Thuridur Jóhannsdóttir
tjona@khi.is
http://ust.khi.is/tjona
PAPER IN PROGRESS
Boundary crossing between local schools and web-based
learning management systems in teacher education
A study of distance learners in a teacher education programme in Iceland
Paper presented at the First international ISCAR Conference - International Society
for cultural and Activity Research. Acting in changing worlds: learning,
communication, and minds in intercultural activities. Sevilla 20-24 September 2005.
Introduction
From 1993 the Iceland University of Education has offered initial teacher education
for primary and lower secondary teachers in a distance learning programme. Initially
it was organized to meet the lack of qualified teachers, especially in rural areas and
rules for admission were holding a job as a teacher (Jóhannsdóttir & Skjelmo, 2004).
Now it has evolved as an option for all students alongside the traditional on-campus
version and in 2004 45% of the student teachers were enrolled in the distance
programme. The model is blended though as distance students meet on-campus two
weeks per semester but otherwise the programme is run mainly using learning
management systems on the internet.
The study presented here considers the content and methods of the distance approach
for teacher education as performed in selected on-line courses during the school year
2004-2005. Special attention is given to the contribution of selected teacher students
living in remote rural areas and working as teachers at the same time. The
participation of the selected students in the activity systems of their local schools has
been described in earlier work which will be referred to at the end of this paper.
The courses under study have been chosen to represent the diversity of knowledge in
teacher education. Five courses have been followed and are being analyzed. Three are
part of the core curriculum of the initial teacher education programme, for primary
and lower secondary teachers. They are ethics stressing the importance of dialogue,
mother language teaching for the youngest pupils and spoken language and
performance. Two were chosen from optional courses; textile and craft education
where teacher students are supposed to exhibit their creative work on the web for peer
reactions and science and creativity in early childhood education.
1
This research is part of a doctoral study on distance education for initial teacher
education at the Iceland University of Education. The aim of the doctoral work is to
explore how teacher education in a distance learning programme can be explained
from a socio-cultural perspective, by using concepts and models of analysis mainly
from cultural-historical activity theory. The concepts of learning through
participation in different activity systems, the role of possible shared objects and
transfer as a result of boundary crossing as well as the concept of developmental
transfer is considered. It is discussed how the possible shared object between the
activity systems of the local school and the teacher education programme can support
developmental transfer and expansive learning in both systems. The problematic
relationship between theoretical or propositional knowledge on the one hand and
practical or procedural knowledge on the other hand is in focus as an understanding
of the educational model being researched seems to have the potential of making a
contribution to the debate on the development of content and form of teacher
education.
Theoretical background
In research on teacher knowledge and the knowledge base of teaching, Verloop et al.
(Verloop et al., 2001) discuss the problem experienced by prospective teachers
between the “theory” as presented in the teacher education and the knowledge of
experienced teachers at the practice schools. The reason might be, they continue, that
“it is not at all clear how formal theoretical knowledge and teacher knowledge can be
integrated and used as ‘input’ in teacher education”(444). The challenge in teacher
education as in other professional education is to find out how to bring about
exchange between theoretical principles and teacher expertise so that they interact and
refine each other (Stones, 1994, in Verloop and van Driel). Thiessen (Thiessen, 2000)
talks about “interrelated use of practical knowledge (routines, procedures, processes)
and propositional knowledge (discipline-based theories and concepts, pedagogical
principles, situation specific propositions)” (528) He says that for teacher education
this implies that the teacher education programmes should focus on “practically
relevant propositional knowledge” and the teaching practice on “propositionally
interpreted practical knowledge” (530).
The socio-cultural tradition that has been developed on the basis of the theories of
Vygotsky (Vygotsky, 1978) and especially Engeström’s (Engeström, 1987)
contribution to the development of cultural-historical activity theory form the basis of
the theoretical conceptions in the research. The activity theoretical model and the
activity system as a unit of analysis have guided both the organization of the research
and analysis of data. The stress laid on the connections between individual
functioning and development and the socio-cultural practices in which the individual
takes part is an important perspective in the study.
2
Within the socio-cultural tradition Edwards and others (Edwards et al., 2002) have
developed a view on teacher education based on a critical sociological analysis of
mainstream teacher education paradigms. They discuss the need for rethinking
relationships between knowledge created in practice on one hand and in universities
on the other and suggest that teachers need to be able to both use theories and
collaborate with colleagues to deal with uncertainties which are unavoidable in their
work.
Van Huizen et al (van Huizen et al., 2005) present a Vygotskian perspective on
teacher education from a psychological point of view where they claim that the main
role of teacher education should be to support student teachers in developing
professional identity. They point out that Vygotsky’s concept zone of proximal
development pre-supposes the need of ‘ideal forms’ to direct individual development.
Student teachers therefore will need “… an environment presenting and modeling an
ideal standard of achievement and providing supporting conditions for a successful
approximation of this standard” (272). Among the basic principles of a Vygotskian
paradigm for teacher education that van Huizen et al. present are: learning through
participation, orientation toward ideal forms and development of professional identity
to be arrived at through guided participation. They claim that professional learning
like teacher education is best conceived of as an evolving participation in a social
practice. That understanding brings an important message for teacher education which
traditionally has been organized as separate activities: the theoretical knowledge to be
acquired in universities versus the practical knowledge to be learned by practice in
schools. The way teacher education has been organized may explain the known
‘practice shock’ experienced by beginning teachers, they say.
The study
The paper presents a study which is a part of my Ph.D. thesis1 based on research on
the distance education programme for initial teacher training in the Iceland University
of Education from the perspective of teacher students living and working in remote
rural areas.2 The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the meaning, importance and
possibilities of the programme for teacher students and local schools as well as the
importance and possibilities which the connection to the local schools, through the
distance students, opens up for the teacher training institution.
1
I am working on the thesis at the University of Iceland guided by professor Jón Torfi Jónasson. Allyson
Macdonald and Sten R. Ludvigsen are also guiding my work as they are members of the Ph.D.
committee.
2
This study is part of a larger cooperative project LearnICT which is still in progress. Its purpose is to
consider the nature of the opportunities presented when information and communication technology
(ICT) is used in teaching and learning.
3
The study considers whether the reframing of the distance education programme
along activity theoretical conception can enhance our understanding of this approach
for distance learning and how it could be a basis on which to investigate and develop
distance teacher education and teacher education in general in response to changing
needs in an ever changing society. Learning that leads to development of individuals
and the activity systems in which they participate are under consideration.
In the study I aim at exploring what kinds of learning actions experienced in the
programme, change the practice of the student teachers in local schools. And vice
versa, what kinds of experience from teacher work help the student teachers in the
learning tasks they are exposed to? And then, how changed practice can lead to
development or expansive learning in the activity systems involved.
The main questions to be answered in this paper are: What and how are student
teachers learning as participators in the activity system of the on-line course module?
What supports developmental transfer as distance students who work in local schools
cross boundaries between the two activity systems?
Context
Iceland is situated in the middle of the North Atlantic. Inhabitants are little less than
300 000 living mostly along the coast of the island which is about 103 000 square km.
The density of the population is most around the capital Reykjavik in the south west
where more than two third of the inhabitants live. In the Westfjord peninsula there are
between 7000- 8000 inhabitants living mostly in small villages where the fishing
industry is the most important basis for living. In the biggest town with between
2000-3000 inhabitants there a hospital, a secondary school and a center for continuing
education which has served the increasing number of distance learning students who
are taking courses at universities. With the growing interest in university education a
center for university studies has been founded this year and will at first be supporting
the distance students and may develop to some form of district college.
The lack of qualified teachers has for a long time been a problem, especially in
sparsely populated rural communities in Iceland. With pressure from the school
authorities as well as people living there the Iceland University of Education launched
a full Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) distance programme degree in January 1993,
using new possibilities that were opening up with Internet connections. In the
beginning the rules for admission were being resident in a rural area where lack of
qualified teachers was a problem, having experience of teaching and holding a job as
a teacher. Now admission is open to all who have formal qualifications to enter
university studies. In 2004 61% of students in the programme for compulsory school
teachers were living outside the capital area (Kennaraháskóli Íslands, 2005).
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The school year 2004-2005 18 students living in the northern part of the Westfjord
were enrolled in the distance learning programme of the Iceland University of
Education and out of them 13 had job as teachers in the local primary schools.
The model of the distance learning programme may be described as a blended one
using a mixture of on-line and on-campus sessions. Student teachers enrolled in the
distance programme are in that way involved in multiple communities of practice and
they certainly have to learn how to cross boundaries. Students are obliged to
participate in on-campus sessions approximately two weeks per semester, one week in
the beginning of the semester and one in the middle. Between these sessions they are
supposed to participate in web-based activities through some kind of learning
management system (LMS) and once a year they are to undertake teaching practice,
usually in a nearby school, but sometimes they are allowed to take some of their
teaching practice in the school where they teach.
METHODS
Data collection and participants
In the study as a whole, five schools have been visited several times a year during the
years 2003-2005. While visiting I have been doing a kind of ethnography by staying
several days at the time at least two times a year, interviewing distance student
teachers, doing field observation in their classrooms, interviewing principals and
talking to teachers in general in the schools. I have had contact with 13 of the 18
students living in the area and enrolled in the programme last school year (2004-2005)
of which two are not holding job as teachers. In this paper I focus mainly on data
concerning three distance student teachers working in three different schools.
In the spring term 2005 I was permitted to follow five on-line courses in the
programme. Each term starts with one week on-campus session and I had the
opportunity to participate in some of the courses as an observer and present myself
and my study. After that I wrote a personal letter to the students on the course’s web
asking for permission to observe what happened on the web e.g. their contributions to
discussion and assignment they might publish there. In the middle of the term I
attended another two on-campus sessions in some of the courses. When the courses
were finished I saved the material published on the course webs for further analyzing
it. What I draw on in this paper is based on a preliminary analysis of the course-webs
but they will be analyzed later in more detail.
The paper will first focus on analyzing what and how - the content and methods
students and teachers use in these on-line courses. Then I will turn to the student
teachers as participators in the activity system of their local schools and at last discuss
and examine possible shared objects between activities of the local schools and the
programme.
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The models and theoretical framework of activity theory provide a lens and analytical
tools that hopefully help explaining the model for teacher education being explored.
In developing the activity theory Engeström has defined the activity system as the unit
of analysis (1987) and developing it further he claims that two interacting activity
systems are the minimal unit of analysis needed in order to enhance research on the
possibilities of inter-organizational learning (Engeström, 2001).
In activity theoretical terms teacher students are subjects or actors in the activity
system of the distance learning programme at the same time that they are actors as
teachers in the local schools were they live. As they are actors in two different activity
systems they are required to learn to cross boundaries as they move between the two
communities of practice. Meaningful transfer of learning takes place through
interaction between activity systems (Centre for Activity Theory and Developmental
Work Research, Viewed 21.07.2004b). Shared objects of the two systems enhance
transfer between them. The boundary zone is the place where subjects act on objects
that are beneficial for and serve the goals of both systems.
Figure from:
(Centre for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research, Viewed 21.07.2004):
(see: http://www.edu.helsinki.fi/activity/pages/research/transfer/)
RESULTS
The Activity system of the On-line Courses
The five courses under study have been chosen to represent the diversity of
knowledge in teacher education. The courses are part of the initial teacher education
distance programme, for primary and lower secondary teachers. The subjects or actors
in the on-line activity system are distance students in general. Their actions taken in
the course webs are analyzed. The students are considered as central subjects but the
6
teachers actions are also looked upon and analyzed as their actions and voice in the
activity system are apparently important.
67 students;
1 teacher
Mother language teaching for the youngest pupils
128 students;
5 teachers
90 students;
Spoken language and performance
5 teachers
15-20 students;
Colours and shapes
2 teachers
Science and creative art in early childhood education 44 students;
5 teachers
Ethics
Five courses are being analysed. One course is on ethics and stresses the importance
of dialogue, another is on mother language teaching for the youngest pupils with a
special connection to a teaching practice module, the third is within textile and craft
education where teacher students are supposed to exhibit their creative work on the
web for peer reactions, the fourth is on science and creativity in early childhood
education and the fifth is on science and creativity in early childhood education.
In analyzing the distance students’ participation in general I will pay special attention
to three students whom I have researched particularly through visits, observations and
interviews about how what they learn in the program changes their practice in their
local schools. Here I am interested in learning about how their experience of practice
as teachers possibly changes the way they act in their learning actions in the
university programme. In general I aim at identifying what and how – that is the
content and the methods the students are exposed to in the courses. I will discuss here
three themes or contents which seem to be at the core of all the courses, different as
they otherwise are. It might perhaps be assumed that the identified contents
characterize teacher education – but for the moment it is simply what stands out in the
analyzed courses.
What and how: “Scientific concepts”
In all the courses involved in this study students are supposed to learn what Vygotsky
defines as “scientific concepts” which in his terminology are meant to replace
spontaneous or everyday concepts . Students are supposed to learn linguistic and
natural science concepts as well as concepts on learning theories, e.g. both disciplinebased and pedagogical as they are at the same time learning a subject and learning to
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be able to teach it. This kind of knowledge is sometimes conceptualized as
propositional knowledge (Verloop et al., 2001).
Discussion is an important part of the learning actions students are meant to perform
on the course-web. All teachers encourage students to communicate but there are
differences in how it is valued, for example, if participation in discussion is part of the
assessment and grade for the course. One of the motives in teacher education is
learning to be able to participate in professional discourse and therefore the method to
participate in asynchronous discussion on-line is appropriate.
The concepts being taught are generally meant to be applied to practical reality in
schools. In that case the distance students holding teachers’ jobs in schools have an
opportunity to try them out in real situations whereas others have to use imagined
stories from schools or wait till they go on teaching practice or start working as
teachers. This way student teachers working in schools have the opportunity to gain
procedural knowledge (Karpov, 2003) while the others probably only gain declarative
knowledge from the experience they get during the course.
I take here just one example but this will be examined further as the paper progresses.
In ethics, students are to learn philosophical concepts and use them to deal with
everyday problems, for example, in communication with pupils and parents. Instead
of making assumptions about solutions from common sense using everyday concepts
the students are supposed to learn and apply concepts from ethical theories. The
philosophical method of discussion is used in order to practice the use of these
concepts in solving problems from schools as told in stories that could be real. Each
student must contribute to a discussion about a defined topic three times a week and
that is part of the grading for the course.
As an example the concepts ‘relativism’ and ‘political correctness’ are used to
through light on the situations we must face in multicultural societies. The teacher
directs the discussion by giving the students situations to discuss after having read
theoretical texts. In the case mentioned the teacher stresses the importance of
understanding these concepts for prospective professionals working with and
educating the youngest generation. When the discussion is closed the teacher
publishes a written general response on the course-web, meaning that he does not e.g.
correct misunderstanding of particular students but corrects in general the
understanding of a given (specific) concept.
The use of the discussion as a learning method might turn out to be contradictory
here. It is clearly a benefit to have an opportunity to develop conceptual
understanding in discussion with fellow students. The written mode and the threaded
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discussion enhance reflexivity as students get time to read a discussion in context and
reflect on it before contributing themselves. But on the other hand the asynchronous
mode does mean that the teacher is not on hand to correct possible misunderstanding
of individual students even if he comments on the discussion in general. To analyze
this kind of contradiction in on-line teaching can in activity theoretical terms be a way
to develop the activity and lead to expansive learning.
Samuel is a distance student living in a small fishing village where about 30% of the
population are foreigners, people who have moved to Iceland from Poland, Russia,
Thailand and Philippines to work in fishing factories. For him the mentioned example
of prejudices in dealing with multiculturalism is a real and lived situation and he
contributes to the discussion on-line with his experience of facing be it political
correctness or own prejudices.
…………………………This is to be worked on further
What and how: “working methods and specialized tools in subject/disciplines”
In all the courses student teachers are supposed to be trained in working methods and
the use of specialized tools in the respective subject matter or disciplines. In the
textile course, for example, students are supposed to learn to use cameras to train their
conception of both natural and cultural environment and learn to use it as a resource
in creative work. In natural science student teachers are supposed to learn to use
diverse tools available in everyday environment to do experiments and in an
integrated course on science and creative art the music teacher gives as an assignment
to use such tools doing experiments in exploring sounds.
The methods used are generally exercises that student teachers are supposed to do at
home, that is learning by doing, and then they are supposed to share their experience
on the discussion web. If the exercise includes doing some creative work students are
encouraged to share their work by publishing it on the course-web and sometimes that
is obligatory. Usually this kind of learning action is supposed to be performed
individually though there might be exceptions where two students work together.
The student teachers really do appreciate sharing their work with their co-students.
Here is one comment in the course on textile education:
Wow.
Great ideas, I had not thought of it that way. There you see how important it
is to have an opportunity to communicate. Just to see what the others are
doing is turning on one’s own ideas. Good luck. Best regards, Jenny.
Lilith teaches one of three classes in the 4th grade in a school with over five hundred
pupils. She participated in the course on science and creative arts in which the
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students were supposed to share all their assignments on the course-web as the course
proceeded. In the end they were then supposed to collect the material sent in,
including contributions to discussion, in a digital portfolio for individual assessment.
In analyzing the portfolio, it is clear how clever she is trying out assignments and
ideas presented in the course with her pupils in the classroom. Then she describes
usually in detail what went well and what mistakes she made and how she learned
from the exercise how to do it better next time. Here is just one example:
We stared to collect insects and examine them in a microscope as a part of
the science curriculum. Then we collected seeds from the fruits that the
children brought as provisions. We planted them in empty milk cartons that
we had collected after the lunch-break. The seeds grew well in the
windowsill. The pupils sometimes forgot to water the plants and in the
beginning I made the mistake of watering the plants for them. When some of
the plants began to be a bit limp we discussed what could be the reason for
that. Some mentioned that they forgot to water them but then one pupil said:
No, I have almost never watered mine but it is ok! I had to tell them that I
had watered the plant for him but decided then that I would stop watering
the plants for them so that they would have the right preconditions for their
learning.
This is one of many examples I find in her digital portfolio where she contributes with
her experience as a teacher, where she is trying out the propositional knowledge
presented in the programme with her pupils. Her contribution must be valuable for
other students in the course but how she describes how she applies what she is
learning in the programme reflects that she is gaining procedural knowledge for
herself. She mentions in a reflection on the course that all the assignments have been
useful and that she will use not only her own solutions in the future but also ideas she
have got from her co-students. So there seems to be a growing open and collaborative
culture in the activity system or community of practice that takes place on the coursewebs.
Lilith also mentions, both in her contributions on the course-web and in interviews,
how she spreads ideas from her studies in the school where she is teaching. One
example is when a special method in teaching children concepts by visualization is
presented to them she says: “Actually I have already sent the web-address to the head
teacher because I think that this can be useful in all teaching nowadays.” She is
clearly transferring ideas from one activity system to another.
What and how: “printed curriculum and classroom teaching”
In all courses students are supposed to become familiar with the printed curriculum
and learn to plan classroom teaching. The teachers present the reading materials and
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make assignments that usually are supposed to be shared on the web. Students are
supposed to read, contribute to web-discussion, collaborate on assignments, make
teaching plans. It is sometimes voluntary and sometimes obligatory to share ideas and
plans on the course-web.
When collaborating on assignments students use private mail inside the coures-web a
lot but sometimes teachers organize a forum on the web for group-assignments –
sometimes open, sometimes closed. In the interviews students tell me that besides
that, they use of all kinds of ICT in collaboration, such as telephone, ordinary e-mail
and msn for text-chatting. It is interesting to learn about how they collaborate on text
compositions by sending drafts between each other by e-mail many times. They
appreciate the collaboration although they all know the free-rider problem when
students do not participate in the group work but get their names on the assignments
all the same. This could be an example of contradiction to be worked out in order to
enhance the development of the activity system.
I will now only take one example of how the experience of participation in a
community of practice in school becomes a relevant input into the discussion as the
student teacher reflects on the propositional knowledge presented in the course with
practical experience. This is from the textile course.
Sara teaches 2nd and 3rd grade in one class in a school with around 150 pupils. Her
contribution to the web-discussion reflects her experience of teaching by being
realistic when planning teaching and it is interesting to see her understanding of how
both pupils’ and teachers’ situations in the school restrict what can be done.
She says:
I think it is important that teachers arrive at presenting all assignments in a
diverse (multiple) way, use different teaching methods because we are so
extremely different. What suits me may not at all suit my best friend. It is
nessessary to be careful that the assignments do not take too long a time so
the pupils don’t lose their motivation.
I think that subject integration is interesting and all teachers should examine
possibilities of integrating different subjects. But then it comes to how to
organize this kind of work. All teachers fight with lack of time, isn’t it? But
everything can be done if people wish to.
My opinion is that the national curriculum in textile-education is only a
guideline, it is far too extensive to be followed exactly.
As it comes to the work of pupils I think that they schould be visible in the
school. In my school there are samples of the teachers’ work covering the
walls of the art and craft classroom but none from the pupils which I think is
a shame. I must mention though that there are textile work from pupils in the
hall.
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It can be identified here that Sara could function as a change agent. When crossing
boundaries between the two activity systems she is transfering knowledge from one
system to another which helps her see contradictions in each system. That is the first
step in the expansive learning cycle.
Motive and outcome
Distance students living in the rural areas and working as teachers in local schools
want to get a secure job in their home town when entering the programme. In their
studies they learn to value the importance of being accepted as professional
practitioners in the school and the community.
By participation in the courses students are supposed to learn content, professional
discourse, working methods and use of tools in subjects as well as in teaching
practice. The local schools in which some of the student teachers work are not
officially regarded as a part of the teacher education but in my research I claim that
they certainly play an important role. In another part of my study I have been focusing
on how what the student teachers tell me they learn in the programme change their
practice as teachers in the local schools. In the analysis of the courses in this paper I
have pointed out how their experience of teaching can change their learning actions,
both through contributions to discussion and assignments shared on the LMS.
Here I want to focus on three different local schools and by using concepts from
cultural-historical activity theory I will explore what makes them likely or not to
support or enhance developmental learning when interacting with the programme –
here with focus on the analyzed courses
The Activity System of the Local Schools
Let us now turn to the possibilities for developmental transfer that might open up in
the situation where distance students work as teachers at the same time as they
participate in the programme for teacher training.
The concept of developmental transfer – where interacting activity systems benefit
from the interaction - includes understanding learning as something leading to
development for individuals and communities alike. The criteria for developmental
transfer are benefits of cooperation between two different activity systems for both
systems and individuals as participators and actors in these systems. In the activity
system of the on-line courses, not only individuals are learning – it can be looked
upon as a community of practice where both the individuals taking part and the
community itself are learning. Teacher educators are learning and developing their
teaching methods and students their learning methods, e.g. their modes of
collaboration and social support.
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The second question of this paper is concerned with what supports developmental
transfer as distance students who work in local schools cross boundaries between the
two activity systems – here the on-line community is in focus as central activity in the
teacher education programme.
I will here focus on distance students participating in my study, working in three
different types of local schools. The three schools are very different – not only in size
– but in history with regard to the experience of having teachers who at the same time
are enrolled in a distance education programme for initial teacher education.
In two of the schools there have been teachers in the initial teacher education distance
programme at the Iceland University of Education since its inception in 1993. Many
of those who were in the first groups have since continued studying in the graduate
programme of the IUE, specializing in some areas of the teaching profession. Some of
those people now hold important positions as head teachers, deputy head teachers or
other important professional roles in the schools.
Lilith is in her third year in the programme (2004-2005) and holds at the same time a
teacher job in a rather big school with more than 500 pupils situated in the biggest
town in the area.
There are over 50 teachers and the staff as a whole up to 80. Four or five of the
teachers are enrolled in initial teacher education at a distance and seven or eight are
enrolled in some graduate programmes, most of them at the Iceland University of
Education. The head teacher and one of two deputy head teachers are taking diplomas
in school management. Since 1993 there have always been some teachers in the
distance programme, at first only for initial teacher education and later in the graduate
department too.
Sara is in her third year too and teaches in a middle size school with 150 pupils in a
fishing industry town with little less than one thousund inhabitans. People are moving
from the town and the teachers have to adapt to the situation that there are fewer
pupils each year. Last year (2004-2005) for the first time two grades had to be ta ught
in one class. There are over 20 teachers in the school and last year three of them were
immigrants. Four teachers were enrolled in the distance programme for initial teacher
education, and two had just finished a diploma in the graduate department of IUE.
The principal is taking a master’s degree and several others, both teachers and other
staff, were enrolled in some kind of continuing educational programmes. As in the
previous school there have been some teachers in the distance programme since its
inception.
Sam was in his second year during 2004-2005. He is a teacher in a small school of
between 30 and 40 pupils in a fishing village of about 250 inhabitants. From five to
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seven teachers work in the school and three of them were distance students in 20042005. The teaching staff has been very unstable last years and for example head
teachers have been changed every year the last three years. The village went through a
natural catastrophe some 10 years ago when a snow avalanche destroyed part of it and
many people died. Many immigrants have moved to the village to work in the fishing
industry during the last few years and now about 30% of the inhabitants are
immigrants, for example, from Poland, Russia, Thailand and the Philippines resulting
in that one third of the pupils in the local school have a foreign background. Up to one
third of the pupils in the school do not speak Icelandic as their first language.
Lilith teaches one of three classes in the 4th grade. All three class teachers are
supposed to collaborate on curriculum planning and they have to coordinate the
content and methods to a certain degree. In her class there is a disabled pupil who is
supported by a teacher assistant with whom she has to collaborate with in preparing
inclusive teaching methods in accordance with official school policy. Lilith teaches
also ICT-classes as a specialized subject teacher which gives her an opportunity to
communicate with the respective class teachers and she expresses an interest in
having time to work more closely with them.
She uses many assignments and ideas she is learning about in the programme in her
teaching, and by trying them out, she gets the opportunity to gain procedural
knowledge in addition to the theoretical or propositional knowledge she is exposed to
in the programme. As a class teacher she has a space where she can try out teaching
methods and content simultaneously as she is learning about them in the programme.
She feels that it is tough that sometimes having to cooperate with the other class
teachers teaching the same grade can be a constraint as they may not be willing to
make an extra effort needed to do something new. On the other hand having to
discuss the ideas with experienced colleagues is an important step in the learning
process. The head teacher said in an interview that in his opinion this cooperation is
an important forum for student teachers to develop their ideas and learn. Remember
that this school has some thirteen years experience of having student teachers working
as teachers while studying.
My experience of visiting the school is that the atmosphere among the teachers, for
example in the staff-room, is rather open and gives space for professional discussion.
Lilith can discuss new ideas which she brings from her studies with her fellow
teachers although they are not always ready to buy them or change their modes. She
thinks that her colleagues are helpful but often more willing to teach her than to learn
from her contributions. Being in the situation of crossing borders between the activity
system of the school and the programme she can point to contradictions in both
systems and how they could be worked out in order to develop, be it the school or the
programme. She could have the potential to be a change agent that by her practice
14
brings forth expansive learning. The question is what is needed in the respective
activity systems to be receptive to changes.
In the middle size school where Sara is a teacher there is usually one class in each
grade. She has therefore considerable independence in curriculum planning and
methods and does not have to collaborate closely with others in that sense. Last year
there was a need to mix grades and Sara was asked to teach 2nd and 3rd grade in one
class. This was a great challenge for her as a student teacher but none of the other
teachers had any experience with that form of classroom teaching. Some of the pupils
had been analyzed with ADHD and because of that she had a teaching assistant to
support her in the classroom. They collaborated well with Sara in the decision
position and the assistant being ready to support her as needed.
I visited Sara first when she was in her second year in the programme. She told me
that she did not discuss her studies with her colleagues or ask them for support
although many of them had gone through the same programme a few years ago and
some still were in the programme. She didn’t want to disturb them she said, as they
have enough to do. But she told me how she used what she learned with the pupils in
the classroom and how the studies had helped her in gaining self-confidence in parent
cooperation. When starting her third year she offered herself as a candidate for the
planning committee for the youngest children, apparently gaining self confidence as
her studies progress. She had by then also gained a reputation as a good teacher
among the parents in the town. The head teacher praised her increasing
professionalism which for example is evident in teaching plans she hands in to the
management. She also admired how clever she is in trying out in the classroom new
ideas she brings from her studies. My classroom observations confirm that.
As the model of the school has for a long time been that of one teacher teaching in
one class all pupils in the same grade a collaborative atmosphere has not been
cultivated. Each teacher has had the responsibility for content and methods in her
classroom. A new head teacher told me that her challenge in this school will be to get
the teachers to collaborate and make their classroom practice more overt. She had
been a teacher in the biggest town before and claimed that there was a big difference
in atmosphere and she wanted to enhance a more open professional discussion among
the staff as she thinks that is important for further development of the school.
Sam is teaching 10-12 pupils in the 5th, 6th and 7th grade in one class. He seems to
decide more or less for himself what and how to teach. As the pupils are very
different he would need to know how to use diverse methods to differentiate in his
classroom teaching. These ten to twelve pupils (two moved back to Thailand in the
spring) have five different ethnic backgrounds so Sam really would need support in
dealing with that, not only the pupils, but also how to deal with parent cooperation in
15
a multicultural society. As there have been problem with the school management and
the school has suffered from lack of educated teachers, a professional atmosphere
seems to be very much lacking which should be apparent when half of the teacher
staff consist of student teachers. So it seems that the school supports neither
collaboration nor professional discussion although the atmosphere is welcoming and
caring for the pupils’ wellbeing. But as Sam has a lot of autonomy in his job as a
teacher he can try out methods and ideas he gets in his studies. The problem being
that the ‘ideal form’ for teaching presented in the teacher education programme is far
from Sam’s reality. In an observation of his class I witnessed how he was using ideas
from the spoken language and performance course and it seamed to me that it worked
very well for some of the pupils while others were not in tune.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Using the model of the group for Workplace Learning and Developmental Transfer in
Helsinki I would like to discuss the possible shared object between the learning in the
programme as identified in the five courses and the three schools I have described.
Possible shared objects enhance boundary crossing which then can lead to
developmental transfer. Defining the possible shared object should inform the activity
systems involved about how developmental transfer and expansive learning might be
supported in both systems.
All the distance student teachers participate in the activity systems of the program
where they are exposed to certain kind of working methods. In the analyzed courses
this includes that student contributions to a learning community on the web,
collaboration on assignments and sharing of their solutions, experiences and some
times feelings. It is a culture of open debate and mutualism and students are really
clever supporting each other in many ways. But the distance students working as
teachers have very different situations. The three students I have discussed here teach
in schools that differ a lot with regard to collaboration and professional discussion
among the staff. Those are clearly a possible shared object between the programme
and the biggest school where Lilith is teaching, much less in Sara’s school and hardly
at all in Sam’s school.
Van Huizen et al. (van Huizen et al., 2005) point out the need of ‘ideal forms’ to
direct individual development. The propositional knowledge presented in the teacher
education embrace an image of an ideal form for school. If that ideal form is in
coherence with the reality experienced by the distance student teachers working as
teachers that could serve as a possible shared object. In a school where there is very
little professional discussion student teachers will not get support in learning the
professional discourse. And in a school that differs a lot from the ideal form, like the
small multicultural school in this study there is a very little possibility of a shared
16
object while the big school comes close to the perception of ideal form which seems
to underlie the programme.
It seems to be important for the individual participants in the two interacting activity
system to have a space for performance in both systems. The three participating
student teachers in my study perform differently and it could be explained throughs
the possible shared object between the programme and their schools being different.
But they are also different individuals with diffferent personalities which might
explain it too.
I will have to work furhter on that ........
But I think that analyzing the participation of these three student teachers in the
interacting system shows that they are certainly learning by participation in the two
systems of which the local schools are not less important. This model for teacher
education is in many way in coherence with what prominent theoreticians on
teacher education are proposing for development. It is considered of importance to
value both teachers’ practical knowledge and formal theories and Verloop et al
propose that confronting each element with the other could enhance the quality of
both.
The first step in gaining from the interaction of the systems representing theory or
propositional knowledge on the one hand and practical knowledge on the other hand
is accepting both places as locus of professional learning. Then by exploring the
possible shared objects and enhance them - in order to support border crossing and
transfer between the two activity-systems - could open up possibilities for
developmental transfer and expansive learning leading to change and development
in these two systems. The institutions involved in educating teacher will have to coconfigurate (Engeström, 2004) their activities which could then result in what
Verloop et al (Verloop et al., 2001) describe as “practically relevant propositional
knowledge” in the university and “propositionally interpreted practical knowledge”
in schools.
17
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