Professional Dialogue, Reflective Practice and Teacher Research: Engaging Early Childhood Pre-Service Teachers in Collegial Dialogue about Curriculum Innovation (original) (raw)

2014, Australian Journal of Teacher Education

While embedded in teacher professional standards and assumed aspects of teacher professionalism, willingness and ability to engage in professional dialogue about practice and curriculum initiatives are rarely examined or explicitly taught in teacher education programs. With this in mind, the authors designed an assessment task for pre-service teachers that required them to interview their supervising teachers about the implementation of sustainability as cross-curriculum priority in the Australian national curriculum, and to write a reflective account of the process. Forty-seven early childhood pre-service teachers and their supervising teachers consented to the interview transcripts and reflective accounts being used as research data. Analysis of the reflective accounts highlights what enabled and constrained the dialogue across professional experience settings and the benefits of having pre-service teachers engage in such an assessment task. The authors discuss implications for pre-service teacher education and ongoing teacher professional learning. Currently, there is impetus for educational reform in both pre-service teacher education and professional learning for practising teachers (Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2011; Masters, 2009). In an early article, Cochran-Smith and Lytle (1999) highlighted shifting emphases in teacher learning, from a one-time process of 'teacher training' for pre-service teachers and periodic 'staff development' for experienced teachers, and from transmission-based to more constructivist-oriented professional learning experiences. These authors concluded that, "it is now broadly understood that teacher learning takes place over time rather than in isolated moments and that active learning requires opportunities to link previous knowledge with new understandings" (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999, p. 258). Indeed, the "complex and situated nature of teaching" means that ongoing professional learning will be a lifelong activity for 21 st century practitioners (Queensland College of Teachers [QCT], 2012, p. 12). According to the Australian Charter for Professional Learning of Teachers and School Leaders (Australian Institute for Teaching School Leadership [AITSL], 2012), teachers are required to take responsibility for and actively engage in professional learning in order to build their capacity and that of others. Teacher capacity comprises the potential for growth in terms of the disciplinary content and pedagogical content knowledge, skills, values and dispositions needed to be effective in diverse school communities (McDiarmid & Clevenger-Bright, 2008; QCT, 2012). Designing assessment experiences that promote