Teachers who teach their practice: the modulation of hybridised professional teacher identities in work-related educational programmes in Canada

Farnsworth, Valerie; Higham, Jeremy

doi:10.1080/13639080.2012.708726

Cited by 29 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Following our theoretical framework, we argue it is through such boundary crossings that vocational teachers learn and shape their vocational teacher identity (Fejes and Köpsén 2014). This notion of identity in a framework of communities of teaching practice has also been used in a study of Canadian VET teachers (Farnsworth and Higham 2012).…”

Section: Theoretical Framementioning

confidence: 99%

Maintaining Competence in the Initial Occupation: Activities among Vocational Teachers

Andersson

Köpsén

2017

Vocations and Learning

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Contemporary work-life changes rapidly, and vocational education and training (VET) teachers need to keep up-to-date with changing knowledge demands and technological developments. This article concerns VET teachers' continuing professional development (CPD) related to the specific vocations for which they teach. The aim is to analyse VET teachers' participation in various types of activities designed to make them become more knowledgeable in relation to industry currency. The study draws on a socio-cultural perspective on practice and learning. Theory concerning adults' participation in education is also used in analysing drivers of and barriers to participation in learning activities. The analyses are based on survey data from 886 Swedish VET teachers relating to their participation in different activities, barriers/ drivers concerning participation in these activities, perceived effects (outcomes) of participation in terms of professional development, and teachers' background. Reading professional texts was the most common CPD activity among those VET teachers participating in the study. Reading, and work in the VET teacher's former/initial occupation were the two activities where variation in performing them could be explained to the highest degree. The study particularly highlights the importance of boundary crossing between school and work-life for maintaining and developing the industrial currency of VET teachers' competence. Active membership and engagement in the community of practice of the initial occupation is important for participation in CPD activities closely related to this community.

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Section: Theoretical Framementioning

confidence: 99%

Maintaining Competence in the Initial Occupation: Activities among Vocational Teachers

Andersson

Köpsén

2017

Vocations and Learning

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“…A search in the database jstor.org for 'communities of practice ' Wenger (1998) yields 3,500 journal articles and books, mostly in organisation studies and education. In educational research, the theory of communities of practice has been used for investigating such varied topics as the professional development of teachers (Sutherland et al, 2005), the creation of online learning communities (Barab et al, 2001), inclusive education (Miles, 2007), mathematics education (Solomon, 2007), vocational education (Farnsworth and Higham, 2012) and gender studies (Paechter, 2003). Despite such wide-ranging applications, the literature does not offer much discussion of the theory itself, its critical appraisals and the ways theory is augmented through its various applications and interpretations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Communities of Practice as a Social Theory of Learning: a Conversation with Etienne Wenger

Farnsworth

Kleanthous

Wenger-Trayner

2016

British Journal of Educational Studies

Self Cite

273

182

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Acknowledgements:The authors wish to thank Julian Williams for securing the funds that brought Etienne Wenger-Trayner to the University of Manchester as a Visiting Professor from 2007 to 2015 and provided us with the unique opportunity to dialogue with the theorist who helpedThe first two authors would also like to thank Etienne Wenger-Trayner for generously giving his time to work on this article with us. We wish to express our appreciation for Anna Sfard and her review which critically engaged with the article, from meta-level considerations, to specific concepts in the theory and the presentation of the theory. We are ever grateful for the critical comments and support provided by Linda Evans, Jeremy Higham, Beverly WengerTrayner, Pauline Whelan and Julian Williams. 2Short abstract: Two educational researchers conducted a series of interviews with the theorist Etienne Wenger-Trayner. We discuss the learning theory of 'communities of practice', clarify terms, address various critiques in the literature, and reflect on the process of theorizing. We explore how the theory provides conceptual tools to better design school curriculum and policy.Longer Abstract: The aim of this article is to contribute to the understanding and use of the theory of communities of practice. In order to clarify terms, explore applications for education, and reflect on various critiques of the theory in the literature, two educational researchers conducted a series of interviews with the theorist Etienne Wenger-Trayner. The interviews have been thematically organised around key concepts from the theory. By relating the concepts to their uses in research and to other social theories, Wenger-Trayner clarifies key ideas of the theory including what constitutes a 'community of practice'. He explains how he conceptualises identity and participation in order to develop a social theory of learning in which power and boundaries are inherent. The interviewers draw on these conceptual discussions with Wenger-Trayner to consider how the theory of communities of practice resonates with key debates and issues in education. By unpacking some key concepts of the theory from an educational perspective, we provide researchers with conceptual tools to support the complex decision-making that is involved in selecting the best and most appropriate theory or theories to use in their research.

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“…Overall, there was a risk of having the school reduced to a 'waiting hall' although this was neither the intention of the teachers nor of many of the students. Rather, 558 C. Jonasson in line with Farnsworth and Higham's (2012) study, some of the students and teachers seemed to share an engagement in making school curriculum and activities not just a matter of obtaining a qualification but making it relevant for learning of practical skills or basic knowledge relevant for future apprenticeships within the vocations. Such a shared engagement may be better supported through an understanding of the diverging perceptions of relevance and aims of learning as part of the ongoing defining of boundaries between school and work practices.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…Aligning with Farnsworth and Higham's (2012) argument, it is pertinent that mutual reinforcements of the curriculum in school-based vocational training were based on both the teachers' backgrounds in the vocational trades and their perception of the students' (lacking) engagement and needs, which had informed their teaching approaches and efforts to make the school curriculum relevant for future apprenticeship at a workplace. However, such efforts were countered by some of the students, and occasionally even by some teachers, using yet different experiences from workplaces or negative experience from previous schooling to redefine and reattribute, in some cases, negative qualities to the connections between school and work.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…As a response to these proposed difficulties with providing work-relevant school-based vocational training, several related studies have turned their attention towards describing how school-based vocational training can be organised to bridge the differences between learning in school and learning at work and thus better prepare students for the transition to future work (Berner 2010;Harreveld and Singh 2009;Higham and Farnsworth 2012;Persson Thunqvist and Axelsson 2012;Velde et al 1999;Vähäsantanen, Saarinen, and Eteläpelto 2009). Moreover, as Farnsworth and Higham (2012) have argued, some teachers' professional identities being a hybridization of teacher and vocational professionalism may be reflected in the curriculum and pedagogic approaches that align with the purpose of providing the students with vocationally relevant experiences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Defining boundaries between school and work: teachers and students’ attribution of quality to school-based vocational training

Jonasson

2013

Journal of Education and Work

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School-based vocational training has been organised to support students' boundary crossing between school and work. Such training has the potential to engage students in relevant work-oriented schooling. Drawing on theories of boundary connections and symbolic resources, it is argued that school participants define and attribute quality to schoolbased vocational training based on their experiences and expectations of past, present, and future boundaries between school and work contexts. Empirical findings from an ethnographic study conducted at a Danish vocational school illustrate that students and teachers in some cases attribute negative qualities to school-based vocational training, whilst, in other cases, they find it difficult to define the boundaries between school and work, thus questioning the relevance and organisation of schoolbased vocational training in supporting students' boundary crossing between school and work. It is therefore argued that boundaries between school and work practices do not exist per se. Instead, more attention needs to be directed to the negotiations in which particular boundary connections between school and work practices are developed. This may have important consequences for the preparing of students for apprenticeship.

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Teachers who teach their practice: the modulation of hybridised professional teacher identities in work-related educational programmes in Canada

Cited by 29 publications

References 34 publications

Maintaining Competence in the Initial Occupation: Activities among Vocational Teachers

Maintaining Competence in the Initial Occupation: Activities among Vocational Teachers

Communities of Practice as a Social Theory of Learning: a Conversation with Etienne Wenger

Defining boundaries between school and work: teachers and students’ attribution of quality to school-based vocational training

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