Discussion
Our initial research focus and motivation had been on improving our teaching and the student’s learning experience in response to poor student evaluations and increase in class size. However, as the research developed we became increasingly interested and motivated
to understand the teaching and learning nexus from our own ‘teacher’ perspectives through a process of self-reflection that Dyson (2007) refers to as “the landscape of transformation” (p.36). For Vivienne this meant understanding herself as a teacher who identifies with feminist pedagogy while Linda’s concerns were more about the process of enriching and deepening adult learning and teaching to set the students on the path to becoming “effective and responsible learners” (Boud, 2004, p.13).
Through engaging with the literature on self-study we became aware of the wider discussion taking place in research on teacher education. The literature enabled us to find a context for articulating our ideas about practice and sharing these with the staff in the school of education. Researching our teaching created a transparent process for self-review and,
despite concerns about exposing ourselves to student feedback, we were encouraged to embark on the research by reading about the experiences of others.
The decision to have two lecturers on the paper was primarily determined by economic and managerial factors rather than individual lecturer choice. The decision to teach collaboratively, however, was our personal choice. We both recognised the challenges of role modelling effective teaching and learning practices with a large class of student teachers. We were committed to the concept of pedagogical inquiry and reflection as a valid and authentic method of research in education. Despite the pressure to achieve more successful student evaluations, also viewed as an act of increased managerialism in teacher education (Mansfield, 2006), we saw the research as a constructive opportunity to contribute to existing research on pedagogic inquiry within and beyond the immediate teaching and learning context. Increasing managerialism has been critiqued for creating a reductionist discourse within teacher education with Murray and McGuire (2007) arguing that teacher education has become an ‘impossible’ job due to the difficulties of balancing “the academic imperatives of research productivity with the high quality, intensive teaching ideally required for teacher education programmes” (p.288). While acknowledging the risks of self-study we also recognised the enormous potential for benefits to our teaching and learning.
According to Gosling (2006) “when faculty are encouraged to engage in pedagogic inquiry, it is normally because it is assumed that both teaching and student learning will be improved as a consequence” (p. 99). Certainly in our research we were motivated by the prospect of improving both teaching and learning although always aware that this was not a predetermined outcome. The process of investigating and researching our own teaching to enhance student learning is complex and rarely follows a linear trajectory. Claims that relate to causal links between changes in teaching and student outcomes need to be treated with care as Gosling (2006) rightly cautions: “ultimately, we have to make professional judgments, within parameters of uncertainty that are typical of complex social situations,
about the relationship between a change in teaching and the changes in students that we think are improvements” (p.101).