It is recognised that ITE students can experience difficulties when attempting to integrate the different forms of knowledge necessary for developing effective subject pedagogy. Here, we present a new andragogical model, informed by the work of Lee Shulman, that has been designed and used to support students to think deeply about, generate and refine subject pedagogies. Dr David Morrison-Love, July 2019.

1. Developing Pedagogical Expertise
in Initial Teacher Education:
Introducing the Adaptive Subject
Pedagogy Model
Dr David Morrison-Love (@dmorrisonlove)
Click for: Profile LinkedIn ResearchGate
Dr Fiona Patrick
Click for: Profile
.
#UofGWorldChangers
@UofGlasgow
School of Education Research and Teaching Week, Thursday 25th June, 11.00am

2. Part 1: Context

3. The contexts for the ASPM are well researched in academic literature:
• Theory-practice divide (see Posch, 2018; McGarr et al, 2017)
• Practice as ‘detached’ from theory (McGarr et al., 2017) with no simple way to implement
‘what works’
• The importance of teachers’ personal practical theories (see Maaranen et al, 2016)
• ‘Teachers use practical theories as a framework to plan, interact and reflect on teaching’
(Maaranen et al., 2016, p.82)
• The importance of teachers’ understandings of subject and pedagogic content
knowledges for effective primary and secondary teaching (Deng, 2018; Stender et al.,
2017; Parker et al., 2016; Anderson & Clark, 2012; Gresalfi & Cobb, 2006; Parker, 2004;
Shulman, 1986)
Integrating Professional Theory and Practice

4. Challenges to integrating theory and practice:
• (Student) teachers can find it difficult to integrate theory with practice: if theories do not
‘work’ or are not fully understood they can be rejected
• Complexity of the knowledges needed to be a teacher: complexity of teacher learning
• Personal practical theories are important but they are not enough
• The power of the apprenticeship of observation: ‘Darling-Hammond (2006) named the
apprenticeship of observation as one of three major problems of learning to teach, saying
that conquering the ‘accompanying naïve beliefs about teaching may be one of the most
powerful challenges in learning to teach’’ (see Bullock, 2009, p.292)
• Theory-practice presented as a binary is unhelpful: how do we help students to create a
space for exploration of theory, research, personal practical theories and practice?
Integrating Professional Theory and Practice

5. Challenges of Developing Integrative Knowledge in
Technology Education
Core capacity in developing technological
capability.
Is affected by broad range of factors
including:
• Recognition of contextual cues,
affordances, and abstraction;
• Depth of conceptual understanding;
Perceived challenge.
Cognitive Integration
X1
Y2
Z3
New
Context
Internal Factors
(See Morrison-Love (2014) for exploration of challenges in student learning transfer.)

6. Challenges of Developing Integrative Knowledge in
Technology Education
Influenced by, among other things:
• Curricular structure;
• Ontological and epistemic nature of
different subjects and domains
• Student learning journey
• Andragogical and instructional design in
native contexts.
Structural Integration
(or separation)
External Factors
(See Morrison-Love (2014) for exploration of challenges in student learning transfer.)

7. Challenges of Developing Integrative Knowledge in
Technology Education
Lets come back to the question:-
How do we help students to create a space for exploration of
theory, research, personal practical theories and practice?

8. Working with Design & Technology ITE students using the ASPM:
• Creates a ‘space’ within which to explore theory, research, personal
practical theories, content knowledges and pedagogic knowledges
• Provides a framework in which students make explicit and synthesise
subject knowledge, professional/practical knowledge and research
evidence into pedagogical propositions for key subject concepts,
topics, ideas, skills or processes.
The Adaptive Subject Pedagogy Model

9. Part 2: The ASPM

10. Please do not use or reproduce the ASPM
without permission from the author:
david.morrison-love@glasgow.ac.uk

11. Please do not use or reproduce the ASPM
without permission from the author:
david.morrison-love@glasgow.ac.uk

12. #UofGWorldChangers
@UofGlasgow
Thank you for your
attention.
Questions or
comments?
Dr David Morrison-Love
Programme Leader, Bachelor of Technological
Education
University of Glasgow Educational Assessment Network
Email: david.morrison-love@glasgow.ac.uk
Dr Fiona Patrick
Programme Leader, Bachelor of Technological
Education
Email: fiona.patrick@glasgow.ac.uk

13. References
Dayle Anderson & Megan Clark (2012) Development of syntactic subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge for
science by a generalist elementary teacher, Teachers and Teaching, 18:3, 315-330, DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2012.629838
Shawn Michael Bullock (2009) Learning to think like a teacher educator: making the substantive and syntactic structures of teaching
explicit through self‐study, Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 15:2, 291-304, DOI: 10.1080/13540600902875357
Zongyi Deng, 2018. Pedagogical content knowledge reconceived: Bringing curriculum thinking into the conversation on teachers' content
knowledge, Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 72, Pages 155-164
Melissa S. Gresalfi & Paul Cobb (2006) Cultivating Students' Discipline-Specific Dispositions as a Critical Goal for Pedagogy and Equity,
Pedagogies, 1:1, 49-57, DOI: 10.1207/s15544818ped0101_8
Katriina Maaranen, Harri Pitkäniemi, Katariina Stenberg & Liisa Karlsson (2016) An idealistic view of teaching: teacher students’ personal
practical theories, Journal of Education for Teaching, 42:1, 80-92
Oliver McGarr, Emmanuel O’Grady & Liam Guilfoyle (2017) Exploring the theory-practice gap in initial teacher education: moving beyond
questions of relevance to issues of power and authority, Journal of Education for Teaching, 43:1, 48-60.
David Morrison-Love (2014) Promoting transfer and an integrated understanding for pre-service teachers of technology education. Global
Education Review, 1(4), pp. 15-36

14. References
Joan Parker (2004) The synthesis of subject and pedagogy for effective learning and teaching in primary science education, British
Educational Research Journal, 30:6, 819-839, DOI: 10.1080/0141192042000279521
Melissa Parker, Kevin Patton & Mary O'Sullivan (2016) Signature pedagogies in support of teachers’ professional learning, Irish Educational
Studies, 35:2, 137-153, DOI: 10.1080/03323315.2016.1141700
Peter Posch (2018) Action research – conceptual distinctions and confronting the theory–practice divide in Lesson and Learning Studies,
Educational Action Research, DOI: 10.1080/09650792.2018.1502676
Lee S. Shulman (1986) Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4-14.
Anita Stender, Maja Brückmann & Knut Neumann (2017) Transformation of topic-specific professional knowledge into personal
pedagogical content knowledge through lesson planning, International Journal of Science Education, 39:12, 1690-1714, DOI:
10.1080/09500693.2017.1351645

15. Abstract
Morrison-Love (2014), proposed a method for supporting technology education ITE students in the challenge of
integrating different forms of knowledge from a range of contexts when developing technological solutions. This
ability is central to the development of students’ own technological capability. However, it is also recognised that
students experience similar difficulties when attempting to integrate those forms of knowledge necessary for
effective subject pedagogies. Here, we present a new andragogical model that expands upon this earlier work. It is
informed by the work of Lee Shulman and aims to support students to think deeply about, generate and refine
subject pedagogies. The Adaptive Subject Pedagogy Model (ASPM), is a framework in which students make explicit
and synthesise subject knowledge, professional/practical knowledge and research evidence into pedagogical
propositions for key subject concepts, topics, ideas, skills or processes. It bridges learning between the University
and School as students iteratively refine these propositions as part of their teaching and reflective practice during
placements.