Slide presentation given at the ITE conference entitled: The Re-Imagining Initial Teacher Education: Perspectives on Transformation which took place in St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, Dublin from 30th June to 2nd July, 2011. The conference themes were: • National and international research and developments in initial teacher education • Re-conceptualising initial teacher education • Future directions for policy and practice • Explorations of theoretical and philosophical perspectives and international trends and practice • Setting the research agenda in initial teacher education • Critical perspectives on initial teacher education • Communities of practice within initial teacher education

1. From reflective practice
to critical dialogue
Marie-Thérèse Batardière
Geraldine Mooney Simmie
University of Limerick, Ireland
ITE Conference 2011 Dublin, June 30 - July 2
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2. Presentation outline
⚫ Context
⚫ Theoretical underpinnings
⚫ Method
⚫ Research questions
⚫ Findings
⚫ Recommendations

3. CONTEXT
GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN
EDUCATION (Languages)
One year course – 4 main components
Education Theory
(introduction to theories and approaches)
Specialist Subject Content
(subject competence, target language)
Pedagogy Modules
(pedagogical skills and knowledge)
Teaching Practice Experience
(2 placements/ 3 tutors/ school report /
reflective practice )
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4. Initial Teacher Education
Theoretical background (1)
Teacher educators ought to acknowledge the
(increasing) complexity of teaching
We need teachers who are reflective, flexible,
technology literate, knowledgeable, imaginative,
resourceful, enthusiastic, team players and who are
conscious of student differences and ways of
learning. (Hoban 2005, p.1)
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5. Initial Teacher Education
Theoretical background
Teacher educators seek to develop the
‘mentor teacher’ as critical interrogator of
their practice
Teaching is viewed as a profession with its own
standards and codes of practice. We resist the
reductionist definition of teaching as a set of skills or
competencies […].
(Mooney Simmie and Moles 2011, Mentoring and
Tutoring, Volume 4, November, in press)

6. Initial Teacher Education
Theoretical background
Teacher educators help to bridge the gap
between theory and practice
The teacher educator is a facilitator of change, but it
is the student teacher who brings about the change.
It will help if the teacher educator remains aware of
the feelings of the students, as well as his or her
thinking. (Korthagen et al. 2001 p. 73)
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7. Initial Teacher Education
Theoretical background
Teacher educators seek to use reflection with
student teachers to hunt assumptions
Critical reflection focuses on the hunting of
assumptions…to look at what we do from as many
unfamiliar angles as possible…each of these lenses
illuminates a different part of our teaching. Taken
together, they throw into sharp relief the contours of
our assumptive clusters (Brookfield 1995 p. 28)

8. Participants’
profile & feedback
Student teachers/ Cooperating teachers/ Tutors
Data collected through:
Semi-structured interviews
9/13 student-teachers (2M/ 7F)
Written questionnaires sent by post
11/41 cooperating teachers
Written questionnaires sent via email
8/10 tutors
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9. Secondary Schools profiles
100-250
250-500
500-750
750-1000
Co-Ed
Boys
Girls
City/
Urban
Town/
Rural
Number of students
School location
Single-sex or Co-ed

10. Research questions
How do the triad -student teachers, cooperating teachers
and tutors- perceive their relationships? Are their
expectations conflicting?
During student teachers’ teaching practice period (TP), are
there open critical dialogues taking place within the triad
and outside the triad?
How do student teachers explore the tension between
theory and practice while on TP placement and how do
they construct their professional identity?
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11. Perceptions of their relationships between
cooperating teachers,
student teachers & tutors (summary)
Coop teachers <-> Student teachers
professional (58%-7/12) practical (89%-8/9)
Tutors <-> Student teachers
rewarding (75%-6/8) constructive (89%-8/9)
Coop teachers <-> Tutors
beneficial (58%-7/12) respectful (75%-6/8)
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12. The relationship between
cooperating teachers &
student teachers
Cooperating teachers describe rapport with student
teachers as positive (85%-10/12) & professional
(58%-7/12)
“The working relationship was reciprocal; we shared ideas”
(Coop teacher B)
Student teachers describe rapport with cooperating
teachers as informal and practical (89%-8/9)
“The Coop teachers were helpful; they’d explain what they
found worked for them” (Student teacher 8)
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13. Converging and conflicting expectations
The student teachers' viewpoint
Most student teachers (89%- 8/9) were confronted with contradictory expectations
between their beliefs and school practices.
The coop teachers' viewpoint
Most cooperating teachers (75%- 9/12) were not burdened by expectations from
school, tutors or student teachers. Only a minority (25%-3/12) referred to their coop
teachers’ responsibilities towards their student teachers.
The tutors' viewpoint
Some tutors (50%- 4/8) and cooperating teachers held conflicting expectations of
student teachers toward:
The use of TL in the classroom
The coverage of content in the schemes of work
The value of the communicative approach
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14. A critical dialogue within the triad
(Student -Coop Teacher- Tutor)
During Teaching Practice visits to schools
⚫ All tutors (8/8) met a cooperating teacher
⚫ Only half of the tutors (4/8) met a cooperating
teacher in the presence of the student teacher
“These meetings are often hard to arrange owing to
time-tabling difficulties. When they happen in the case
of only some students this causes an imbalance in the
evaluation process” (Tutor A)
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15. Would you welcome
a critical dialogue
between the three parties?
“I think that in practice this reflection was being
done, following events/ incidents. This has to become part
Of your work if you are to improve” (School teacher L)
“Very often teachers say that they too have learned from
their students. It reinforces the idea of the school as a
community of learners” (Tutor E)

16. Student teachers
engaged in real/critical dialogues
outside the triad (1)
 with the newly qualified teachers (*)
 with peers
 with pupils
(*) “I got a chance to dialogue about teaching and
learning with a few of the newly qualified teachers
but with the other teachers nothing at all”
(Student teacher 1)
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17. The bridge between
theory and practice:
critical reflection
All student teachers (9/9) value ‘critical
reflection’ as a powerful tool to link theory
and practice.
“I think ultimately that critical reflection
undertaken by individual student teachers is the
only way of linking academic theory and practical
practice” (Student teacher 7)

18. Critical reflection,
a dialogue with the
intellectual self
“When I think of reflection I think of
sitting back, having a cup of tea, really
thinking things through, looking at a
book, checking something or ‘what did
he say on this?’ […]”
(Student teacher 5)

19. Critical reflection,
a dialogue with
the emotional self
“The fact that I had to write and go
and read about an incident meant that
I looked at it from a more informed
point, more factually and I was less
inclined to act based on my own
emotions” (Student teacher 2)

20. Critical reflection,
a dialogue with
the integral/ true self
“After a good deal of refinement of my
reflections, I ascertained that the
friendly, personable aspect of my
personality need not be something I
put to one side when I step into the
classroom but in fact can be used to
great effect to reach my students on a
different level” (Student teacher 7)

21. Practice
Teacher identity
Lectures
Tutorials
University
Theory
Student identity
Professional Identity Construct
Staff room
Classroom
School
Core identity
Dialogue
with peers
Dialogue
with tutors
Dialogue
with self
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22. Policy Implications
The study unearths the reluctance of co-operating
teachers to critically engage with their practice
and the need to educate established teachers as
knowledgeable people, continually improving subject
specific content competence and critically engaging
with the complexity of teaching, learning and
mentoring.
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23. Policy Implications
Teachers view their professionalism in pragmatic,
classroom-based terms rather than in terms of wider
educational, philosophical or theoretical
concerns….the Teaching Council can play a major
role in advancing this professional practice .
(Sexton 2007, p.79)
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24. EXTRA SLIDES

25. Issues of grief or concerns /
Suggestions for improvement
Concerns from cooperating teachers
The lack of appreciation of their work with student
teachers
The need for their role towards student teachers to be
better defined
To avail of mentoring support/ courses/ qualifications
Concerns from tutors
The need for a closer liaison between schools and
university
To convene seminars/ workshops/ forums for all
educators
To pair up a cooperating teacher with a (faculty) turor

26. Issues of grief or concerns /
Suggestions for improvement
Concerns from student teachers
Not enough collaboration with cooperating
teachers
The danger to ‘de-professionalise’
Lack of access to resources for in schools
To provide in-service training / Continuing
Professional Development (CPD)
To establish a network of NQT
To provide a research/ resource station in staff
rooms

27. To become critically
reflective
Students teachers
 Step back
 Look at a class from the pupils’
perspective
 Delve in it

28. The relationship between
tutors and student teachers
Tutors describe rapport with student teachers as
rewarding (75%-6/8)
“It is rewarding to see how student teachers grow and gain
confidence; it is also rewarding when a student asks for one’s
advice and takes it on board” (Tutor E)
Student teachers describe rapport with tutors as
supportive and constructive (89%-8/9)
“I think they were very personable […] they were making sure
that they didn’t deflate you but yet try and get in constructive
criticism” (Student teacher 4)28

29. The relationship between
cooperating teachers & tutors
Cooperating teachers describe rapport with tutors
as beneficial (58%-7/12)
“Beneficial for the student and for me” (Coop teacher I)
Tutors describe rapport with coop teachers as
respectful (75%-6/8)
“I think it is important to develop a mutually respectful
relationship with cooperating teachers at schools” (Tutor G)
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30. Converging and conflicting
expectations (2)
The tutors' viewpoint
Some tutors (50%- 4/8) and cooperating teachers held
conflicting expectations of student teachers toward:
The use of TL in the classroom
The coverage of content in the schemes of work
The value of the communicative approach
“[They] usually surfaced at the Pre-TP meeting. We
discuss how it could be approached from different
angles and by different methods […] (Tutor E)30

31. Converging and conflicting
expectations (1)
The student teachers' viewpoint
Most student teachers (89%- 8/9) were confronted
with contradictory expectations between their
beliefs and school practices
“ Some of my lecturers’ ethos would be grounded in
my thinking and I would try and reproduce that in my
classes – that, at times, is challenging because that
might not be the usual practice of the schools”
(Student teacher 6)31

32. Converging and conflicting
expectations (3)
The coop teachers' viewpoint
Most cooperating teachers (75%- 9/12) were not
burdened by expectations from school, tutors or
student teachers.
Only a minority (25%-3/12) referred to their coop
teachers’ responsibilities towards their student
teachers.
“To organise and look after the student during his/her
time in the school. But these are to be expected when
you accept a student teacher” (Coop teacher L)32

33. Student teachers
engaged in real/critical dialogues
outside the triad (1)
 with the newly qualified teachers
“I got a chance to dialogue about teaching and learning
with a few of the newly qualified teachers but with the
other teachers nothing at all” (Student teacher 1)
 with peers
“The other students on the course were my biggest
source of help […] the cooperating teachers
wouldn’t refer back to theory, do you know what
I mean?” (Student teacher 8)33

34. Student teachers
engaged in real/critical dialogues
outside the triad (2)
 with pupils
“We use to have feedback sessions where I would ask
them to reflect back […] they weren’t not used to that
type of dialogue, that kind of deep learning. I think they
did appreciate that we were trying to learn from them”
(Student teacher 5)
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