Exploring the theory-practice gap in initial teacher education: Moving beyond questions of relevance to issues of power and authority

Exploring the theory-practice gap in initial teacher education: Moving beyond questions of relevance to issues of power and authority

• McGarr, Oliver University of Limerick, Ireland
• O'Grady, Emmanuel University of Limerick, Ireland
• Guilfoyle, Liam University of Limerick, Ireland

Journal of Education for Teaching, 43(1), 48-60, 2017

Routledge

2017

• M Teachers & Education for Teachers
  • MA Professional Education for Teachers

Theory-Practice Gap Student Teacher Authority Teacher Power Bases Discourse Analysis England

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Post-Secondary Education

The theory-practice divide' in teacher education can be viewed not simply as an acceptance of a body of knowledge but instead an acceptance of the teacher educator's authority to determine what is relevant educational theory. This research aimed to explore student teachers' views of educational theory' and how it was discursively positioned relative to their practice in an attempt to examine whether their acceptance or rejection of it was also related to accepting the authority of the teacher educator. Using one-to-one interviews with 23 student teachers and employing a discourse analysis, four categories of students emerged. The paper describes these four categories and discusses the implications of these findings for initial teacher education and our understanding of the theory-practice' gap.

• English

Journal Articles

• 02607476

• 10.1080/02607476.2017.1256040

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/f2dd00a3

2017-10-09