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An Investigation Into Beginner Teachers' Knowledge And View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Birmingham Research Archive, E-theses Repository AN INVESTIGATION INTO BEGINNER TEACHERS’ KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING STUDY By GUY DURDEN A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY The School of Education University of Birmingham June 2016 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract Following Shulman (1986a), teachers’ knowledge is often divided into Content Knowledge (CK) and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). However, the operationalizing of these ideas in initial teacher education has been hampered by difficulties in defining CK and PCK, understanding their interrelationship and finding effective ways of using these ideas to support Beginner Teachers’ (BTs’) development. This study uses Phenomenography/Variation theory (Pang & Marton, 2003, 2005) to address these difficulties in the context of BTs of economics and business studies in England in 2011/2. The study found that Learning Study has a statistically significant, medium/large effect on BTs’ CK and PCK in comparison to conventional teacher education. This suggests that it should be more widely incorporated into teacher education programmes in England. In addition, the results of the study confirm previous evidence of a positive association between CK and PCK and weaknesses in BTs’ conceptual understanding of a fundamental topic in their subject domain (price). No association was found between BTs’ degree classifications and their CK or PCK either at the beginning or the end of training. In drawing these conclusions an approach to describing conceptions of price is developed that explicitly accounts for the ‘internal horizon’ or context of the phenomenon. Dedications I would like to thank all of those people around me who have shown such unshakeable faith in me during the writing of this thesis and have talked sense in to me when things have got tough. Without your belief in me – yes, you know who you are - I would not have been able to get this far. I would also like to thank my supervisor, Peter, for being so utterly brilliant during the last 6 years or so. Like all great teachers, he has challenged and supported me in going far beyond what I ever thought I could achieve. We have crossed paths a few times over the last 25 years or so and I really hope that the completion of this work will not be the last time. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Summary and rationale ........................................................................................... 1 1.2. Personal background ............................................................................................... 7 1.3. Scope of the study .................................................................................................. 13 1.4. Chapter summary .................................................................................................. 14 2. Phenomenography/Variation theory .......................................................................... 19 2.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 19 2.2. What is PVT?........................................................................................................... 21 2.3. PVT unpacked ........................................................................................................ 30 2.3.1. The ontology of PVT ..................................................................................... 30 2.3.2. The location of conceptions.......................................................................... 36 2.3.3. Identifying conceptions ................................................................................ 39 2.3.4. Describing conceptions ................................................................................. 44 2.3.5. The external and internal horizons ............................................................. 45 2.4. Conceptions of price .............................................................................................. 50 2.5. Conclusion and implications ................................................................................ 56 3. Defining Beginner Teachers’ knowledge .................................................................. 61 3.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 61 3.2. Why CK and PCK? ................................................................................................. 62 3.3. CK and PCK unpacked ......................................................................................... 64 3.3.1. The origins and significance of CK and PCK ............................................ 64 3.3.2. Conceptualisations of CK and PCK ............................................................ 66 3.3.3. Capturing CK and PCK ................................................................................ 68 3.3.4. Evaluating different models of PCK ........................................................... 70 3.4. Evidence in relation to CK and PCK ................................................................... 73 3.4.1. Findings of non-PVT research ..................................................................... 73 3.4.2. Findings of PVT research ............................................................................. 80 3.5. CK and PCK in the current study ........................................................................ 84 3.6. Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 89 4. Learning Study ................................................................................................................ 93 4.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 93 4.2. Lesson Study ........................................................................................................... 94 4.2.1. What is Lesson Study? .................................................................................. 94 4.2.2. Lesson Study and teacher learning ............................................................. 98 4.2.3. Challenges for Lesson Study ..................................................................... 100 4.3. Learning Study ..................................................................................................... 105 4.3.1. What is Learning Study? ............................................................................ 105 4.3.2. Similarities and differences in approaches to Learning Study ............. 112 4.4. Teacher learning in Learning Study .................................................................. 117 4.5. Evidence of teachers’ learning in Learning Study .......................................... 123 4.5.1. Knowledge of the intended object of learning ........................................ 123 4.5.2. Knowledge of students’ conceptions ........................................................ 125 4.5.3. Knowledge of variation theory ................................................................. 127 4.5.4. Teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning ..................................... 128 4.5.5. BT learning in Learning Study .................................................................. 129 4.6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 132 5. Method ............................................................................................................................ 135 5.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 135 5.2. Lesson Study and Action Research ................................................................... 137 5.3. Learning Study and Design Research ............................................................... 143 5.3.1. What is Design Research? .......................................................................... 143 5.3.2. The difference between DR and AR ......................................................... 147 5.4. Criticisms of AR and DR ..................................................................................... 149 5.5. Applying AR and DR in Learning Study ......................................................... 151 5.6. Challenges for Learning Study .......................................................................... 154 5.7. Addressing challenges in Learning Study ....................................................... 163 5.7.1. The epistemological stance of Learning Study ....................................... 163 5.7.2. The
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