Unequal "Opportunities to Learn Trajectories" for Preservice Teachers in Their Field Placement Schools

• In Event: Reimagining Clinical Experiences and Improving Opportunity to Learn for Both Teachers and Students at Public Schools

Abstract

Objective. This study illuminates the clinical side of teacher education that has been only thinly researched, yet is known to be highly idiosyncratic and only indirectly influenced by university educators. We examined “opportunities-to-learn trajectories” in field-placements of 65 pre-service teachers (PST) from three secondary teacher education programs. Data from this study provide the basis for teacher education programs to develop research-based guidelines for their work with schools and to organize for a purposeful and cumulative trajectory of experiences that allow novices to learn about the school environment, young learners, and the skills required to teach.

Perspectives. We define “opportunities to learn” (OTL), using a sociocultural perspective on activity (Greeno & Gresalfi, 2008), as situations that PSTs encounter or generate that allow them to observe, engage in, and make sense of the complex work of teaching. These opportunities enable PSTs to participate more fully and in more meaningful ways in schools as communities of practice (Rogoff, 2014; Wenger, 1998).

Data sources. 65 secondary science PSTs participated in this study. Three teacher education programs were sampled for their reform-oriented science methods and their use of a performance-based teacher assessment (edTPA). PSTs completed eight to ten online survey-logs, and four one-hour long semi-structured interviews (Table 1).

Methods. All interviews were transcribed. Codes and hypothesis were developed and tested in an iterative analytical process. Survey-log data corroborated the findings derived from the interviews. Cases were developed and categorized by their OTL.

Results. Preliminary data show that PSTs’ OTL in their field placement are unequal and inequitable. These data suggest that pre-service teachers whose own “apprenticeship of observation” (Lortie, 1975) was challenged through their experiences in their field placement had more OTL than PSTs whose field placement context mirrored their own experiences as a student. OTL within and beyond their “own” classroom where not only provided by the cooperating teachers, but also by other colleagues, and were considerably enhanced by the PSTs’ own agency.

Three examples may illuminate these findings: 1) Pre-service teachers, who made efforts to learn about their students beyond their academic interactions in the classroom, provided documentable insights and adapted their work with students accordingly. 2) Some PSTs sought out or were provided with regular opportunities to observe multiple teachers. They used these comparisons to shape their own instruction and to become more adaptive in their practice to students’ needs. 3) For many PSTs, opportunities for purposefully engaging in and making sense of planning, teaching, and assessment were limited. University assignments and the required edTPA lessons were the only times where such opportunities occurred for a majority of participants.

Significance. Preparing novices for being professionals in a system requires developing a more nuanced vision of the work of teaching by going beyond replicable instructional practices in the classroom. To provide the necessary OTL trajectories for PSTs in the current structure of field placements, the role of university assignments, OTL about the system, and the support for cooperating teachers need stronger consideration. Findings of this study will inform such efforts.

Authors

• Karin Lohwasser, University of Washington

• Tammy Quinn Tasker, University of Washington - Seattle

• Mark A. Windschitl, University of Washington