Revisiting Cambourne's Conditions for Learning as a Framework for Literacy Teacher Education

• In Event: Preparing Preservice Teachers for Literacy Teaching and Learning

Abstract

This paper reports on the work of two literacy teacher educators and their collaborative inquiry into Cambourne’s conditions for literacy learning as a springboard for reflective practice. The multi-faceted nature of engagement in teacher education is explored utilizing Cambourne’s conditions as an insightful lens. The authors adapt a framework for literacy teacher education that presents approaches to engagement from their own work as practitioners. An in-depth discussion of shared experience closely examines characteristics of three of the conditions for learning: immersion, responsibility, and approximation. The metaphor of quilting is employed to represent how increased understandings of Cambourne’s conditions can contribute to engagement as an overarching condition in climates conducive to learning about teaching.

Authors

• Susan E. Elliott-Johns, Nipissing University

• Tara-Lynn Scheffel, Nipissing University