Opportunities to Enact Practice: Taking a Student Perspective

• In Event: 29.048 - Practice What You Teach: International Studies of the Enactment of Practice in Teacher Education

Abstract

Researchers have criticized teacher education programs for being fragmented and poorly connected to teachers’ actual work (Grossman, et al., 2009). The disconnect between theory taught in teacher education programs, and practice has been a longstanding challenge for teacher education programs (Allen & Wright, 2014). For teacher education programs to be effective, they need to be closely tied to practice, for instance, offering teacher candidates opportunities to rehearse and try out core teaching practices (McDonald, et al., 2014). Although teacher educators may make those efforts to connect to practice, it is important to examine whether the teacher candidates themselves perceive those connections. Thus we investigate the research questions: To what extent do teacher candidates perceive to have opportunities to enact teaching practices in their campus coursework?
We use data from five teacher education programs in five countries (Stanford, USA; Oslo, Norway; Helsinki, Finland; Havana-Varona, Cuba, and Santiago-Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile). Basing our study on student perceptions permits us to describe the extent to which offered opportunities actually reach learners, something which is often lacking in teachers education (Clift & Brady, 2005).
A total of 486 candidates completed the paper and pencil survey. Candidates indicated on a 4-point Likert scale (1:none - 4:extensive opportunity) to what extent they had the opportunity in their campus courses to enact specific teaching practices, such as, analyzing national curriculum, analyzing samples of student work and/or watch videos (Authors, 2015). The 9 items tapping these opportunities were internally consistent (α=.83). Table 1 shows the mean scores and reliabilities per teacher education program. ANOVA was used to investigate whether observed differences between the programs were significant.
Across programs, students reported some opportunity to enact certain practices (M=2.62, SD=.60), such as lesson planning and analyzing teaching materials. However, they reported fewer opportunities to analyze students’ work, and to analyze real classroom conversations (in the form of videos or transcripts). Stanford students rated their overall opportunity to enact practice highest and significantly higher than the students from the other four programs (p<.01 in all cases). Students in the Helsinki program rated the opportunity to enact practice lowest and significantly lower than students from the Stanford, Oslo (both p<.01), Santiago (PUC) (p=.05) and the Havana program. These findings may be explained by the different foci of teacher education programs. Stanford, but also Oslo and Havana, have specifically worked on linking practice and theory for the past 15 years (Authors, 2015) whereas in Helsinki the focus primarily lies with building an academic knowledge base (Afdal & Nerland, 2014).
Our findings may help point to key areas where the participating programs have opportunities to further develop their linkage to practice. Furthermore, our survey—tested in multiple contexts - may serve as a useful means for programs seeking to assessing the presence of such connections.  

Authors

• Esther T. Canrinus, University of Agder

• Ole Kristian Bergem, University of Oslo

• Kirsti Klette, University of Oslo

• Karen M. Hammerness, American Museum of Natural History

• Sergio Ballaster Pedroso, University of Pedagogic Sciences

• Cristina Gonzalez Dosil, University of Pedagogic Sciences