Deconstructing initial teacher education: a critical approach

ABSTRACT

The paper explores the development and facilitation of a new initial teacher education (ITE) programme underpinned by critical perspectives. It looks at the past and existing influences that have shaped the ways schooling is understood and operationalised in Aotearoa New Zealand. Through an 11-month ethnographic case study approach, the paper discusses an investigation of how a cohort of teacher educators attempt to highlight and deconstruct inequities underlying contemporary educational practices to student teachers. The purpose is to prepare emergent teachers who will be socially conscious of the purposes of education and to reconceptualise teaching with the learning outcomes of classroom students at the centre of education.

KEYWORDS:

• Case study
• initial teacher education (ITE) programme
• ethnographic approach
• critical perspectives

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Naturalistic generalisation is a process where readers gain insight by reflecting on the details and descriptions presented in case studies. As readers recognise similarities in case study details and find descriptions that resonate with their own experiences, they consider whether their situations are similar enough to warrant generalisations. Naturalistic generalisation invites readers to apply ideas from the natural and in-depth depictions presented in case studies to personal contexts (Melrose, 2010, 3).

2 A teacher educator in the first course observed.

3 Even though pakeha in Maori means individuals of non-Maori or non-Polynesian heritage, in New Zealand society the term has come to be assumed to refer to New Zealanders who are of European-descent.

4 A teacher educator in the second course observed.

5 A teacher educator in the third course observed.

6 Observed on 25 April each year, Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who lost their lives during the First World War.

7 Sacred places or communal places of worship where Maori people would gather according to their particular tribes.

8 Maori funeral rites.

9 Traditional sets of chants and war-dances that Maori people would perform at particular occasions according to their tribes.

10 Traditional Maori music

11 A teacher educator in the first course observed.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Leechin Heng

Leechin Heng, PhD, has recently been awarded with a doctorate in education from the University of Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand. As a wheelchair-user, she is passionate about making education more inclusive to all people, across gender, social economic status, ethnicity, dis/ability.

Kathleen Quinlivan

Associate Professor Kathleen Quinlivan is an internationally recognised researcher in the field of school-based sexuality education within formal and non-formal educational sites within secondary schools. She is particularly interested in exploring the conditions of possibility for transformational learning related to genders, sexualities and differences with young people.

Rosemary du Plessis

Adjunct Associate Professor Rosemary du Plessis has long term interests in gender, family, work and embodiment. She has edited two collections of feminist writing and contributed to a variety of studies relating to women’s paid and unpaid work.