4th Teaching & Education Conference, Venice

“WOW, HE IS GOOD” LEARNING FROM DIFFERENT PRACTICES

ANNE METTE HALD

Abstract:

In Denmark, like in many other countries, there is an extensive interest from politicians in improving pupils’ learning in schools. This implies an enhanced interest in teachers’ competences. Measures to ensure that more teachers improve their competences are emerging. This despite the extensive lack of research on how competences are developed. This has led me to investigate in my current PhD project how new schoolteachers learn and develop their teacher competences. In order to investigate this I have conducted a longitudinal study involving fieldwork in different schools and qualitative interviews with new schoolteachers. During my fieldwork it became clear that new teachers draw from various learning when they act competently. By using Theodore Schatzkis’ practice concept as analytical lens on the empirical data, it became possible to construct the learning method to become a competent teacher in a new way. The perspectives’ ontological consequence that people always live and act in practices opens up for an investigation on how the new teachers draw learning from their present or earlier practices. An example is the new teacher John who is conducting physical education in grade 8 to great enjoyment for the pupils. His co-teacher comes to me and says, “Wow, he is good”. Asked where he has learned to conduct teaching engaging the pupils in such a way he responds that he is a DJ in his spare time and used to making sure that everyone has fun. The way to organize the lesson, he says, he has learned by participating as a student in the same type of activity at the teacher college. In this particular situation, he was able to draw from different practices and both pupils and the co-teacher recognized him as being competent. In another situation, he might draw learning from other practices. The finding, which has relevance for the teacher education program is that teachers learn to act competently by participating in different prior and present practices both in and outside of the teacher college and in and outside of the school. In my presentation, I will examine what consequences it holds to understand the theoretical work in the teacher education program as a practice and how the practices in the teacher education program, the practices at the school and other practices can contribute to the new teachers’ learning.

Keywords: Teachers, competence development, practices, learning,

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