Practical Theorising in Teacher Education

Katharine Burn is an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Oxford and PGCE Course Director; she also coordinates the work of the Oxford Education Deanery, supporting local teachers’ initial and continued professional learning through research engagement and collaboration. She is Honorary Secretary of the Historical Association and co-editor of the professional journal Teaching History. Trevor Mutton is an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Oxford and is Director of Graduate Studies. He is currently vice-chair of the University Council for the Education of Teachers and Deputy Editor of the Journal of Education for Teaching. Ian Thompson is an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Oxford. He is currently Deputy President of the International Society for Cultural-historical Activity Research and co-editor of the journal Teaching Education.

Introduction, Section 1. The nature of practical theorising, 1. The role of practical theorising in teacher education: formulation, critique and response to the challenges, 2. An international perspective on practical theorising, Section 2. Negotiating the challenges of practical theorising for beginning teachers, 3. Practical theorising in learning to teach history: a shifting process of negotiation, 4. Practical theorising in a changing context: enabling beginning science teachers to negotiate different expectations in the reality of schools, 5. Developing teacher agency in drawing on research and reflection when teaching students to produce written responses to text, 6. Prospective teachers’ ways of addressing challenges in teaching reasoning-and-proving, 7. Theorising practices of inclusive pedagogy: a challenge for Initial teacher education, Section 3. Tools to support practical theorising, 8. Tools for promoting practical theorising in mathematics, 9. Supporting student teachers’ practical theorising via written assignments, 10. The role of assessment in supporting beginning teachers ‘practical theorising’ and pedagogical learning in geography education, 11. Developing the practice of teacher educators: the role of practical theorising, Section 4. Practical theorising beyond initial teacher education, 12. Sustaining practical theorising as the basis for professional learning and school development, 13. Practical theorising in the professional development of primary teachers: outcomes of the ‘Thinking, Doing, Talking Science’ project, 14. Curriculum: practical theorising in the absence of theory