Deconstructing Observation as a Pedagogical Practice in Teacher Education

• In Event: Around the World: Decreasing Boundaries of the Field Experience

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore a ‘taken-for-granted’ and often over-looked element of the clinical preparation of teacher candidates—classroom observation. Practice-based pedagogies of teacher education with roots in the philosophy of John Dewey served as a conceptual frame for interviews with teacher educators in the United States and in Scotland. The results of the qualitative analysis showed that teacher educators structure observational assignments in a variety of ways to correspond to targeted learning goals for their teacher candidates (TCs). In addition, teacher educators reported that well-designed observational experiences have the potential to help TCs recognize the complexity of teaching, disrupt the ‘apprenticeship of observation’ and help TCs move away from previously held assumptions and biases.

Authors

• Beth Dickson, University of Glasgow

• Janna Dresden, University of Georgia