Learning to See Students: Opportunities to Develop Relational Practices of Teaching Through Community-Based Placements in Teacher Education

• In Event: Redefining Teacher Education Through Community-Based Collaboration

Abstract

For decades, scholars have argued that teaching and learning depend fundamentally on the quality of relationships between teachers and students, and yet there is little research about how teachers develop relationships with students or how teacher education prepares teachers to do this work. Arguably, articulating the relational practices of teaching is critical to the preparation of teachers to (1) educate from a social justice perspective, and (2) teach an increasingly diverse population of students—which requires reaching across differences to build relationships with children and families. In this study, the authors focus their research on three overarching questions: 1) What are the opportunities to learn for teacher candidates as they engage in community based placements? 2) To what extent are those opportunities connected to other opportunities to learn provided by course work at the University? And 3) What is the experience of community based organization staff in regards to their participation in a teacher education program?
To address these questions, we draw on a three-year longitudinal data set. Overall, we had 124 individual semi-structured interviews with community-based organization staff, teacher education faculty, and twelve case-study teachers; 3 focus groups with non-case study teacher candidates and 2 focus groups with teaching assistants; 70 observations of university courses and 28 observations of teacher candidates’ community-based placements; a review of documents such as course syllabi, course assignments, and performance based assessments; and surveys completed by teacher candidates at the beginning and end of the program. For the analysis described in this paper, we draw mainly on case study candidates’ interviews, focus groups, and survey responses.
Our conceptual framework is grounded in sociocultural theory. Lave and Wenger (1991) and Wenger (1998) pushed us to examine how individuals engaged in the placements and the extent to which an ensemble resembling a community of practice was forming around conceptions of mutuality and joint enterprise. Engestrom’s activity theory provided a framework to define components of the activity of the innovation and examine the consistency and contradictions for subjects (teacher candidates) using conceptual and practical tools (readings, assignments) within an organization defined by a hierarchical division of labor with particular rules (grades, field work, certification) in order to achieve the knowledge, skills, and practices of high quality professional teachers.
Through this research, we found that case study candidates: developed deeper understandings about children and more nuanced conceptions of diversity; experienced and examined school from an out-of-school perspective; and demonstrated greater attentiveness to the role of context in learning. A more detailed comparative analysis of two cases revealed key individual and situational factors (in coursework and CBO settings) that influenced candidates’ inclinations to enact the teaching practices involved in learning about and building relationships with students. This research contributes to the growing body of literature focused on community placements in teacher education as well as the identification of teaching practices associated with the relational aspects of teaching.

Author

• Morva McDonald, University of Washington