Exploring the development of student teacher thinking through an arts-based research lens (current and ongoing)

Description

The students on the Primary PGCE undertake an assignment in the first few months of their training called Understanding Children. It is a study of a focus child in their placement class, culminating in a professional presentation of the child.

This assignment is critical in shaping the way that these pre-service teachers think. But how does the assignment do that? What transforms in their thinking as a result of the study? How does it happen?

My current research explores the above questions - through a variety of arts-based research methods - and also leads on to wider research questions, particularly pertinent to the teacher training community:

How might we support student teachers to acquire such sophisticated teacher thinking skills and to use them with confidence?

Which approaches support such development, with depth of thinking and understanding of this complexity at its core?

Period	1 Dec 2022