Developing primary student teachers’ subject knowledge: are we making the most of a school-based system? Rupert Knight TEAN 2016

Increasing interest in school-based routes & opportunities Increasing interest in subjects and subject knowledge Primary ITE

Increasing interest in school-based routes & opportunities Increasing interest in subjects and subject knowledge Primary ITE

Subjects and subject knowledge: (Shulman, 1986; 1987) Subject matter knowledge Pedagogical content knowledge Curricular knowledge Knowledge in various forms: Propositional Substantive ‘facts’ / concepts Syntax and structure Case Strategic Looking again at Shulman

Subjects and subject knowledge: What sort of knowledge? ‘Powerful knowledge’ An empowering curriculum going beyond the everyday experiences of the pupil. Specialised: boundaries between disciplines Differentiated from the everyday (Young, 2013) Subject knowledge development as contextual, collective and dynamic. The interaction of culture, practice and agents (Ellis, 2007)

School-based learning ‘clinical’ ITE practices (e.g. Conroy et al. 2013) University’s ‘new’ role (e.g. Furlong, 2013) Subject knowledge activities (e.g. Rowland, 2013; Loughran et al. 2001) Participation? Community? Meaning? School as a community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998)

Exploratory data: Mentors had much stronger beliefs that: Schools have freedom over what is taught There should be more emphasis on skills (as opposed to knowledge) in the curriculum Being highly qualified in a subject makes you a better teacher of that subject Colleagues in school have an important role to play in SK development Student teachers had much stronger beliefs that: Primary school learning is best organised into separate subjects Teachers need a special form of SK Developing subject knowledge is a big challenge notable mentor and student discrepancies from questionnaire

Exploratory data: Mentors had much stronger beliefs that: Schools have freedom over what is taught There should be more emphasis on skills (as opposed to knowledge) in the curriculum Being highly qualified in a subject makes you a better teacher of that subject Colleagues in school have an important role to play in SK development Student teachers had much stronger beliefs that: Primary school learning is best organised into separate subjects Teachers need a special form of SK Developing subject knowledge is a big challenge notable mentor and student discrepancies from questionnaire

Exploratory data: Mentors had much stronger beliefs that: Schools have freedom over what is taught There should be more emphasis on skills (as opposed to knowledge) in the curriculum Being highly qualified in a subject makes you a better teacher of that subject Colleagues in school have an important role to play in SK development Student teachers had much stronger beliefs that: Primary school learning is best organised into separate subjects Teachers need a special form of SK Developing subject knowledge is a big challenge notable mentor and student discrepancies from questionnaire

Exploratory data: Mentors had much stronger beliefs that: Schools have freedom over what is taught There should be more emphasis on skills (as opposed to knowledge) in the curriculum Being highly qualified in a subject makes you a better teacher of that subject Colleagues in school have an important role to play in SK development Student teachers had much stronger beliefs that: Primary school learning is best organised into separate subjects Teachers need a special form of SK Developing subject knowledge is a big challenge notable mentor and student discrepancies from questionnaire

Exploratory data: Focus group themes Subjects: national vs. local context / constraints ‘If I went to work at [school in more affluent area] I would take certain things with me, but I wouldn’t teach my maths lessons the same way. I’d be able to probably rely on the fact they have massive amounts of subject knowledge and stuff that’s already there.’ (M2) Emphasis on PCK, derived from mentors’ modelling & articulation and pupils’ misconceptions ‘When I started I thought I knew what I needed to know just to teach it, purely in terms of the content, you have a vague idea. But then actually in terms of being able to compress it and present it in appropriate ways, I think that’s subject knowledge really for me.’ (S2) Learning how to learn: a framework for understanding a subject ‘I think for me it’s more about learning how to develop my subject knowledge rather than just developing it in the year… It’s more about learning how to learn in an effective way.’ (S2) Less whole class teaching, more high-status, bespoke subject knowledge development activities ‘I would love to have a little focus group of children that you could work with, say maybe on a fortnightly basis and go through a new topic that you’re going to do. I’d find it really beneficial to go through a new topic that you’re going to do in a couple of weeks and think about what they know and how they would actually like to learn.’ (S3)

4 principles for school-based subject knowledge development Subject expertise resides in a community of professionals: mentor as gatekeeper Student teachers on the periphery: high status subject knowledge activities The creation of stories and cases: connections between situated content and wider perspectives Subject knowledge development as reciprocal: a collective transformation of subjects School-based Primary ITE

Possible questions How ready are schools for this? What sorts of activity might be especially beneficial? How might be go about creating ‘cases’ – what form might they take? What is the role here for HEI staff?

References Conroy, J., Hulme, M. & Menter, I. (2013) Developing a ‘clinical’ model for teacher education, Journal of Education for Teaching 39(5), pp Ellis, V. (2007) Taking subject knowledge seriously: from professional knowledge recipes to complex conceptualisations of teacher development, The Curriculum Journal 18(4), pp Furlong, J. (2013) Education: an anatomy of the discipline: rescuing the university project? Abingdon: Routledge. Lave, J & Wenger, E. (1991) Situated learning: legitimate peripheral participation: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Loughran, J., Milroy, P., Berry, A. Gunstone, R. & Mulhall, P. (2001) Documenting science teachers’ pedagogical knowledge through PaP-eRs, Research in Science Education 31(2), pp Rowland, T. (2013) The knowledge quartet the genesis and application of a framework for analysing mathematics teaching and deepening teachers’ mathematics knowledge, Sisyphus Journal of Education, 1(3) pp Shulman, L. (1986) Those who understand: knowledge growth in teaching, Educational Researcher 15(2), pp Shulman, L. (1987) Knowledge and teaching: foundations of the new reform, Harvard Educational Review 57, pp Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: learning, meaning and identity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Young, M. (2013) Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: a knowledge-based approach, Journal of Curriculum Studies 45(2), pp