three elements. In the context of this chapter, practice refers largely to the practical application of knowledge and skills within the school settings. Theory is used broadly to refer to the theory and research specific to the content of teacher education courses. Reflection refers to the complex, active, and intentional meaning-making activities. Approaches to teacher education that exemplify high engagement with a single element are examined, followed by approaches that attempt to integrate all three.

Looking Back on 15 Years of Relational Teacher Education: A Narrative Self-Study

In this narrative self-study, the author explores how the seven characteristics of Relational Teacher Education have informed his practice from 1999 to 2014. He situates relational teacher education in relation to narrative inquiry, self-study and teacher education. This is followed by a thematic exploration of how the seven characteristics have informed his initial teacher education practices and continue to inform his work as a veteran practitioner and educational leader. Examples are provided of the author grappling with the tensions of being a deliberate, intentional and relational teacher educator. These examples are in the form of artifacts such as written reflections, feedback from students, and published papers by the author. The chapter concludes by re-imagining teacher education as a relational pedagogy.