Theory and practice in professional education: A systematic review
Trine Kløveager Nielsen, Department of Education, Aarhus University
e-mail: tkn@dpu.dk
Table 1: Educational context investigated
Aims of the study
A fundamental component in professional education is the interaction
between theory and practice. However, many students in professional
education programs experience a lack of coherence between theory
and practice, which is sometimes described as the theory-practice gap
(Leinhardt et al., 1995; Landers, 2000; Spouse, 2001).
In recent years, there has been a drop in the number of applicants for
the educational programs in Denmark and at the same time an
increase in the drop-out rate. There can be many reasons for this, but
one contributing factor appears to a lack of coherence between theory
and practice as experienced by the students. A study by Jensen et al.
(2008) showed that 35% of students, who considered to drop out of
their professional bachelor education programs experienced an
inadequate relation between theory and practice in the education.
This study is part of ”Bridging the Gap”, a Danish research project
conducted in collaboration between the Institute of Education,
University of Aarhus (DPU), Danish Institute of Governmental Research
(AKF), University College Capital (UCC) and the Engineering College
of Aarhus. The aim of Bridging the Gap is to explore the relationship
between theory and practice in teacher, nurse, social work and
engineering education.
The aim of the present study, which is still ongoing, is to identify the
most promising strategies for improving the relationship between theory
and practice through the conduction of a systematic review of the
international empirical research of relevance to the review question
based on both qualitative and quantitative methods. The systematic
review consists of a research mapping, which identifies and
characterizes the empirical research concerning the review question,
and a synthesis based on the empirical studies found in the research
mapping. The review question guiding the research was:
Which strategies in education affect the theory-practice
relationship in professional education programs in teaching,
nursing, engineering and social work and in other professional
bachelor education programs regarding health, teaching and
technology, and how?
Theoretical frame
In this project, the aim is to maintain an open approach to various
understandings and conceptualizations of the theory-practice
relationship in order to include different kinds of research approaching
the theory-practice relationship from different angles, within different
research paradigms and with different kinds of research
methodologies. There are a number of different approaches to the
question of theory and practice as well as different views on how to
create better coherence between theory and practice in professional
education (see for example Carlson, 1999; Korthagen & Kessels, 1999;
Kroll, 2004; Leinhardt et al., 1995; Westbury, 2005).
Since the primary studies presumably are based on different and
perhaps contradicting perceptions of the theory-practice relationship, it
is deemed necessary to analyze and clarify which understanding each
primary study is based upon in order to determine whether different
understandings also lead to different results in the primary studies. As a
framework for analysis, Wilfred Carr’s typology of different
understandings of the theory-practice relationship will be employed
(Carr, 1986). This typology has proved adequate to characterize the
understandings of the theory-practice relationship in professional
education (Fealy, 1997; 1999; Wong, 2011).
According to Carr (1986), there is no gap between theory and practice,
but rather a gap between rivaling theories about how practice is to be
understood. Rival views of educational theory also incorporate rival
views of how theory relates to practice. Carr argues that when the
theorist’s interpretation of practice is similar to that of the practitioner,
theory and practice relate to each other in a relevant way. However,
when the theorist and the practitioner construe professional practice in
different ways, theory is perceived by the practitioner as unrelated to
practice.
Carr identifies five approaches, each implying a particular view on
theory, practice and the relationship between the two. In Carr (1986)
four approaches are described; the common sense approach, the
applied science approach, the practical approach, and the critical
approach. Later, Carr also introduces a fifth approach, the
philosophical approach (Carr, 1990).
Approach
Theory
Practice
Theory-practice relation
The ”good” relation
Common sense
Theory is driven by practice and
can be derived from the
practitioner’s understandings
and insight.
Practice is seen as the
expression of the practitioner’s
beliefs, concepts and
understandings.
The theory derived from good
practice is used to guide future
practice
P→T
The practitioner masters skills
from the already existing
practical knowledge.
Applied science
Theory consists of abstract
principles and generalizations
based on empirical research.
Practice is a technical activity
where ends defined beforehand
are to be accomplished.
Theory is applied to practice as
objective evidence from
empirical research expressed as
abstract principles guiding and
regulating practice.
T→P
The practitioner uses the
scientifically accredited
guidelines in practice. The given
ends are reached through the
use of the applied science.
Philosophical approach
Theory consists of a
philosophical understanding and
the purpose of practice in the
form of concepts and insights
formulated by the theoretician.
Practice is a reflective practice
based on pedagogical ideals
articulated in relation to a
“theory”.
The theory provides the
practitioner with concepts and
insights that can articulate an
understanding of the
practitioner’s role and the
purpose of practice.
T
↓
P
The practitioner can defend
moral principles of practice. The
practitioner makes practical
choices that are in accordance
with theoretical principles, values
and ideas.
Theory informs the practitioner’s
understanding of what good
practice is and offers ways of
actions in practice that are right
and righteous.
T↔P
P1→T1→P2→T2→
“Defensible decisions”. The
practitioner can (morally) defend
his or hers actions in practice.
The relationship between theory
and practice is about ideologycritique where the practitioners
engage in critical self-reflection
and thereby enhance their
consciousness and rational
autonomy.
P1(not free) →T1→P2(free)
The practitioner uses theory to
reflect on practice in relation to
contextual factors, habits,
traditions and ideologies and
thereby becomes liberated and
conscious.
Practical approach
Critical approach
Theory is a form of knowledge
that is derived from a complex,
social practice. It is a knowledge
that is always insecure and
incomplete.
Practice is a complex, social
activity.
Theory is understood as an
ideology-critical self-reflection. It
is insights and understandings of
contextual and ideological
factors which influence practice.
Practice is a social practice
which is culturally and historically
embedded. Practice is always
problematic.
The first part of the screening was based on abstracts, and the studies
included in this part were then full-text screened on basis of the whole
document. Reliability of the screening was addressed through a test of
inter-rater reliability employing Cohen’s Kappa. Agreements of ratings
was 96.67% with a Kappa-value of .839. The strength of agreement
between raters could thus be considered as “very good” (Altman, 1992)
or “almost perfect” (Landis & Koch, 1977).
A literature search was conducted in various databases within
educational research, but since professional education research is
often cross disciplinary it was chosen to also search within sociological
and psychological databases in order to reflect the width of the
research. The search was conducted in 13 databases, representing
both Scandinavian and international research. Furthermore, a hand
search was conducted in journals that were regarded as core journals
within the field.
A list of inclusion and exclusion criteria was developed in order to
select only the primary studies focusing on the review question. The
most significant screening criteria dealt with the topic and focus of the
study while other criteria regarded methodology, educational context,
geography and time of publication. Next step in the review process was
the screening of the identified studies according to the defined criteria.
The screening took place in the EPPI-Reviewer, a web-based software
for conducting systematic reviews.
Social work education: 1
Preschool teacher education: 14
Summary of the review process
Identification of primary
studies
Database search
4657 references
identified
442 duplicates
identified
Method
Nurse education: 22
Included studies were coded and analyzed in the EPPI-Reviewer. Primary
studies were coded in categories according to the five understandings of
the theory-practice relationship as described by Carr (1986; 1990) and the
strategies and professional educational context in focus of the study.
Furthermore, studies were coded in the EPPI-Reviewer for a number of
topics such as study type and information about study aims, sample, data
collection, data analysis, results, and conclusions. A narrative synthesis
approach as described by Popay et al. (2006) was taken to the synthesis.
The narrative synthesis approach is suitable for systematic reviews
focusing on questions not only relating to the effectiveness of a particular
intervention. The main elements of the synthesis consist of (a) developing
a theoretical model of how the interventions work, why and for whom, (b)
developing a primary synthesis, (c) exploring relationships in the data, and
(d) assessing the robustness of the synthesis product.
Removal of duplicates
For the analysis of primary studies, a model based on Carr’s five
approaches to the theory-practice relationship is used. The model is a
matrix in three dimensions of which one consists of the approach to the
theory-practice relationship, while the others consist of the educational
context and the strategy which is investigated in the study. This also
makes it possible to conduct many small syntheses where e.g. studies
with the same theory-practice approach, educational context or strategy
are synthesized.
Engineering education: 3
Obtainable
documents
Fulltext screening
Screening based on the
full text of each
document
307 documents
obtained
One document was
not available
222 studies excluded
85 studies included
Data extraction
Data extraction and
coding of 99 primary
studies
91 unique
primary
studies
remain
Research mapping
Characteristic features
of the included primary
studies
4215 unique
references
Abstractscreening
Screening based on
abstract
Phase 1
Included documents
3907 references
excluded
308 documents
included
Hand-search
Search for references in
core journals
14 studies identified
and included
Phase 2
Included documents
99 studies included
Narrative synthesis
Based on the included
primary studies
Results and
conclusion
Preliminary results
The literature search generated 4657 hits. The references were uploaded and
imported in the EPPI Reviewer, and duplicates were removed which left a
number of 4215 references. After abstract screening, 308 studies were
included based on the inclusion criteria. Of these, 85 were included after
screening based on full text. A further 14 were included based on a handsearch in the core journals of the field, making the number of primary studies
included in the review 99. The studies were coded in the EPPI-Reviewer Data
Extraction and Coding Tool for Education Studies V2.0 which was adjusted to
this specific systematic review. During the coding, the number of references
was reduced to 91 because some of the studies turned out to be articles
published in different journals about the same study.
The coding of the primary studies shows that most of the studies deal with
teacher education while only three of 91 studies deal with engineering
education and 14 with nurse education. It is not possible to determine the
reason for this based on the data, but it shows that there is much attention
towards the theory practice relationship in educational research about teacher
education compared to research about nurse and engineer education. As
illustrated in Table 1, the number of codes for educational context exceeds the
number of studies included because some studies are coded for more than
one educational context, e.g. both preschool teacher education and teacher
education.
Teacher education: 61
Other: 4
The included studies deal with a number of different strategies including
various types of technology supported tools for reflection and social
networking (34 studies); portfolio or journal writing (24); organization of
field experiences and learning in practice settings (17); supervision and
mentoring (20); case based learning (11); collaborative learning, e.g. study
group or seminars (30); action research where students make inquiries or
research in a practice setting, e.g. in connection with their field placement
or thesis (7); narratives such as life stories, patient stories or letter writing
(7); skill labs or demonstration labs (3); and partnerships between
university and practice setting (17). Several studies deal with more than
one strategy or a combination of strategies, e.g. a study dealing with
online peer journaling has been coded for “technology” as well as for
“journal” and “collaborative learning”.
Most of the studies take the practical approach to the theory practice
relationship. They emphasize reflection and reflective practices and view
students´ abilities to make justified and defensible decisions as the primary
goal for learning. Studies with a practical approach to the theory practice
relationship seem to be mainly dealing with teacher education. Among the
studies dealing with nurse and engineer education are also a number of
studies with an applied science approach to theory and practice although
the practical approach can also be found in nurse education studies. Only
a few studies take a common sense or a critical approach, and no studies
have a philosophical approach.
The next steps will be the conduction of a research mapping of the primary
studies included followed by an in-depth analysis and synthesis. In the
synthesis, focus is on the strategies investigated in the primary studies
and on the studies´ understanding of the theory-practice relationship and
how these underlying assumptions influence the focus and results of the
studies. A hypothesis is that because different understandings of theory
and practice implicate different understandings of the “good” relationship
between theory and practice, then different educational strategies will be
relevant depending on the particular assumptions and goals for the
relationship between theory and practice that are implied in the primary
studies. The systematic review is expected to be finished by January
2013.
References
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Carr, W. (1998). For Education: Towards Critical Educational Inquiry. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Carr, W. (2006). Education without Theory. British Journal of Educational Studies, Vol. 54, No. 2, June 2006 (136-159).
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