Towards reconceptualising teacher education for English: Benefits and challenges of implementing a third space

Abstract

One of the long-lasting challenges in teacher education for English is that students in English struggle with transforming their academic knowledge (theory) into classroom practice and desire a more practice-integrated course design. The present article discusses and evaluates a teaching strategy, in an attempt to provide more practice-based English courses, which intends to adopt the emerging epistemology of teacher education, using a third space. The third space is an arena where a theory field (university courses) and a practice field (schools) are brought together as an integrated domain for developing students’ academic knowledge and teaching competence.Based on surveys and student evaluations, this article presents and discusses the findings and challenges regarding implementing a third space in English courses taught by the authors. According to the findings, working in a third space brings a tighter connection between theory and practice, which facilitates students’ understanding of theory and the important interplay between theory and practice. However, as our third space is still under development, it faces challenges in achieving an equally balanced status between university teachers and schoolteachers. Achieving such a balance has also been a central concern in university–school partnerships, which gave rise to our third space experiment.In order to create a more effective third space in teacher education for English, placing the third space at the centre of our English curriculum is argued to be important, which has also been emphasised in other studies discussing the third space epistemology. Thus, there seems to be an emergent need to reconceptualise how student teachers of English should best prepare for their future profession as teachers.
 Keywords: teacher education for English, third space, theory–practice integration, university–school partnership
 På vei mot rekontekstualisering av lærerutdanning i engelsk: Fordeler og utfordringer ved å implementere et tredje rom
 SammendragDet har lenge vært en utfordring at studenter som studerer engelsk som en del av sin grunnskolelærerutdanning, har problemer med å omforme akademisk kunnskap til praktisk anvendelse i klasserommet. De har derfor uttrykt et ønske om mer praksis integrert i utdanninga. Denne artikkelen diskuterer og evaluerer en undervisnings-strategi i et forsøk på å skape mer praksisbaserte kurs i engelsk, og som implementerer en epistemologi i lærerutdanning som tar i bruk et tredje rom. Det tredje rom er en arena som integrerer akademisk kunnskap og praksis i klasserommet, og som sikter mot å utvikle studentenes fag- og undervisningskompetanse.Gjennom spørreskjemaer og studentevalueringer undersøkes studenters erfaringer og vurderinger av arbeidet i et tredje rom i engelskfaget, og artikkelen presenterer de viktigste funnene og utfordringene som kom fram gjennom datamaterialet. Materialet viser at å arbeide i et tredje rom fører til en bedre integrasjon av teori og praksis, som også fasiliterer studentenes forståelse av teori og det viktige samspillet mellom teori og praksis. Tredje rom-strategien som diskuteres her, er fortsatt under utvikling, og artikkelen belyser også utfordringer i det å oppnå en harmonisering av status mellom universitetslærere og skolelærere. Det er også et viktig anliggende i universitet–skole-partnerskap som er plattformen for samarbeid i dette prosjektet.For å videreutvikle og perfeksjonere et tredje rom i lærerutdanning i engelsk, bør et tredje rom sees på som det sentrale punkt i utdanninga, noe som også andre studier påpeker. Derfor er det nødvendig å tenke gjennom på nytt hvordan lærerstudenter best kan forberede seg til sin framtidige profesjon som lærere.
 Nøkkelord: lærerutdanning i engelsk, tredje rom, integrasjon av teori og praksis, universitet–skole-partnerskap

Endre lærerutdanning i engelsk – motsetninger i aktivitetssystemet som hindrer et tredje rom partnerskap

“…As teacher educators, we have tried university-school collaboration as part of some English courses through a strategy which has gradually been developed and reinterpreted as a third space (see Holmbukt & Son, 2017, 2020. We have thus sought to create stronger connections to practice, in the form of a third space, where theory and practice are seen as equally important elements instead of competing discourses of TEd (Daza et al, 2021;Zeichner, 2010;BERA, 2014;Cuenca et al, 2011;Jenset et al, 2018;Jónsdóttir, 2015;Klein et al, 2013;NCATE, 2010;Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, 2018;Williams, 2014;Holmbukt & Son, 2020).…”

“…In the present context, a third space is a platform that brings together pupils, student teachers, practice teachers and university teachers in collaborative partnerships. The goal is to encourage a non-hierarchical status among the educators engaged in TEd for English, which may open new forms of activities and engagement in learning (Daza et al, 2021;Holmbukt & Son, 2020).…”

“…Such partnerships are considered appropriate tools for improving professional practice and strengthening the links between university-based and practice-based knowledge about teaching. Partnerships in TEd programmes are suggested as potential solutions to bridge the well-known gap between the theoretical, academic knowledge aimed at in the university and the practiceoriented knowledge gained in practice placements (Lillejord & Børte, 2017 Education and Research, 2018;Darling-Hammond et al, 2017;Jenset et al, 2018;Zeichner, 2010;McNicholl & Blake, 2013;Holmbukt & Son, 2020). The perennial lack of connection between 'theory' and 'practice' 1 has contributed to the university maintaining its hegemonic superiority over school practice by claiming the right to define and construct knowledge (Zeichner, 2010;Nguyen, 2020).…”

“…The perennial lack of connection between 'theory' and 'practice' 1 has contributed to the university maintaining its hegemonic superiority over school practice by claiming the right to define and construct knowledge (Zeichner, 2010;Nguyen, 2020). Schools are relegated to the position of a 'practice field', in which student teachers are to practise what they have studied on campus and practice teachers have little opportunity to contribute to the curriculum design of TEd programmes (Zeichner, 2010;Thorsen, 2016;Holmbukt & Son, 2020).…”

“…Recognising that academic knowledge and practice placement are of equal importance in Ted, and leveraging previous discussions on how a practice-based TEd for English can improve the quality of education (Zeichner, 2010;Jahreie, 2012;Holmbukt & Son, 2020), the present study seeks to investigate to what extent it is currently possible to formally implement collaborative partnerships between theory and practice in order to strengthen student teachers' skills in teaching English. By using activity theory as an analysis tool (Engeström, 1987(Engeström, /2015Postholm, 2015), the study seeks to analyse our current activity system of TEd for English and identify tensions that may challenge the practice of a dynamic partnership (which we call a 'third space' from now on).…”