Two studies have taken a grounded theory approach to the generation of classifications of students conceptions of teachers and teaching. John (1996) conducted some research with primary PGCE student teachers in which he identified a four-fold classification of theories of teaching held b the students.
Transfer Theory the pupil is a container to be filled, the teacher sees content as a
commodity to be transferred, knowledge is seen as certain, unproblematic. Knowledge is separate from individuals, there is a natural hierarchy and the focus is on intellectual development.
Shaping Theory the pupil is inert material (e.g. clay), the teacher is a skilled
Chapter 3: Learning to teach
52 more experiential, often like following a recipe / workshop st le. Through learning how a body of knowledge is built up.
Travelling Theory - knowledge is a terrain to be explored b pupil alongside an expert
companion / guide (teacher), methods often use independent learning, discussion,
simulations etc. Knowledge is not independent of the senses and pupils are able to choose which route to take through the terrain.
Growing Theory the pupil is developing personally, like a plant, with the teacher acting
as a resource provider. Knowledge and experience is to be incorporated into the developing personality. Methods are experiential / spontaneous, enquiry and making sense of
experience are important. Knowledge is socially constructed and therefore constantly open to change; education is lifelong and contributes to democracy.
(John, 1996) In this classification it is possible to identify a more transmissive, behavioural view of learning in the first three theories, while the growing theory reflects a more constructivist view of learning. What this classification does is allow for a finer-grained distinction within a behavioural theory, rather than a direct comparison between behavioural and constructivist theories, and this is arguably a more appropriate classification to apply to beginning teachers than the more usual three-fold classification of behaviourist,
constructivist and social constructivist theories.
In another study Wood (2000) identified a three-fold classification of student teachers conceptions of teaching which, while similar in some respects to the four-fold
classification mentioned above, were then used to anal se students practice at various points during a PGCE year, enabling changes in conceptions to be identified and thus providing further insight into this factor. Towards the beginning of the PGCE course analysis of elicitations led to the development of the following models of teaching:
A. Focuses on the agent of teaching: the emphasis is on the teacher and teaching is seen as imparting knowledge to students. Learning is seen as an increase in students knowledge. B. Focuses on the act of teaching: the focus is on the communication process between teacher
and students with an emphasis on learners understanding and using knowledge. C. Focuses on the object of teaching: the emphasis is on changing the way students
understand phenomena. Here teaching is understood as preparing students to understand and to be aware of their own thinking and learning. This implies the teacher discovering what and how others think and to work pedagogically with that thinking. In this model the teacher is also the learner.
Chapter 3: Learning to teach
53 As the course progressed some individuals adhered to their original conception, but for the majority of the group (n=27) there was a shift from predominantly conceptions A + B at the beginning of the year, to B + C at the end of the year. The biggest shift was in the number who conceived teaching as C. This positive shift (as judged by the researcher) is conceptualised as a shift in focus from self as teacher to student learning, or bridging the gap between teachers knowledge and students understanding . How the PGCE course enabled this shift is summarised as the development of theoretical tools variation and metacognition for improving initial teacher-education programmes (Wood, 2000: 91); these tools enabled student teachers to explore their own conceptions and approach to learning and, in turn, to do the same with students in secondary classrooms. Central to this process was reflection and collaboration both of which suggest a social constructivist approach to learning to teach. However, the data also showed some resilience to change within categor B which appears to be closer to the view of teaching as craft knowledge
and is in practice, perhaps, the one that is most easil observed. Quite wh this was the case is the subject for further investigation.
3.3.1 Factors affecting conceptions of teaching
It is fairl well documented that their prior experiences as learners affects students
cognitive and affective elements of knowing about subjects, teaching & learning and that these can act as enablers or inhibitors to learning to teach. For example, Brown et. al. (1999) found that students experiences as pupils informed their models for teaching often in a negative sense, where students would aim to be different from their own teacher to make maths more enjoyable, more active, better pitched and so on. However, it was also noted that in the reality of the classroom, where pragmatic concerns over-rode theoretical ones, these students often reverted to the model apparently reviled, although now in a form
h bridised b the intervention of other narratives (Brown et. al. 1999: 310).
There is also a growing awareness of the need to take these preconceptions and beliefs into account if learning to teach is to be effective and go beyond surface to deep learning (Sugrue, 1997). In critiquing the Sitting with Nellie apprenticeship model and those approaches in ITE which seek to supplant unarticulated tacit images of teaching b
Chapter 3: Learning to teach
54 privileging what are regarded as more scientific, and more adequately grounded research based versions (1997: 223) Sugrue calls for the development of alternative approaches which recognise student teachers and practitioners embodied knowledge as an indispensable dimension of how the construct their teaching identities while simultaneously recognising that the process of renewal needs to be situated much more criticall and broadl than a mere focus on practice (ibid). Although there has been ver little research conducted into how this might be achieved, some ideas are outlined in chapter 4.
3.4 Summary
This chapter began by setting out what are considered by some to be essential knowledge bases for teaching. Within these bases, Turner-Bisset proposes that the Pedagogic Content Knowledge base underpins all other forms of knowledge required to teach effectively. If subject matter is taught without the knowledge of how to transform it into forms that are understandable to children, then the teaching will be ineffective. The chapter then goes on to review the literature on learning to teach, focusing on models of teaching and learning to teach (with their underlying principles and assumptions) and stages of development in students when learning to teach. The chapter concludes b outlining research on students conceptions of learning and teaching and how, in the case of Wood (2000) changes in conceptions were evident and that a social constructivist approach to learning to teach was instrumental in these changes. Social constructivist approaches are those identified by Fien (table 2.9, p.32) as being suited to a socially critical orientation to education. How this might be applied to the geography component of a PGCE Primary course is explored in the next chapter.
Chapter 4: Becoming a geography teacher
55
4
Becoming a geography teacher
This chapter aims to link ideas emerging from the previous two chapters, about geography (subject knowledge) and about teaching and learning (pedagogy), to the process of
becoming a teacher of primary geography within ITE. The overall aim of the chapter is to set out the local context within which the participants in this research were developing i.e. the geography component of the PGCE Primary course and the principles that underpin both the selection of content and the pedagogical approaches employed.
The chapter begins by examining the evidence for whether student teachers conceptions and beliefs can change over time and relating these ideas to the models that appear to be successful in supporting change. It then proposes a Transformatory Approach to learning and teachers professional development (Askew & Carnell, 1998) as one suited to teaching for change, and concludes by showing how this has been applied to the PGCE geography programme. Inherent in this are my own conceptions of geography, and of what makes a
good geography teacher and the value I attach to them. It therefore seems appropriate to recognise my own ideological position and its potential influence on the research. This is important because, as the researcher and the ITT primary geography tutor I am a
participant in the research project rather than an observer. The conceptions of geography and education that I hold will undoubtedly find expression not always explicitly in the course design, selection of content, and teaching approaches employed. The students are therefore experiencing reality as filtered out by the tutor who also, as researcher, provides a further filter when analysing the data