Exploring the Relationship Between Theory and Practice Within an Alternative Teacher Education Program

• In Event: Issues in Preservice Teacher Education: Exploring Programmatic Policy and Pathways

Abstract

This study examined the theory-practice relationship within CoT, an alternative teacher education program. To deepen the understanding of how this program contributed to the process of bridging theory and practice, qualitative phenomenological design was used. I drew from multiple interviews with seven faculty members and seven students; participant observation in three seminar sessions, CoT faculty meetings, and CoT community meetings; field notes collected throughout the observations through 2 years; and curriculum materials. The analyses revealed that CoT is a unique program in creating intelligent practices for teacher candidates so that they extract theory from their own experiences through a self-directed learning setting, where concerns, beliefs and questions of CoTers are handled in a friendly atmosphere of diverse long-term relationship.

Author

• Gulistan Gursel-Bilgin, Boğaziçi University