Learning to teach at the boundaries between university courses and internships [VISIONS 2011: Teacher Education]

Abstract

Bridging the learning between universities and schools is a recurring problem in teacher education. This article is concerned with how student teachers learn to teach at the boundaries between activity systems. I investigate how participants make meaning of scientific concepts, and how they are responding to the institutional context they act in and thereby make it relevant. These questions are addressed with the use of Cultural-Historical Activity theory. The study took place at Department for Teacher Education and School Research, University of Oslo. The data is built on extensive observations in various settings at the university and schools of internship. Interaction analysis is used to analyze participation in different settings. The analysis shows that the students meets divergent structures and discourses during their learning trajectories. What counts as knowing differs between universities and schools, and within the university. In the teacher-led situations, the student teachers are positioned in relation to the teachers and mentors, with little opportunities for knowledge construction. In group work however, the student teachers explore and elaborate upon knowledge in new ways. From the perspective of the student, it seems reasonable to argue that the contradictions within and between the activity systems serve as constraints for learning. These findings have important consequences for organizing student teachers’ learning. First, teacher educators should be trained to orchestrate and facilitate student teachers’ learning processes. Secondly, university and schools need to develop the learning trajectory of the student teacher as a joint object.