Investigating students’ perspectives of learning and participating in seminars using a Bourdieuian perspective

The purpose of this paper is to examine how Vygotsky's and Bourdieu's theoretical perspectives contributed to the insights I gained about student teachers’ perceptions of seminars and my role as a seminar tutor. The paper is based on the findings from a doctoral study into students’ perspectives of learning and participating in seminars. Using a constructive grounded theory approach, I interviewed five 2nd year teacher education students and consulted relevant institutional documents. From a Vygotskian perspective, the data highlighted the complexity and dynamic nature of seminars where relationships, pedagogical tools and artefacts played an important meditational role. By highlighting the significance of the wider context, however, Bourdieu’s theory of practice and in particular his concept of symbolic violence gave a richer perspective of participants’ perspectives of seminars. In particular, by drawing attention to the impact of dominant discourses on individuals' practices, it provided a more nuanced view about the meanings they attached to their seminar experiences, and enabled a deeper reflection about my own practice and values as a tutor/lecturer in higher education

Promoting Student Teachers\u27 Reflective Thinking Through a Philosophical Community of Enquiry Approach

Abstract This article outlines how student teachers’ experiences of a philosophical community of enquiry (PCoE) facilitated their pedagogical reflections. Although reflection occupies an important place in teacher education curricula and pedagogy, it is a contested and problematic concept. In this study, a group of second year student teachers took part in a module based on Matthew Lipman\u27s Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme, designed to improve children’s thinking through a PCoE. Using data from a series of reflective activities and an in-depth interview, I examined if and how student teachers’ experiences of PCoE facilitated their readiness to reflect on pedagogical concepts such as the role of dialogue and inquiry in learning. The findings show that most had reconsidered/questioned their views, suggesting that giving student teachers experience of PCoE type of learning contexts could open up alternative ways of promoting reflection. The findings from this practitioner enquiry provide teacher educators with useful insights into the potential of a PCoE approach/orientation for promoting student teachers’ reflective thinking

‘Student teachers' perceptions of seminar learning contexts in ITE (initial teacher education)

This paperoutlines how examining student teachers’ perceptionsof the use of seminars in HE led to reflections about the role and significance of seminars in initial teachereducation (ITE). Whilst thegeneric literatureon student learningprovides useful insights about how they approach their learning and tutors’teaching strategies, we know little about students,and in particular student teachers’1perceptions of seminars (a learning context that can nurture important HE attributes such as reflection, reasoning and judgement). The study focuses on student teachers and reportsonthe findings from a series of in-depth interviews withfivesecond year undergraduate primary teacher education student teachersin a post-1992 English university. Their accounts present seminars as rich and multi-layered learning contexts that draw on their peers’, tutors’and families’practices,and characterised by instrumentalist judgementsabout the extent to which seminars ‘enabled’ or ‘disabled’ participation and teacher preparation. This paper's contribution is in problematising seminars, a common learning context for student teachers, and highlighting the ways in which the studyled to pedagogical reflections about the purpose,value and potential of university-based seminars for teacher preparation.KeywordsSeminars; perceptions; student teachers;context; reflection; theory/practice.IntroductionThis paper is an accountofhowthe renewed emphasis on student teachers' reflection ininitialteacher education(ITE)(DELNI, 2014; DfE, 2015; Khortagen et al., 2001) led to pedagogical reflectionsabout seminars’role in promoting student teachers’ reflections. The emerging international consensus that teacher quality has the biggest impacton children’s educational outcomes has led to new initiatives for student teachers’ training and education (Hulme et al, 2013). A significant change is the ‘practicum turn’(Burns & Mutton, 2010); a policy shift to devolve much of teacher educationinto schools as evidenced in England’s School Direct programme (DfE, 2011; McLean Davies et al., 2013). Behind this shift is policy makers’ view that students make little use of what they learn at university (Hodson, 2003 in Smith & Hodson, 2010)and that teacher education has failed to preparethem for classroom realities (Burns & Mutton, 2013; McLean Davies et al., 2013; Kessels&Korthagen 1999). It is also due to the increasing recognition of classroom teachers’ practice knowledgeand the desire to give student teachers access to teachers’ tacit knowledge (Khortagen et al.,2001).The ‘practicum turn’ and its implicationsfor student teachers, schools and teacher educators is nonetheless, widely debated. Some have prioritised an ‘apprentice’ perspective (a view that 1The term 'student teacher' is used to refer to those undertaking a teaching degree although 'student' is sometimes used for stylistic purposes. All other references to 'students' refer to those on non-teaching degrees

Promoting student teachers' reflective thinking through a philosophical community of enquiry approach

This article outlines how student teachers’ experiences of a philosophical community of enquiry (PCoE) facilitated their pedagogical reflections. Although reflection occupies an important place in teacher education curricula and pedagogy, it is a contested and problematic concept. In this study, a group of second year student teachers took part in a module based on Matthew Lipman's Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme, designed to improve children’s thinking through a PCoE. Using data from a series of reflective activities and an in-depth interview, I examined if and how student teachers’ experiences of PCoE facilitated their readiness to reflect on pedagogical concepts such as the role of dialogue and inquiry in learning. The findings show that most had reconsidered/questioned their views, suggesting that giving student teachers experience of PCoE type of learning contexts could open up alternative ways of promoting reflection. The findings from this practitioner enquiry provide teacher educators with useful insights into the potential of a PCoE approach/orientation for promoting student teachers’ reflective thinking

Understanding barriers to discussion-based learning: using an epistemological perspective to theorise student teachers' perceptions

Discussion-based learning (DBL) has the potential to develop valued higher-order thinking skills and dispositions that are key to teacher professional learning and development. However, whilst much is known about effective classroom teaching strategies, students’ lived experiences of discussion-based pedagogies are relatively under-reported. This study therefore adopts a qualitative/interpretivist approach to examine how a group of student teachers perceived and described their experiences of learning through discussion. Data were drawn from five female student teachers who were interviewed in their penultimate year of study. The findings suggest that the participants were mostly indifferent to, and often critical of the place and value of DBL. Moreover, how they articulated their views was connected to firmly held views about teaching, learning and knowledge that seem incompatible with the underpinning principles of discussion-based learning. This initial exploration of student teachers’ lived experiences of classroom discussion therefore offers educators a fresh way to problematise and conceptualise the challenges of student engagement and participation in discussion-based learning, and to consider approaches that challenge students’ deeply held assumptions about knowledge and learning

Student teachers' perceptions of seminar learning contexts in ITE

This paper outlines how examining student teachers’ perceptions of the use of seminars in HE led to reflections about the role and significance of seminars in initial teacher education (ITE). Whilst the generic literature on student learning provides useful insights about how they approach their learning and tutors’ teaching strategies, we know little about students, and in particular student teachers’1 perceptions of seminars (a learning context that can nurture important HE attributes such as reflection, reasoning and judgement). The study focuses on student teachers and reports on the findings from a series of in-depth interviews with five second year undergraduate primary teacher education student teachers in a post-1992 English university. Their accounts present seminars as rich and multi-layered learning contexts that draw on their peers’, tutors’ and families’ practices, and characterised by instrumentalist judgements about the extent to which seminars ‘enabled’ or ‘disabled’ participation and teacher preparation. This paper's contribution is in problematising seminars, a common learning context for student teachers, and highlighting the ways in which the study led to pedagogical reflections about the purpose, value and potential of university-based seminars for teacher preparation