Profile and vision

Stord/Haugesund University College (SHUC) proposes a Centre for Excellence in Higher

Education (CEE) named the Centre for Excellence in Rehearsing Praxis in Teacher Education (cePraxis). While practice is often perceived as being based on rules and technical and rational procedures, the focus on praxis serves to highlight the teacher as a reflective, critical, moral and thoughtful professional. Our proposal for cePraxis is the result of lengthy efforts in the Faculty of Teacher and Cultural Education at SHUC to link the two learning arenas; Practicum and University College. The cePraxis will focus on the rehearsal of teaching, and reflects a shift in focus from the general development of the individual towards becoming a teacher to a stronger focus on quality aspects in the content and forms of activities in practicum, as well as the quality of interaction between what goes on in the classroom and in teacher education subjects and curricula. In this, we are in line with the international trend in teacher education research that stresses substantive rather than structural features (Darling-Hammond, 2006; Klette & Hammerness, 2016). The proposal for cePraxis is solidly based on previous work at SHUC and on research in teacher education. Linking theory and practice in dynamic relationship and rehearsing the enactment of particular classroom practice in order to develop visions for good teaching will be a central aspect of cePraxis in our teacher education programs (Klette & Hammerness, 2016; Boyd & Grossman et al., 2006;

Grossman et al., 2008; Feiman-Nemser, Tamir & Hammerness, 2014).

We have chosen cePraxis as the name of the centre. The concept of praxis is related both to ancient and modern theories on communication (Aristotle, 1981, p 209; Biesta, 2004; Kemmis & Smith, 2008) and to an understanding of essential characteristics of the teaching profession, for example as expressed in Priestly, Biesta and Robinson’s (2015) theory of teacher agency. Aristotle sees praxis as the art of action; it is understood as the practical kind of reasoning connected to a person’s phronésis, his ability to make sound judgements (Aristotle, 1981, p. 209; 1991, p. 34). In this way, praxis requires judgement about what is to be done, and the concept offers a holistic understanding of teaching. Teacher agency is not something people can have; it is what people do (Priestly et al.

2015). Priestly, Biesta and Robinson provide an ecological perspective on agency and stress how teacher agency should be understood, not only in terms of the individual capacity of teachers but

Page 2 also in respect of the cultures and structures of education.

The vision for cePraxis is:

To develop and study a Rehearsal Praxis Model (RPM) for teacher education, suitable for developing visions about good education, for developing coherence in teacher education and for developing opportunities to enact praxis. The Centre will thus lead innovations, research and excellence in order to develop teacher education.

We envision the establishment of cePraxis with the overarching aim:

To develop and study a third space for learning teaching, based on two overarching concepts: rehearsing and praxis.

This implies that we aim to gain a deeper understanding of how praxis can inform and guide the actions of educators (teachers and teacher educators). We aim to encourage the enhancement of praxis in the lived conditions of practice for the individual teacher, but also aim to encourage the formation and development of social, cultural and material conditions that make educational praxis possible. We also aim to conceptualise the Rehearsal Space as a framework for professional

development.

1.1 The Rehearsal Space as a central vehicle for praxis in teacher education

Teacher education in Norway has been criticized for the gap between theory and practice where academic coursework are loosely linked to school-based fieldwork (NOKUT, 2006; Munthe, Malmo, & Rogne, 2011). The establishment of cePraxis proposes the Rehearsal Space (RS) as one method of encouraging this integration. The RS comprises both methods and physical space; it is a way to meet practicum in a space between the well-recognised divide in campus-based teacher education and teacher education in practicum. When the pre-service student teachers (PSTs) rehearse teaching practices such as providing explanations, orchestrating classroom dialogues in different subjects or trying out methods from educational drama on peer students, the traditional campus teaching is changed into a dynamic learning space. In a focus group interview¹ a PST stated that: “I learned a lot! When I rehearsed on my class [of pre-service teachers] they came up with lots of questions that I hadn’t thought of, and this meant that I was better prepared because it turned out that my students asked the same questions!”. This kind of rehearsal provides the teacher educator with opportunities to supervise the PSTs in their teaching practices, and thematise both subject and pedagogical knowledge. In this way, the RS provides PSTs with formative feedback. The

1 Excerpt from a focus group interview with one group of PSTs that participated in the IMTE project, a research program (2012–2016) where rehearsing has been a central theme. More on IMTE later.

Page 3 Rehearsing Praxis in the RS also contains the opportunity for analysing video clips of PSTs before and after teaching in practicum with a view to insights and improvement. Another PST states:

“Then you see yourself on video afterwards and you get to see what you actually were doing, you observe how you speak and how you use your body language and how you react on different inputs.

I think it is very informative”. In this setting, the teacher educator and peer PSTs can discuss

theoretical aspects that demonstrate the link between theory and practice including how practice can also generate teacher knowledge.

The RS is both a physical space and a metaphor for the Rehearsal Praxis Model that is adopted within this space. The RS in SHUC is at one level a physical room furnished with technical

equipment for video or audio recording and with a wide range of ICT equipment for experimenting with every form of rehearsing or analysing teaching. This room then affords the opportunity to facilitate coached rehearsals, structured as, on one hand, approximations and educational simulations, the PSTs being themselves, trying out different teaching strategies and educational tasks, and, on the other hand, approximations where they take on different roles and try out being in someone else’s shoes. The purpose of these processes is to make room for polyphonic rehearsals and exercises in order to explore subjects, themes and media in didactics. The RS is thus an arena for the PSTs’ spontaneous and premeditated handling of examples of content, activation forms, media and artefacts in and across practices.

Thus, the vision of cePraxis will be achieved through establishing some closely integrated principles. We want to establish praxis as a collegial learning culture among our academic staff where we aim to develop shared responsibility for PSTs, courses and programs. Being a small Faculty, we have a long tradition of interdisciplinary cooperation on all levels, and want to build on this tradition. To do this we want to engage staff and PSTs in the renewal of the broader learning environment and further develop and enhance the RS. We want to develop our physical, social and virtual spaces for sharing experience and ideas, and will optimise the physical and digital learning environment to foster learning across the educational domains. It is also necessary to set learning goals that engage PSTs actively in their pursuit of competence, and integrate development of problem-solving, deep learning and learning-to-learn skills in the curriculum. This also means that we will increase hands-on experience with research, management and education. Another important element is to develop quality assurance and evaluation as tools for monitoring progress, recognising and rewarding excellence and spreading ‘best practice’, and also to encourage and conduct learning

‘experiments’ and document and report outcomes. We want to develop links to other similar centres, and enable the learning and sharing of experience within cePraxis and beyond through

Page 4 virtual sites and tools, working groups/workshops and an open teacher education conference. An ultimate goal is to increase and systematise communication with employers, end-users and teacher education alumni to better understand society’s needs and to communicate the contributions of rehearsal-based teacher education praxis. This will result in a dissemination of knowledge through new study plans, new plans for practicum, audio- and video-based course material and examples of methodologies built on the sequences that constitute the RS. Additionally, all researchers involved will use knowledge gained in the cePraxis in their ongoing research, and publish results at relevant conferences and in journals.

The RS, as a model for teacher education, is suitable for developing what Klette and Hammerness (2016) describe as key features of powerful teacher education; visions of good education, coherence in education and opportunities to enact teaching.