Down the rabbit‐hole: Routinised practices, Dewey and teacher training in the lifelong learning sector

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the ideas of John Dewey on experience and experiential learning. The context is that of trainee teachers participating in a higher education (HE) through in‐service initial teacher training (ITT) for the Lifelong Learning sector in the UK.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses recent practitioner research conducted with trainee teachers to explore and contextualise Deweyan ideas and practices around notions of experience and experiential learning. The research methodology is qualitative, interpretive and, reflexive. What is actively sought, and welcomed are examples of congruence, dissonance, conflation and confusion in relation to several theoretical perspectives, one of which is Dewey's ideas on experience and experiential learning.

Findings

It is argued that initial teacher training should be broad based and situated, rather than focused on mastery or competency, in order to counteract the funnelled and routinised nature of much of current teaching practice in the sector.

Research limitations/implications

Trainee teachers participate in classroom practice by developing firstly a situated understanding of the concepts and principles surrounding teacher knowledge; secondly strategies for using these in a future situation and thereby assimilating, accommodating and negotiating shared beliefs, identities and values from the practices of a situated community. These are interpreted by Ottesen as knowledge and experience of concepts as taught, derived from knowledge and experience of practice as applied.

Originality/value

This research suggests that increasingly, given the heavily regulated nature of the lifelong learning workplace, trainee teachers have a limited “fund”, or repertoire of experiences through which to sift for appropriate strategies to employ in a specific situation, leaving their capacity to reflect fairly fruitless without the help of others.

Citation

Iredale, A. (2012), "Down the rabbit‐hole: Routinised practices, Dewey and teacher training in the lifelong learning sector", Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 54-62. https://doi.org/10.1108/20423891211197749