Practical Theorising in Teacher Education Holding Theory and Practice Together

This insightful collection offers a timely contribution to the body of research on practical theorising in teacher education. Acknowledging the importance of experience and reflective practice in teaching, this book simultaneously embraces the essential need for teachers at all career stages to engage effectively and critically with evidence from research. Drawing together a range of perspectives from university-based and school-based teacher educators, this book examines the challenges and critiques advanced when practical theorising was first proposed, as well as recent tensions created by the performative culture that now pervades education. It illustrates the constant renegotiation and renewal necessary to sustain such an approach to beginners’ learning, investigating a range of tools developed by teacher educators to help beginning teachers navigate these demands. Demonstrating the value of practical theorising and therefore promoting powerful professional learning for practitioners, this book is essential for teachers at all career stages, including trainee teachers and student teachers.

Introduction Section 1. The nature of practical theorising 1. The role of practical theorising in teacher education: formulation, critique and response to the challenges Katharine Burn, Trevor Mutton and Ian Thompson 2. An international perspective on practical theorising Teresa Tatto Section 2. Negotiating the challenges of practical theorising for beginning teachers 3. Practical theorising in learning to teach history: a shifting process of negotiation Jason Todd, Eleanor Thomas and Chloe Bateman 4. Practical theorising in a changing context: enabling beginning science teachers to negotiate different expectations in the reality of schools Judith Hillier, Alison Cullinane, Rachel Harris, Sarah Jakoby, Ann Childs and Sibel Erduran 5. Developing teacher agency in drawing on research and reflection when teaching students to produce written responses to text Ceridwen Owen and Nicole Dingwall 6. Prospective teachers’ ways of addressing challenges in teaching reasoning-and-proving Gabriel J. Stylianides and Andreas J. Stylianides 7. Theorising practices of inclusive pedagogy: a challenge for Initial teacher education Margaret Mulholland, Ian Thompson and Jason Todd Section 3. Tools to support practical theorising 8. Tools for promoting practical theorising in mathematics Nick Andrews, Jenni Ingram and Lucy Dasgupta 9. Supporting student teachers’ practical theorising via written assignments Robert Woore, Trevor Mutton and Laura Molway 10. The role of assessment in supporting beginning teachers ‘practical theorising’ and pedagogical learning in geography education Roger Firth and Nicola Warren-Lee 11. Developing the practice of teacher educators: the role of practical theorising Ann Childs and Judith Hillier with Jennifer Amini, Stuart Farmer, Jesus Garcia Jorda, Stephen Hearn, and Robyn Starr Section 4. Practical theorising beyond initial teacher education 12. Sustaining practical theorising as the basis for professional learning and school development Katharine Burn and Eluned Harries 13. Practical theorising in the professional development of primary teachers: outcomes of the ‘Thinking, Doing, Talking Science’ project Deb McGregor, Helen Wilson, Sarah Frodsham and Patrick Alexander 14. Curriculum: practical theorising in the absence of theory Victoria Elliott and Larissa McLean Davies

Katharine Burn is an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Oxford and PGCE Course Director; she also coordinates the work of the Oxford Education Deanery, supporting local teachers’ initial and continued professional learning through research engagement and collaboration. She is Honorary Secretary of the Historical Association and co-editor of the professional journal Teaching History. Trevor Mutton is an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Oxford and is Director of Graduate Studies. He is currently vice-chair of the University Council for the Education of Teachers and Deputy Editor of the Journal of Education for Teaching. Ian Thompson is an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Oxford. He is currently Deputy President of the International Society for Cultural-historical Activity Research and co-editor of the journal Teaching Education.