In search of coherence: ‘inquiring’ at multiple levels of a teacher education system

Abstract

Inquiry-into-practice represents a valuable disposition for teachers; reflecting on one’s teaching to derive insights for subsequent practice can enhance professional efficacy and promote student achievement. To support this disposition among teacher candidates (TCs), Lynch School of Education faculty at Boston College created a capstone course, Inquiry Seminar, where TCs complete a formal inquiry project. Conducted while student-teaching, the project requires candidates to research their teaching practice, identify areas of concern, and modify their teaching accordingly. To assess the teacher education system’s coherence, we explored how Inquiry Seminar did, and did not, align with program objectives. We drew on varied data sources, including interviews, course observations, archival data, and inquiry project papers. We found that when Inquiry Seminar experiences complemented TCs’ field experience, program objectives were more often realized. Two factors proved critical to our research: integrating the often-neglected voice of TCs and clinical staff, and examining a foundational feature of the teacher education program, Inquiry Seminar.

Keywords:

• teacher education
• pre-service teachers
• self-study
• teacher inquiry
• coherence

Notes

1. Throughout, we use ‘pupil learning’ and ‘pupils’ so as to differentiate between the learning of TCs who participated in our study and their pupils.

2. When referring to the first and second authors’ work with Inquiry Seminar and Secondary History Methods, we use the term ‘we.’ The third author was not involved in teaching either course.