Containing Pedagogical Complexity Through the Assignment of Photography: Two Case Presentations

Abstract

This article investigates the use of photography as a narrative approach to learning in the context of postsecondary education. Two cases are presented: a social studies methods course in a teacher education program in the South of the United States; and a senior undergraduate seminar on global violence at a university in southern Ontario, Canada. With each case presentation we explore how the assignment of photography both instantiates and cultivates the student's ability to tolerate, represent, and interpret encounters with pedagogical complexity. A term of learning that apprehends the pedagogical encounter as made from the tensions between knowing and uncertainty, pedagogical complexity is discussed with regard to the psychoanalytic concept of containment. Using a case presentation approach, the authors explore the possibilities and limits of the assignment of photography in relation to the pedagogical work of containment. Engaging a cross-case analysis of the research data, the authors conclude by discussing the potential for photographic practices to contain the dynamics of pedagogical complexity.

Photographic Elicitation and Narration in Teachers Education and Development

“…Likewise, the teacher's understanding and thinking are enhanced through photo-elicitation, and several studies have reported that this technique has a positive impact on their professional identity (Allen & Labbo, 2001;Da Cunha et al, 2014;Mitchell et al, 2010;Salazar et al, 2016;Savva & Erakleous, 2018;Seow, 2016;Villacanas de Castro, 2017;White & Murray, 2016). This technique has been used in various subjects during pre-service teacher training, but most studies have focussed on Physical education and English (Da Cunha et al, 2014;Langdon et al, 2014;Legge & Smith, 2014;Sinclair & Thornton, 2018;Varea & Pang, 2018;Walker et al, 2017; for the second, Caielli et al, 2018;Dicicco, 2015;Graziano, 2011;Johnson & Smagorinsky, 2013;Villacanas de Castro, 2017;White & Murray, 2016), while two have dealt with photo-elicitation in social studies (Garrett & Matthews, 2014;Mathews & Crew, 2016). The development of visual literacy skills in undergraduate and post-graduate teachers has also been investigated Sadik, 2011).…”