Chapter 3: Learning to Teach

"…becoming a learning teacher is not only a matter of individual disposition, it also depends on how teachers are prepared, and the conditions under which they carry out their work." Feiman-Nemser, 1983

How do teachers learn to teach? What elements and experiences contribute to quality teacher development? When and where does Learning To Teach (LTT) happen? What are the main theories surrounding LTT? What is the value in being 'learning teachers' and how do education programs foster their development?

Scholars of teacher education have grappled with these questions, and this chapter provides you with a summary of some of the responses furnished by years of research in the field of teacher education. This summary will also help you appreciate the importance of grounding teacher education programs within the context of LTT. Two seminars at the end of this chapter are designed to help you use this perspective on LTT to reflect on your own programs.

While there is a need to ground teacher education programs in a theoretical perspective on how prospective teachers learn to teach, there is little evidence that pre-service teacher preparation programs actually respond to this need. As noted in the previous chapter, researchers have identified that teachers begin to learn to teach as children through an apprenticeship of observation. While we know a great deal about the continuum of teacher learning, this knowledge has not been deployed in any useful way in teacher education programs (Schwille, Dembélé, & Schubert, 2007). As a consequence, teacher educators "lack a conceptual framework of what it means to learn to teach."(Schwille, et al., 2007, p. 79) For example, a study of pre-service teacher education programs in Ghana found that most teacher educators viewed LTT as involving acquisition of adequate subject matter knowledge along with strategies to teach it effectively. While subject matter knowledge and teaching strategies are important, they do not take into account the complex aspects of LTT that become visible only if LTT is viewed as continuous and occurring both before and after formal pre-service preparation. LTT is a complex phenomenon that takes place over a time and space that extends beyond the formal teacher preparation and is grounded in particular historical and cultural contexts. To be optimally effective, teacher education programs need to be fully aware of this complexity.

In what follows, we will provide you with highlights of the major ideas from discussions surrounding LTT.

LTT as a Continuum of Learning

Probably one of the more widely held perspectives on LTT sees teacher learning as a continuum spreading over one's lifetime. According to this perspective, LTT takes place over a period of many years and is not confined to the pre-service college classroom and practice teaching experience. Although pre-service training can provide building blocks for much career-long professional development, LTT goes beyond formal teacher preparation and is grounded in prospective teachers' own experiences as students. Prospective teachers arrive at a teachers' college with views of teaching based on observations of their own teachers who they observed when they were students. When a teacher takes on his or her first job, there is, in some schools, either a formal or informal period of induction when the new teacher receives guidance and support from more experienced teachers. Along with formal learning experiences, LTT also happens as teachers are exposed to various learning and teaching situations throughout their lives. Reflective teachers can turn all teaching and learning problems, such as large class sizes, diverse learners, lack of resources and other common issues into occasions for LTT.

While on the job, the continuum of learning is extended through in-service workshops, short courses, training activities and other professional upgrading opportunities available to teachers. As mentioned briefly in Chapter 2, LTT can be seen as taking place over four phases in a teacher's life.

Apprenticeship of Observation

This period of observing one's teachers (in both a formal and informal context) is called the Apprenticeship of Observation, because observations from the perspective of a learner provide the foundation on which future beliefs about teaching and learning are built (Lortie, 2002). Apprenticeship of observation refers to the possibility of LTT through observation long before entering a pre-service teacher preparation program. It refers to what you learn about teaching as a young child when observing your teachers. If you were asked to say something about the teachers who taught you as a child, you would likely recall both good and bad approaches to teaching. In fact, you would likely have a host of characteristics that you would use to justify your claims about your childhood teachers. You do not have to be a teacher educator to make such judgments. Anyone who has been to school develops some preconceptions of what it means to teach. Developing these preconceptions is the same as learning about teaching, or LTT. This implies that we should expect prospective teachers' ideas about teaching to be influenced by their early observations of their own teachers. Teachers are inspired by favorite teachers and try to be like them. New student teachers in the teachers college are equipped with powerful images of what it means to teach. Because most of the classroom contexts in Africa follow a more traditional approach to education, student teachers rely on their experiences in traditional educational settings to guide them as they learn to teach. Most student teachers have not had prolonged, deep experiences with education that is experiential, participatory and learner-centered.

An individual's observations of one's own teachers during the formative years as a student furnish powerful models of what constitutes both good and bad teaching. These models, consciously or unconsciously, influence the ideas of effective teaching and behaviors of teachers, especially new teachers. Research has shown that student teachers' and even beginning teachers' images of former teachers play a powerful role in influencing how new teachers teach. Additionally, people learn from many other teachers besides those in the formal school setting. Peers, elders and one's own experiences provide rich teaching and learning experiences. But, not everything learned through this apprenticeship of observation is positive and desirable. For example, prospective teachers may have learned that a great teacher is one who effectively uses his or her authority to keep the students quiet during lessons. Fully recognizing the implications of Apprenticeship of Observation can help the teacher educators address undesirable conceptions of teaching.

Pre-service Teacher Education

Pre-service teacher education may be imagined as a mechanism of regulating the entry of prospective teachers into the teaching profession. All professions have such gate-keeping mechanisms for the initiation of the beginning professionals.

Pre-service teacher education takes place in various forms, lengths and emphases, but it is not the intention of this resource to survey the diverse pre-service teacher programs in Africa. However, it suffices to note that, in general, pre-service teacher preparation involves learning subject matter, education and pedagogy and socialization (explicit or implicit) into the teaching profession. Student teaching or a practice teaching component in schools is also included in pre-service teacher education.

Induction as a Beginning Teacher

The phase of induction begins immediately after the completion of pre-service teacher preparation and generally includes what the beginning teacher experiences during the first year of his or her teaching career. Induction tends to be informal in nature in most African contexts. The formal process of induction would require nominating mentors for beginning teachers, providing them with training to equip them with necessary knowledge and skills throughout the induction phase. Such support can help beginning teachers gain confidence in the application of knowledge and skills gained during pre-service preparation. However, induction can lapse into an informal arrangement due to lack of sufficient resources to provide training and other support to mentors and others who would guide new teachers in their first year or two of teaching. More often, the induction period for teachers is a period of adjustment to routines and developing practices that help the teacher survive. These practices tend to be oriented to 'survival skills' such as classroom management and lesson planning as well as schemes of work.

Continuing Professional Development

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) refers to teachers' participation in training and professional upgrading while on the job. CPD is a high priority area of focus for scholars and practitioners. Governments and donors spend a great deal of money designing and implementing programs under the rubric of CPD. Professional development programs take many forms. Sometimes they appear as fragmented and single workshops for teachers. Other times they are offered as programs leading to credit for further qualifications. For example, in Zambia teachers take distance learning courses with some face to face sessions to gain diplomas in education management. At other times the professional development activities are offered to address particular needs, such as helping teachers to teach a new curriculum implemented by the Ministries of Education. Also gaining ground throughout Africa in recent years is a structured engagement in ongoing improvement in practice where teachers are expected to participate in continuous professional development at the school, cluster, zonal or other levels as part of their professional responsibility and, in some cases, for credits that help them move higher along the career ladder.

"Reflective teachers can turn all teaching and learning problems into occasions for LTT"

As mentioned above, a complete description of CPD and every way in which it can be improved is beyond the scope of this resource. However, CPD is seen by many as critical to reform. Finding ways of making CPD more coherent and effective in your own particular context is, therefore, important. We hope that situating CPD as part of the continuum of LTT may assist you in doing this better.

Figure 3.1 shows the continuum of LTT described below. Most authors view the continuum as a lifelong learning experience.

Informal teaching and learning from peers, elders and others plays a role in forming potential teacher's beliefs about teaching. In Africa, cultural conventions about sharing knowledge, asking questions, providing information, learning by experience, hierarchies of speech, initiation and other ceremonies all have an influence on the beliefs surrounding teaching and learning that student teachers bring to pre-service teacher programs. All incoming student teachers have played a role in teaching others, because, in the African context, education takes place everywhere and anytime, and every member of a community is a teacher at some point or other. This concept is embodied in the well known phrase: It takes a village to raise a child.

Conceptions of LTT in colleges tend to be additive; teacher educators believe student teachers need to gain subject matter knowledge and the strategies and skills to teach it. In Ghana, for example, LTT "was seen as essentially possessing some adequate level of subject matter knowledge and the pedagogical strategies to transmit this knowledge." (Akyeampong, Ampiah, Fletcher, Kutor, & Sokpe, 2000, p. 39). However, these observations in teachers' colleges in Ghana were among individuals and did not reflect college based policy or explicit program approaches.

Influences of Cognitive Psychology on LTT

Other work on teacher learning examines research in the past few decades in the areas of epistemology (views of knowledge) and cognitive psychology. The scholarship in this area (based on the earlier work of American philosopher and educator John Dewey (1859-1952) and Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, (1896-1934)) has transformed the ways in which we conceptualize teaching and learning in and out of schools. Learning is no longer regarded as isolated and individual. Rather, it is located in particular contexts, social in nature and distributed among persons and tools.

Learning as Situated

Often referred to as situated cognition, this perspective regards the context and what is learned as inseparable. Situated cognition sees learning as taking place within the interaction of the learner with activities, culture, language and other people. Instead of an accumulation of the facts and knowledge, situated cognition regards learning as taking place when the learner engages in authentic activities. Authentic activities are just the "ordinary practices of a culture." (Brown et al., 1989; Putnam & Borko, 2000, p.4). In schools, this means that tasks and activities should be based on ordinary and commonplace activities in society. A teacher who is making use of situated learning would, for example, involve students in actual gardening when teaching botany, creating costumes for local dances when teaching expressive arts, or buying and selling things when teaching arithmetic. In doing these activities, students construct knowledge in the actual situations in which the knowledge will ultimately be used.

Learning as Social

This concept entails the need to share learning. Learning remains invisible until shared through social interactions. Social cognition says that learning takes place within a context of social interactions. Learning takes place through interaction with others and is later internalized on an individual level. Opportunities to express one's thoughts, hear what others have to say and process that information in order to make meaning are fundamental aspects of social cognition. This is why a social cognition perspective promotes an education that is interactive, participatory and provides opportunities for engagement with others. A teacher making use of this notion will involve students in debates, reading clubs, quizzes, local dance shows, theater, and other activities. Interactions with a larger social community from which students are drawn can also be meaningful learning experiences.

Learning is Distributed

This notion implies that thought processes are held among different people and tools, and this distribution allows complex tasks to be carried out. For example, building a house requires people who have different knowledge, skills and abilities and tools to accomplish the task, thus exhibiting the distributed nature of learning. Likewise, group work in the classroom setting is designed to make use of a common pool of learning and skills to accomplish assignments. A particular group assignment can exemplify all three—situated, social, and distributed—aspects of learning. These above mentioned developments in cognitive psychology have prompted different and new ways of thinking about the experience of learning in school classrooms.

As you can imagine, the new perspectives on learning must also have implications for LTT. Three aspects of LTT have been identified that have been heavily influenced by these paradigmatic shifts about conceptions of learning:

Regarding learning to teach as situated

It is important for student teacher learning to have some basis in the authentic contexts of the school, as well as in the context of the subject matter being learned (e.g., a science laboratory). Practice teaching usually allows for this. However, there is a tendency in some colleges of education to delay the experience of practice teaching until the student teachers 'acquire the theory.' In addition to student teaching practice, there are multiple ways that teachers' learning can be situated in the appropriate context. Among them are: reading to children at home or on campus, carrying out a child study at home or a nearby school, observing teachers at nearby schools, reviewing written case studies of actual classrooms, observing and critiquing video footage of classroom practice, and micro-teaching with peers.

Making social learning possible for student teachers

When considering the concept of social cognition for teacher learning, it is important to create opportunities for student teachers to form discourse communities. This goes beyond group work that asks student teachers to provide recall or factual answers to questions asked by teacher educators. It allows student teachers to engage in dialogue, debate, ask questions and express their opinions on complex problems. This process allows them to make meaning as their own experiences and beliefs conflict with alternative views. This also means that teacher educators should be open to multiple answers to problems and be able to promote and model practices that reflect the concept of teacher as learner. As above, there are many ways in which student teachers can form discourse communities. Among them are group assignments that are complex enough to last longer and optimize the opportunities for social interactions, for example, a term-long project, micro-teaching, group presentations, and other group projects.

Use of pedagogical tools to support learning

In resource scarce environments, the use of information technology (computers, video cameras, DVDs and television) may not be feasible. However, in the information age, it is important that colleges prioritize the utilization of some basic technology to promote teacher learning. Teacher learning could be greatly enhanced by the use of videos to examine and discuss teacher practices, learner interactions and engagement, the internet to search for information and update their knowledge, and computers to prepare materials and lessons and manage administrative tasks (Koehler & Mishra, 2005; Mishra & Koehler, 2006). Alternatively, authentic teaching and learning materials, written materials prepared by teacher educators and textbooks and other resources can provide support to teacher learning.

These views of teaching/learning and teacher education are not widespread. What is more common is the behaviorist perspective of LTT which focuses on "skills, tasks, routines and strategies that the teacher would be able to perform in the classroom" (Stuart & Tatto, 2000, p. 498). At the time of independence in Africa the behaviorist perspective was imported by Western donor agencies and welcomed by Ministries of Education because they were "a decisive break with the [colonial] past" (Stuart & Tatto, 2000, p. 498). This perspective has been overtaken with constructivist views of teaching and learning in western teacher education, but the behaviorist traditions are so institutionalized and entrenched in Africa that they remain the norm. This poses problems for training of teachers for learner-centered education (a constructivist paradigm) when teacher education is grounded in behaviorism. This is addressed further in Chapters 4-7.

The Knowledge Domains for Teacher Preparation

Another way in which LTT has come to be known is by examining what should be taught in a pre-service teacher education program. While this endeavor is complex and highly dependent on local needs, socio-cultural context and alignment of political goals with educational philosophy and approaches, three areas of teachers' special knowledge base have been identified (Shulman, 1986a, 1986b).

In the mid eighties, Lee Shulman, a psychologist and a scholar of teacher education, developed the notion of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) as a response to what he saw as a problematic distinction between knowledge of a subject (content knowledge) and knowledge of teaching and education (pedagogical knowledge) in the preparation of teachers. Effective teacher education, he argued, went beyond knowing the subject to be taught (content knowledge) and a set of strategies to deliver it (pedagogical knowledge). He created a third domain of knowledge that encompassed ideas on how to teach a particular subject. This included knowing what students preconceived ideas of a subject are, how to structure the content so as to make sense for particular learners, why particular topics are easy or difficult to learn, how to represent concepts and processes of a topic and what strategies to use to help learners gain understanding of the content.

The three knowledge domains described by Shulman and used extensively in teacher preparation are outlined in Table 3.1.

Summary

LTT has many aspects to it. This chapter has presented LTT as a life-long endeavor along a continuum that begins when one first starts to learn things and continues throughout one's teaching career. Within the continuum, the teacher is a learner. LTT is also reflective of the new scholarship in the area of cognition and knowledge which says that learning does not take place isolated from context (situation), other people and the tools of the trade. All of these are important to consider in creating learning opportunities in effective teacher education programs. Lastly, the chapter examined the knowledge domains that most effective teacher education programs include, describing the idea of PCK, which bridges the traditional divide between subject matter and pedagogy. PCK also provides teachers as professionals with a unique knowledge base.

Seminars

Seminar 1. Assessing our individual and institutional perspectives on LTT

Introduction

The purpose of this seminar is to unravel the ideas related to Apprenticeship of Observation. Use this seminar to attempt to dig deeper into what you learned about teaching before formal introduction to it in the Teachers' College. The seminar will assist you in understanding the ways in which Apprenticeship of Observation may impede or reinforce particular aspects of reform.

Specific Tasks

Individually or in groups, discuss each of the questions below and present your thoughts to the larger group (or to a colleague if doing this exercise individually).

1. Who was your favorite teacher and why? How much of your teaching now reflects the practices or inspiration you received from that teacher? Explain. How powerful are your beliefs about teaching based on your experiences with that teacher? Explain.
2. Does the college faculty hold a common conception of LTT? If so, describe it. If not, describe your own individual conception of LTT. Make a chart of your thoughts to show to the other groups. Is it important to have a shared concept as an institution of LTT? Why or why not? How might you organize for developing a shared conception of LTT if it doesn't already exist and you deem it is important?
3. In Africa, the predominant mode of teaching is a teacher-centered transmission model of instruction, despite widespread reforms to a learner-centered approach. If, in the apprenticeship of observation, new student teachers have learned this teacher-centered model, and the college is espousing a learner-centered pedagogy, how will the college program address the student teacher held beliefs about teaching?
4. Induction and CPD are important phases in LTT. Yet, resources and existing policies work against the development of a coherent and supportive induction programs as well as truly continuous professional development programs. How might you extend the college programs to both Induction and CPD in order to make them more useful for the beginning and experienced teachers alike?
5. Does your college apply aspects of situated cognition in preparing teachers? If so, describe how you make use of situated cognition to improve student teacher learning. If not, how might you enhance student teacher learning by including situated cognition in the way you prepare teachers?
6. Does your college apply aspects of social cognition in preparing teachers? If so, describe how you make use of social cognition to improve student teacher learning. If not, how might you enhance student teacher learning by including social cognition in the way you prepare teachers?
7. Does your college apply aspects of distributed cognition in preparing teachers? If so, describe how you make use of distributed cognition to improve student teacher learning. If not how might you enhance student teacher learning by including distributed cognition in the way you prepare teachers?
8. Where is pedagogical content knowledge included in the college curriculum? Explain. Are student teachers made aware of pedagogical content knowledge? Is it important that they are aware of it? Why or why not?
   

Suggested Reading

Akyeampong, K., Ampiah, J., Fletcher, J., Kutor, N., and Sokpe, B. (2000). LTT in Ghana An Evaluation of Curriculum Delivery. Center for International Studies, University of Sussex Institute of Education: Multi-Site Teacher Education Research Project.

Darling-Hammond, L. and Richardson, N. (2009). Teacher Learning: What Matters? Educational Leadership, Vol. 66 No. 5.

Putnam, R. and Borko, H. (1996). What do new views of knowledge and thinking have to say about research on teacher learning? Educational Researcher, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp 4-15.

Feiman-Nemser, S. (1983) Learning to Teach. In Schulman, L. and Sykes. G. Eds. Handbook of Teaching and Policy.

Seminar 2. Teacher as learner

Introduction

Completion of formal teacher certification courses may lead to complacency at times. Some teachers may feel that they do not need continuous professional development. However, the research documented in this chapter claims otherwise. However, given different attitudes towards various stages of LTT, the teacher educators may need to devise strategies to address such attitudes effectively and promote positive perceptions about the need to see LTT as a life-long process.

Specific Tasks

Read the following vignette and discuss using the guiding questions that follow.

Teachers recently deployed to schools after receiving a diploma disdain participation in school-based professional development due to their perception that they have learned all there is to know about teaching, and they certainly know more than their peers who hold only certificates. The school principal exhorts them to participate in school-based team meetings, but they complain that is not part of their job description, and, after all, they do have a diploma!

Below are some guiding questions for discussion:

1. Is this situation familiar to you? Explain.
2. How do you suppose teachers in this situation have come to respond to a request to participate in continuing professional development at the school?
3. If you were the principal in this situation, how would you convince the teachers that it is important that they participate?
4. What can colleges of education do in their preparation of teachers to promote life-long learning of teachers and the notion of teachers as learners?
5. In the college, what are the attitudes of the teacher educators toward participation in professional development at the college? Discuss.

References