The subject and the setting: re-imagining opportunities for primary teachers' subject knowledge development on school-based teacher education courses

• Published in: Teachers and teaching, theory and practice Vol. 23; no. 7; pp. 843 - 858
• Main Author: Knight, Rupert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 03.10.2017; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Communities of Practice; Cooperating Teachers; Educational Environment; Educational Principles; Elementary School Students; Elementary School Teachers; Foreign Countries; Mentors; Pedagogical Content Knowledge; Preservice Teacher Education; professional knowledge; School Involvement; Student Teachers; Student teaching; subject knowledge; Teacher Collaboration; Teacher Education; Teacher Improvement; Teacher knowledge; Theory Practice Relationship; United Kingdom (England)
• ISSN: 1354-0602; 1470-1278
• DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2017.1334642

The landscape of teacher education is undergoing significant change in many countries and this is often associated with a move towards greater school involvement in the preparation of teachers. One aspect of teaching expertise that is particularly challenging for primary student-teachers is the development of subject knowledge across a wide range of subject areas. Subject knowledge for teaching is multi-faceted and is itself linked to broader questions about curriculum and the content that should be taught. It is timely, therefore, to consider how subject knowledge development might be reconceived in a school setting and how university and school staff might work in new ways with student-teachers to this end. Communities of practice theory is employed as a framework for analysing the learning environment and evaluating these future possibilities. It is argued that collaboration with peers, with their mentoring teachers and with a wider professional community is an under-exploited way of integrating facets of subject knowledge: giving this time and status through structured activities might be a particularly fruitful form of hybrid working in situ. The paper concludes by proposing four principles to underpin this sort of practice.