An engaging pedagogy for social education: co-teaching in a teacher education program

Abstract

This article examines ongoing research into the utility of co-teaching and co-generative dialoguing as an approach for teaching and learning Social Education. The context is the introduction of a new Australian postgraduate teacher education program in which three participants - two university educators and a practising primary school teacher - co-taught a Social Education course. This article focuses on how the approach enabled these participants to develop and teach the course to prepare the pre-service teachers to successfully understand and implement aspects of the Australian Curriculum in their future classrooms. The article explores the mutually-beneficial as well as challenging aspects of co-teaching. Conclusions and recommendations about the approach as an engaging pedagogical approach for teaching Social Education are offered