Loughran Enacting a Pedagogy of Teacher Education

Loughran, J. (2007). Enacting a pedagogy of teacher education. In T. Russell and J. Loughran (Eds.) Enacting a pedagogy of teacher education: Values, relationships and practices. New York: Routledge.

Teaching About Teaching

·    Focusing on the Problematic in Teaching Teaching

o   Sounds like an advocate for an inquiry stance: "Seeing teaching as problematic, looking into and behond the idiosyncrasies of practice, being able to abstract from the specific to the general - and vice versa - by an approach to pedagogical reasoning that genuinely informs teachings is important (p. 2)."

o   Good teaching looks easy: "Experienced teachers seem to effortlessly and confidently manage the uncertainty of practice. In so doing, to an observer (especially a novice), it can appear as though teaching progresses along a preordained path with little divergence from a well-established objective or goal (p. 2)."

o   Teacher decision-making must be made more explicit in order to help novices learn.

o   Problematizing our practice both as teachers (and I add teacher educators) is essential: "Enacting a pedagogy of teacher education means developing ways of delving into, and working with, the problematic nature of practice in order to highlight that teaching is much more than well-rehearsed scripts and routines (p. 3)."

o   Teacher educators must be able to recognize teachable moments in the classroom and use them as teachable moments for the novice teacher. This requires highly adept teacher educators (Think about how this relates to TEE.)

·      Making the Tacit Explicit

o   Teacher educators must be the extractors of mentors' tacit knowledge in order to make it explicit for novices.

o   Concerns: "Enacting a pedagogy of teacher education requires a confidence that might only be developed through learning to openly deal with dilemmas, tensions, and concerns of publicly examining the problematic nature of teaching in teaching teaching (p. 5)."

·      Teaching as a Relationship

o   Teaching as a relationship (It has implications for teacher educators and supervisors as a required skill/characteristic.): "Understanding teaching as a relationship hinges on the responsiveness to the dynamic nature of the teaching and learning environment and a sensitivity to its participants (p. 6)."

Learning About Teaching

·      "Students of teaching are continually confronted by struggles, difficulties and dilemmas that affect their understanding of the nature of teaching as a consequence of their experiences in learning about teaching (p. 7)."

·      "Although they (students of teaching) may not recognize it at the time, students of teaching are influence by the dual nature of learning about teaching, for their experience involves being learners and teachers at the same time (pp. 7-8)."

·      Being a Student of Teaching: Knowing Yourself

o   Teacher educators must also be self reflective in order to avoid hypocrisy.

·      Seeing Through Students' Eyes

·      Teacher Education Programs

o   Teaching is too broad and too complex to be completely "covered" in teacher preparation programs: "Teacher education is the beginning of the development of prospective teachers' conceptualization and practice of professional learning; a career-long undertaking (p. 11)."

o   Teacher education programs must have a framework.

o   Teacher education programs must have connections between schools and universities so that theory and practice are united.

(THOUGHT - What are the characteristics of a TE? For such characteristics/dispositions/habits of mind have implications for the professional development of teacher educators/supervisors.)

Dissertation --- I am really studying the transition from classroom teacher to teacher educator by studying the rookie supervisors' experience.