Jul 2026· London Review of Education· Vol 24· 0 citations· 32 references
Abstract
In this article, we draw on Martin Buber’s idea of dialogical surprise in educational experiences to consider curriculum design in initial teacher education. We argue that the current policy environment in England fosters a monological approach, stifling meaning-making and innovation. Contributing to conversations around initial teacher education curriculum design within a constricted policy environment in England, the research presents findings on initial teacher education curriculum experiences of Year 3 Primary Education undergraduate student teachers who completed one of three module electives (Thinking and Philosophy for Children; Creativity in Education; Early Years Education). These modules form part of the wider initial teacher education curriculum design at the institution in which the research was undertaken, aiming to develop student teachers’ critical thinking, reflection and personal philosophies. The study investigates student teachers’ reflections on participating in dialogue, which involves recognising their own and other perspectives. When curriculum design enabled spaces for new meanings to emerge, the possibility for an interplay of voices was allowed. Arguing that dialogic spaces are effectively closed down within the Department for Education’s main prescribed initial teacher education framework, we add our voices to the urgent call for a less prescriptive framework which recognises the professional expertise of teacher educators in curriculum design.
This paper addresses a gap in the application of systems thinking to higher education programme design. We use the Complexity Theory of Outcome Creation (CTOC), a structured model for working in complexity, to analyse Simon Fraser University's Semester in Dialogue (SiD)—an innovative undergraduate programme applying the ideas of dialogic pedagogy and community‐engaged teaching and learning. Drawing on our experience, we reflect on how systems thinking shaped SiD's design and student experiences. We applied CTOC's four types of human complexity to understand our student cohorts, which led to a course design that attempted to match their complexity. Furthermore, we demonstrate how CTOC's three dynamic capabilities—coordination, stewardship and adaptation—provide a viable design logic that empowers student agency. This application of systems thinking, particularly CTOC, offers a practical, process‐focused approach for educational innovation.
D. Finegood, Chris Yakimov, Max French· Systems research and behavio...· 1 citation
Pedagogical innovation has become a key concept in educational discourse. However, its meaning remains contested, and the concept is often used vaguely to denote new practices. Within teacher education policy and research, teacher educators (TEDs) are frequently positioned as change agents who, through innovative practice, are expected to prepare future teachers for contemporary classrooms. In light of this, the study aims to conceptualize pedagogical innovation from the perspective of teacher educators and their pedagogical practice.
The study employs a qualitative approach based on three focus group interviews with thirteen TEDs from six Norwegian teacher education institutions.
Thematic analysis yielded four themes:
creative adaptations
,
benefit to student teachers
,
relevance to school practice
, and
risk of failure
.
The findings show that TEDs primarily conceptualize pedagogical innovation as adaptations of existing practices aligned with their own pedagogical objectives. This conceptualization foregrounds clear benefits for student teachers, while highlighting the context-specific and experimental nature of pedagogical innovation. Such an understanding requires TEDs to accept uncertainty and the possibility of negative outcomes. The study offers important implications for the implementation of pedagogical innovation in TEDs’ practice. The findings emphasize the need to weigh anticipated benefits against potential costs. Accordingly, the risk of failure associated with pedagogical innovation should be made more explicit in educational policy and institutionally recognized as integral to the continuous development of pedagogical practice. Such a shift may support greater engagement in pedagogical innovation and contribute to the modernization of teacher education in response to contemporary educational challenges.
Unknown authors· Frontiers in Education· 0 citations
Despite decades of research demonstrating the learning benefits of dialogic pedagogy, its implementation in K-12 classrooms remains rare. Three structural challenges account for the difficulties of initiating and sustaining dialogic space in classrooms: managing face-threatening conflicts, equalizing power relations, and accommodating the inherent unpredictability of genuine dialogue. These challenges are not incidental to dialogue; I argue that they are the same obstacles that prevent critical and creative thinking from taking root across educational settings. This paper examines how studio pedagogy addresses all three through project-based learning, drawing on ethnographic observations across four studio courses at a premier arts and design institution. I show how treating student projects as active participants in the learning interaction creates a triangulated dialogic space, a three-way relationship between teacher, student, and project, that redirects face-threatening conflict toward project-centered problem-solving, redistributes power without undermining teacher authority, and institutionalizes productive ambiguity as a pedagogical principle. These findings expand the theory of dialogic pedagogy by revealing how material objects can function as mediating actors in dialogue, and they offer practical implications for educators seeking to create sustainable conditions for critical and creative thinking across educational contexts.
ABSTRACT The article analyzes the narratives of a future English as a Foreign Language teacher during her college internship, who has already started teaching outside the academic setting. Through narrative inquiry, a Brazilian undergraduate named Julia described her experiences during three focus group sessions and written reports. The results indicate that the relationship between everyday and scientific concepts is built upon the theory and practice gap, owing to three aspects: first, that concrete teaching experiences outside of college, provided closer contact with the challenges of a classroom; second, due to these previous events, the internship had a different meaning and resulted in a mismatch between the future teacher’s expectations towards what her teacher education program could offer her professional development; third, a cultural tool such as an internship report was also affected by the gap, showing a utilitarian function which hindered its potential to mediate her classroom observations. The theoretical framework draws from cultural-historical psychology notions of mediated activity and the role of concept formation, as well as perspectives in Applied Linguistics regarding teacher development in initial years of education. This study wishes to contribute to contemporary cultural-historical research on teaching and learning as social endeavors embedded in culture.
F. Lima· Alfa: Revista de Linguística...· 0 citations
Internationalization requires returned academics to reconsider pedagogical commitments developed across different educational contexts. This study explored how two returned university art theory teachers in southern China negotiated professional identities while adapting their teaching to changing classroom conditions.
A duoethnographic design brought one teacher’s contemporaneous reflections into dialogue with the other’s retrospective accounts of comparable early-career experiences. Dialogues, reflective accounts, observation notes, and teaching materials were examined through reflexive thematic analysis.
The analysis identified learner, explorer, and pedagogical enactor as overlapping identity positions that the teachers entered and revisited through reflection and practice. Classroom responses unsettled existing assumptions and prompted further inquiry into theoretical explanation, participation, and student agency. Through dialogue, the teachers developed more contextually responsive approaches that combined conceptual scaffolding with opportunities for discussion and culturally situated interpretation.
The findings present professional identity negotiation as a recursive and situated process in which dialogic reflection connected teacher learning with pedagogical decision making. Farrell’s reflective domains helped interpret how the teachers’ concerns connected educational purposes, pedagogical commitments, classroom practices, and wider sociocultural conditions. The study provides a context-specific account of how two returned art theory teachers reconsidered overseas pedagogical commitments in Chinese higher education.
This study investigates the implementation of Mindful, Meaningful, and Joyful Learning (MMJL) principles within the Merdeka Curriculum framework in English language teaching at SDN 01 Pijot Utara. The research subjects consisted of a sixth-grade English teacher who served as both the designer of the Teaching Module and the classroom practitioner, along with sixth-grade students as secondary participants. Adopting a qualitative descriptive case study design grounded in Policy Enactment theory, data were collected through document analysis of the Teaching Module and systematic classroom observations. The findings reveal that while the MMJL principles are thoroughly embedded in the macro-structural design of the Teaching Module and successfully enacted during foundational and receptive instructional phases, a significant divergence occurs during productive phases. Activities demanding student autonomy, such as independent writing, reflection, and collaborative summarization, were only partially enacted, largely due to a lack of anticipatory scaffolding in the written plan and the persistence of teacher-centered norms intended to manage classroom silence. The study concludes that although MMJL principles effectively support classroom management and emotional well-being, their potential to drive higher-order intellectual engagement remains constrained by the gap between policy intentions and classroom realities. Practically, this research contributes to curriculum development and teacher training by recommending that Teaching Modules evolve into dynamic pedagogical instruments, supplemented by anticipatory scaffolds and differentiated strategies, to bridge the distance between curriculum vision and practice.
Muhamad Romzi Romzi, M. Junaidi, Ahmad Yusri et al.· Journal of Authentic Researc...· 0 citations
We use cookies to run the site and, with your consent, for analytics and to show ads.
See our Cookie Policy.
