Redrawing the Map: Toward a Complex Theory of Initial Teacher Education

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Initial teacher preparation is not unequivocally effective (in any form), and disappointing outcomes persist. Research on teacher education is thus faced with the challenge of providing coherent explanations for how the outcomes of teacher preparation happen and why they are so uncertain. Some scholars have concluded that teacher education research needs to take a more complex view by resisting simplification and accounting more fully for teacher education's contexts and processes. This session presents four papers that work from a theoretical framework based on complexity theory integrated with critical realism and use mixed methods of data collection and analysis. Collectively, the papers examine how initial teacher education can promote teachers’ learning that promotes rich and equitable learning opportunities and outcomes for all students.

Sub Unit

• Division K - Teaching and Teacher Education / Section 10: Teaching and Teacher Education Policy (teacher certification, alternative routes to licensure, institutional accreditation) and Research

Chair

• Ana Maria Villegas, Montclair State University

Papers

• When Complexity Theory Meets Critical Realism: A Platform for Research on Initial Teacher Education - Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Boston College

• Identifying Patterns of Practice Linked With Student Learning for Effective Initial Teacher Education - Lexie Barbara Grudnoff, The University of Auckland; Mary F. Hill, University of Auckland

• Developing a Complex View of Teacher Education’s Influence on Learning to Teach - Fiona Ruth Ell, University of Auckland

• Building Theoretical Redescriptions: Digging Deeper Using Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches - Mavis Haigh, The University of Auckland; Larry H. Ludlow, Boston College

Discussant

• Ana Maria Villegas, Montclair State University