Chickens and Eggs, Carts and Horses, and a Holy Grail or Two: In Search of the Nexus Between Core Teaching Practices and Student Learning

• In Event: Redesigning Teacher Education as a Practice-Based Venture: Lessons and Challenges

Abstract

Proponents of practice-based teacher education are in search of a repertoire of practices that will more clearly define the profession of teaching and, as a consequence, redefine what teacher educators do to provide an effective launching pad for new teachers. This is a tall order with more questions than answers. Is there (in fact) a “core” set of practices that establishes teaching as a profession and distinguishes it from other professions? If so, what factors influence the composition of this core set? For example, do we drill down into core subject differences or skate across variations in learning conditions to establish this set? Do we embrace only those practices that have been proven through scientific experimentation to promote student achievement? How do we account for well-positioned (though incomplete) visions of what students should know and be able to do, such as the Common Core State Standards?

The argument put forth in this paper is that our collective search for a core set of teaching practices is akin to the legendary search for the Holy Grail. The demands associated with accountability, the foci of teacher education programs and the proliferation of teaching and learning standards are too varied to make a search for a unifying core set possible. We argue for an approach that puts the horse before the cart and the egg before the chicken—that teacher education programs base their decisions about entry-level core teaching practices in articulated models of learning that, where possible, are generalizable across contexts and, where advisable, specific to particular teaching and learning conditions.

We open the paper by establishing that many practice-based approaches have positioned the teacher at the center of the classroom learning community when making decisions about their core practices. We argue that this decision is tantamount to attempting to solve a complex problem by asking the wrong question. Approaching the problem in this way puts the cart before the horse and, in the end, reinforces teacher-centric pedagogies, which may frustrate new teachers and disadvantage many of their students. It also runs the risk of reducing the breadth of teaching practices to those that have been tested under experimental conditions—a fraction of the practices teachers require to be successful with a wide variety of students.

We outline a different approach to the practice-based challenge, currently under development at our institution. Rather than restricting our search for teaching practices that predict student achievement, our approach begins with delineated models of learner practices. Our practice-based curriculum emanates from a rich nexus of the following:
a) Models of learning in core-subject communities of practice
b) Practices that learners migrate across situations (e.g., peer discussion skills);
c) High-profile declarations of what students should know and be able to do (e.g., Next Generation Science Standards);
d) Conditions that teacher candidates will most likely encounter in their internship experience and the early years of their careers; and, lastly,
e) Applied models of teaching in diverse settings (e.g., scaffolded, culturally responsive pedagogies).

Authors

• John F. O'Flahavan, University of Maryland

• Lisa A. Bote, University of Maryland - College Park