Transformative Practice: Learning in Professional Teacher Education Programs

• In Event: Teacher Education for the 21st Century: Fostering Growth in Teacher Professionalism and Practice

Abstract

Teacher Education programs across Canada (and elsewhere in the world) are in the process of transforming in response to diverse demands expected of current and future teachers. Drawing on the OECD’s call for 21st century learning, Schleicher (2015) astutely observed that a reproduction of the long emphasized cognitive skills “dominated by rote learning before deeper, more invigorating learning could flourish” is outdated. While cognitive skills remain the simplest to teach and test, they are also the easiest to automate and outsource. Education can no longer focus on the reproduction of content knowledge; instead education in the network information age must evolve to make engagement in learning central, acknowledge and incorporate social and emotional learning, and promote connectedness between subjects and communities (Sanford, Hopper, & Starr, in press).
21st century learning provides the backdrop for engaging scholars, practitioners and graduate students in questioning what constitutes learning, knowledge and understanding in professional teacher education programs tasked with preparing teachers to not only function but flourish in a 21st century milieu. Though the term 21st century learning is frequently used in relation to educational contexts, a single definition is elusive. Too often 21st century learning is simplistically equated to the use of technology.

This research/implementation partnership project, developed between three BC Universities, Ministry of Education, and partnering local School Districts is aimed at enhancing:
• collaborative professional learning opportunities among educators of all kinds - teacher candidates, experienced teachers, teacher educators and Ministry education officers
• experiential exploration, implementation and documentation of BC’s draft curriculum by pre-service and in-service teachers;
• teacher education methodology that aligns with 21st century teaching/learning practice

This project formalizes an emerging learning partnership between the Ministry of Education, 3 BC Faculties of Education, and up to 10 BC school districts. All partners work collaboratively using field-based partnership models in order to align innovation programming in K-12 learning environments and teacher education programs.

This project emerged from previous collaborations aimed at generating working/learning/research relationships with innovative education field partners. It builds on recent BC-based research results regarding education transformation.

The project involves: focused attention on learning in professional programs and how it is different from undergraduate degree programs; creating robust and ongoing partnerships across institutions and sectors; and addressing issues of authentic assessment for learners in BC.
Theoretical Framework/Methods:
Drawing on theories of complexity and catalytic affiliation, this collaborative action research partnership recognizes that context is significant and unique to each district, school, and classroom. Taking up network approaches to professional learning (by educators in BC, in research and theory) this framework involves:
• A cross-institution working group, that represents the Ministry of Education and three sites, sharing and supporting one another in ongoing approaches to sustained, situated, collaborative, inquiry-oriented professional development
• Local teams of teacher candidates, experienced teachers and university-based researchers engaged in ongoing dialogue/sharing, across disciplines, across schools, co-constructing inquiry-oriented, deep learning rooted in community and the big ideas of subject matter
• A focus on aligning assessment with curriculum/pedagogical shifts
• Sharing examples of innovation in relation to BC’s new curriculum

Author

• Katherine J. Sanford, University of Victoria