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Developing Pedagogic Understanding in the Practicum - An evaluative study of a School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) Lesson Study interventionPhil Wood & Wasyl CajklerLesson Study Research GroupSchool of EducationUniversity of Leicester

Outline

• Complexity of ITE in England

• Background to the study

• Methodology

• Student-teacher perspectives

• Mentor Perspectives

• Main messages

• Finding a way forward

The complexity of ITE in England

- PGCE

- BEd

- Schools Direct

- Teach First

- School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT)

Background to Study• A SCITT course at secondary level

• Breadth of subjects: English, maths, science, history, geography, languages

• 32 students

• Lesson Study project in first school placement

• Lesson Study projects developed between student-teacher and mentor with a contextualised learning challenge

• Students were given a 3 hour introductory session

• Mentors were given a 30 minute introduction!

Methodology (1)

1. In what ways do student-teachers view Lesson Study as a process for understanding and developing pedagogy and student learning?

2. In what ways do mentors view Lesson Study as a process for aiding the work of student-teachers in developing their understanding of pedagogy and student learning?

3. What, if anything, do mentors learn from their involvement in Lesson Study?

4. What are the perceived advantages and disadvantages of including Lesson Study in the programme?

Methodology (2)1. Mentor,

student-teacher collaborate to

identify a 'learning challenge'

2. The mentor and student-teacher plan a lesson focusing on the leanring challnge and choose 3 students for

the focus of observation

3. The first research lesson is taught by

the mentor and the student-teacher

observes the three case students

4. The mentor and student-teacher

evaluate the lesson focusing on evidence

from the observation of the three case students

5. An amended form of the research lesson is taught by the student-teacher

to a parallel group of students and the mentor observes a new group of

three case students

Methodology (3)Evaluative questionnaire for students (returns 20 from 32)

• What was the learning challenge?• What was the impact of Lesson Study on your classroom practice?• What was the impact of Lesson Study on your understanding of

pedagogy?• What was the impact on students in class?• What do you think the advantages and disadvantages of Lesson

Study were a) in your programme of training, b) as an assessment?• Do you have any other observations about Lesson Study as a

vehicle for your development?

Opportunity sample of 3 student-teacher and 3 mentor semi-structured interviews

Student-teacher perspectives (1)• Impact on the consideration of basic pedagogic approaches,

particularly differentiation and engagement

• Increasing pedagogic understanding through work with an experienced teacher. However, huge differentiation. In some cases modelling

• Greater understanding of the links between planning and teaching

Working with an experienced practitioner was beneficial as they can share their experiences with you. It eased the planning process and I felt more confident in the delivery of my lesson.

Also, seeing how my mentor delivered lessons and seeing how she helped students understand unfamiliar language was really helpful.’

Student-teacher perspectives (2)• Some student-teachers recognise difficulties relating to observation

and learning

• Learning as a process is poorly understood. Often affective dimensions identified

students more engaged, happier to complete tasks and are more aware of their roles as a learner.

Problems with developing Lesson Study projects

• A lack of time

• Variability in mentor understanding of Lesson Study philosophy and process

• Issues with timetabling

Mentor perspectives (1)• A great deal of mentor learning through the process

• New insights into classroom processes through ‘student observation’

• Questioning of their own understanding of learning and classroom activity

“Prior to doing this I could accept yes of course every kid is wired differently and they are all going to think differently what was more revealing was the range, the size of the difference seemed surprising to me. And quite a lot of it, just having the opportunity to talk to students that day about the lesson they had done and about their feelings on different parts of the lesson, and how comfortable or not they felt and why they felt that way was, was fascinating because kids I thought would have no problem with a bit of

uncertainty did have significant problems with uncertainty.”

Mentor perspectives (2)• Some student-teachers want to be led due to a lack of confidence

• Need to differentiate approaches – personalisation of Lesson Study to fit the student-teacher

“Some of the key transitions that needed to take place to take students on this journey he just got confused about, the order of things went a bit awry that then created, I mean I didn’t want him to teach a carbon copy of what the hell I was doing because he’s got to own it, we did it together. I think the difficulty was that I made it so complex for where he was at his point of development that, that when he came to teach it was almost like I, all we had set the bar too

high above is, just where he was at that point in time.”

Main messages• All participants say the experience of Lesson Study is positive

• Student-teachers value their opportunity to work in-depth with an experienced teacher – working ‘inside he pedagogic black box’

• Mentors emphasise their own learning – sometimes uncomfortable

BUT

• Time is often very problematic

• A lack of clear understanding and theorisation of ‘learning’

• Need to consider ‘differentiation’ for student-teachers. A very diverse group

Finding a way forward

• How to develop engagement with theory • Need to consider the issue of time – pedagogy should be at the

centre of professional growth• Need to develop a much greater depth and criticality in

engagement with the concept of learning• Ensuring mentor understanding of the Lesson Study process• How do we ensure differentiation in a process where student-

teachers are very different?

Lesson Study has great potential to support critical understandings of pedagogy but in school-based training requires careful development of strategic partnerships and support frameworks.

In developing school-based Lesson Study:

Links

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