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Session Submission Summary

Teacher preparation and professional development in the Chilean context

Tue, April 16, 1:30 to 3:00pm, Hyatt Regency, Floor: Bay (Level 1), Bayview A

Group Submission Type: Refereed Round-Table Session

Proposal

Intersection between sustainability education and teacher education offers room to debate how teacher students may develop interdisciplinary knowledge, understanding and skills to engage in thinking, problem solving, collaborative work and decision making for issues of 21st century (Bürgener & Barth, 2018; Evans et al., 2017; UNESCO 2014; Sandoval et al., 2011), which implies paying particular attention to theorizing curriculum and pedagogical approaches, and in so doing, undertaking empirical research, critical reflection and evaluation. Under this premise, this panel addresses teacher preparation and professional development with a focus on how the recently Chilean teaching-practice voted reform (2016) fosters the System of Teacher Education and Professional Development in Chile to enforce revision of teacher education programs by setting as a national education priority that teacher preparation should be relevant to graduates’ work in the reality of the schools. Thus, strengthening the quality of teacher education programs involves an emphasis on teaching practice, pre-practice, and teaching activities within units, courses, and programs (Solar, Ortiz & Ulloa, 2016; Vivanco-Torres, 2016) of teacher education and continuous professional development programs.
Within the challenges posed by the aforementioned education policy, we focus on the impact this may bring for the quality of life-long learning and the development of sustainability in education (Bürgener & Barth, 2018; Evans et al., 2017; Shalem & Slonimsky, 2013) by presenting a panel with four papers and different foci: (i) the vertical and horizontal power dynamics that arises as a result of enacting the public policy (Dale & Robertson, 2012); (ii) the value of teaching-practice in an English Language Teacher preparation program (ELT) from the perspective of pre-service teachers; (iii) the development of research skills in BA teacher students of an ELT teacher preparation program; and (iv) teachers' collaborative work and collaborative exchanges in urban and rural settings (Burns & Westmacott, 2018; Aliaga-Salas, 2017; Smith, 2014; Burns et al., 2016; Van Grieken et al., 2015).
The four papers are set to unveil the existing divorce between disciplinary knowledge and teaching practice by pointing at (i) the emphasis in teaching-practice over theorizing pedagogical knowledge and knowledge practice (Shalem & Slonimsky, 2013), (ii) the need for critical reflection upon school reality and complex contexts (Urzúa & Vásquez 2008; Spilkova, 2011), (iii) the extent to which future teachers are being prepared to design their own research and to generate empirical knowledge focused on their pupils’ competence development, and (iv) teachers’ collaboration opportunities for improving teaching practice beyond teaching knowledge (Burns & Westmacott, 2018; Bernstein, 1996).
Using case-study methodology (Yin, 2014), the four papers present evidence concerning the effects of the teacher professional development policy, teacher students’ perceptions of their initial preparation, and emergence of research courses in curricular design of ELT programs, and collaboration among teachers to fosters teachers' ultimate understanding of their teaching practice and rationale.
In the first paper, the analysis shows that the public policy is uncritically applied at local levels by teacher educators and students who are challenged/enforced/mandated to make curricular and pedagogical innovations. In the second paper, the analysis gives an account of how teaching practice is positively valued, yet, a critical view is needed towards a reflection on teaching practice processes. In the third paper, the tension remains in ELT preparation between a generalist didactic training and disciplinary knowledge which might not guarantee competence development in theoretical knowledge and empirical work. In the fourth paper, the evidence highlights instances of informal collaborative interactions occurred predominately in the rural setting among novice teachers.
By examining the purpose of our research studies, this panel session undertakes sustainability as a major goal that involves rethinking (Wiley, 2007) the initial teacher preparation and professional development of teachers so that they may engage in generation of knowledge through not only teaching practice but also through fostering knowledge practice, critical reflection and research skills development.

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