Community-based field experiences in teacher education: possibilities for a pedagogical third space

Abstract

Abstract:The present article discusses the importance of community-based field experiences as a feature of teacher education programs. Through a qualitative case study, prospective teachers' work with homeless youth in an after-school initiative is presented. Framing community-based field experiences in teacher education through "third space" theory, the article discusses the value that such experiences have for prospective teachers' learning. The goals of the article align with the commitment to preparing a future teaching force for the diverse educational settings that they will encounter in the twenty-first century. (Darling-Hammond, 2006;Feiman-Nemser & Buchman, 1987;Sleeter, 2008;Zeichner, 2010). Holistically, such field experiences exist to promote teacher candidates' understanding and practice of culturally responsive pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 2001), as well as bridge beginning teachers' reflection on the constructs of theory and practice present in the teaching act (Shulman, 2005). Though field experiences have been acknowledged as an important component of teacher education programs, little work has explored the unique qualities of community-based settings as potential sites for teachers' learning (see Coffey, 2010). Coffey (2010) suggests that community-based settings have the power to transform the ways that beginning teachers think about the effects of schooling in their students' lives, as well as the extent to which social factors influence students' success in school. Communitybased settings offer sites for beginning teachers to consider how schools reside in the greater context of a community, and this can potentially broaden beginning teachers' understandings of where learning takes place (Rogers, Marshall, & Tyson, 2006). Community-Based Field Experiences in Teacher Education Community-Based Field Experiences in Teacher Education 2Extending teacher education programs' commitment to preparing teacher candidates for environments that are not only part of schools, but situated within communities, becomes a commitment to preparing beginning teachers for understanding that teaching and schooling extend beyond the walls of the classroom and into the world.In this article, I discuss the importance of community-based field experiences as a feature of teacher education programs. I explore, through a qualitative case study (Merriam, 1998;Stake, 1995Stake, , 2000, teacher candidates' work with homeless youth in an after-school initiative. Drawing on the literature in teacher education that proposes community-based field experiences as potential sites for beginning teachers' learning, especially as these experiences relate to beginning teachers' understandings of teaching diverse students, I explore how such settings align theoretically with teacher education programs and articulate the value that such experiences bring to teacher candidates' learning. I build on Zeichner's (2010) proposal of framing field experiences through "third space" theory (Bhabha, 1990), and show how tenets of third space theory ...

‘We matter just the same’: students and pre-service teachers working together in an alternative educational setting

“…These alternative clinical experiences are beneficial early on in teacher education before expectations and stereotypes of alternative learners become solidified and harder to overcome (Bennett, 2012;Hallman, 2012;Kumar & Hamer, 2012). While all teacher education programs include coursework on multicultural education, the results from this study have shown that simply providing meaningful and interactive clinical experiences early on in a program can be beneficial.…”

“…Experiences such as these can help pre-service teachers to not only identify the individual needs of their students, but also to be able to respond to them effectively (Lawrence & Butler, 2010). These kinds of alternative, communitybased experiences act as the 'third space' of teacher education and allow for pre-service teachers to dismantle their understanding of what it means to teach all students effectively (Hallman, 2012). This kind of 'third space' can also serve to bring the knowledge of practicing teachers together with the academic knowledge of the college classroom and create unique and meaningful opportunities for pre-service teachers.…”

“…Early field experiences must be meaningful rather than simply another requirement to complete and must be also structured in the sense that they are intensive in the way in which they challenge pre-service teachers to reflect on and reconstruct their own definition of teaching and learning (Bennett, 2012;Caprano, Caprano, & Helfeldt, 2010;Hallman, 2012;Washburn-Moses, Kopp, & Hettersimer, 2012;Zeichner, 2010).…”

Youth-voice driven after-school science clubs: A tool to develop new alliances in ethnically diverse communities in support of transformative learning for preservice teachers and youth

“…So having that conversation at the university and then seeing it in practice was really cool. [Interview, Ray, 2012] The opportunity to teach in an after-school setting provided a way to get to know youth of colour who, although they were struggling academically, brought rich cultural knowledge to the science practice-resulting in transformative learning for Ray (Hallman, 2012). He gained a better understanding of the cultural processes of learning and what it means when children and teachers construct the curriculum together (Jurow et al, 2012).…”

“…The challenge for a teacher education program, then, is to engage with these visions of schools and youth in underserved and ethnically diverse communities and help student teachers develop other ways of seeing and relating to youth of colour (Coffey, 2009;Hallman, 2012). Ray's story offers another illustration of that process:…”