Abstract
This book establishes a conversation regarding teacher education and teachers’ professional development. To prepare teachers as professional practitioners, the author Iredale presents a research study on initial teacher education (ITE) training in the lifelong learning sector (LLS) in the United Kingdom between the period of 2008 and 2015. In contrast to the pervasive research discourse of exploring the competence-based qualification in the LLS that is driven by neoliberal and managerial forces, Iredale provides a fresh perspective on teacher professionalism as a democratic endeavor.
The book is organized into six chapters. In the first two chapters, the author introduces the historical context and policy landscape of ITE in the LLS in the United Kingdom since the late 1990s and articulates three key conceptual themes of the book: teacher confidence, teacher excellence, and routinized practices. Chapter 3 and chapter 4 draw, respectively, on the philosophical foundations and theoretical frameworks in analyzing participation in ITE in the LLS. Chapter 5 presents an analysis of the lived experience of the interviewed trainee teachers based on the three conceptual themes. The author ends the book by pulling together the analysis and making recommendations for teacher educators and policymakers in the LLS in the final chapter.
The book clearly demonstrates “a patchwork of philosophy, reflexivity, and biography” (p. v.iii). Throughout the book, readers will learn the philosophical ideas of Aristotle, Dewey, Bourdieu, Vygotsky, and Foucault. Iredale regards theory as a thinking tool to stir thought, not to illustrate the theoretical categorization. She tries to integrate what she sees as two disparate theoretical frameworks: those of Dewey’s experiential learning and Bourdieu’s notion of habitus and field to reflect on the nature of participation. Deeply influenced by the works of John Dewey, the author stresses the democratic value in pursuing teacher excellence and draws on Deweyan pragmatism and social constructivism in conducting the research. In the LLS, learning occurs both in the classroom and in the workplace. From the perspective of adult education and work-based learning, the author further applies Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and Lave and Wenger’s situated learning in her analysis of coaching and mentoring for trainee teachers in LLS. Her deep discussion and use of multiple theoretical lenses is one of the strengths of the book.
By bringing her personal career and research experience into the text, Iredale also gives the book a reflexive and biographic tone. Reflexivity provides great insight into the personal and social experience which helps researchers situate the research project (Finlay, 2003). Both as a teacher educator and a practitioner researcher, Iredale applies a reflexive strategy to interpret theory in the light of practice. She locates her positionality within an interpretive paradigm, articulating a myriad of personal stories of her own and her participants’ lived experiences. All the interviewed trainee teachers have rich work experiences ranging from the art teacher, dance teacher to the police force trainer. She intends to seek the essence of their meaning-makings “through inductive reasoning, using my [her] particular position to gain an insight into the field of study, while avoiding the positionality that might result from ‘the hard machinery’ of an objectivist approach (Bourdieu, 1988, p. 782)” (p. 131).
The prevalent regulated and routinized practices in the LLS restrict teachers’ participation and limit their capability to situate knowledge within their professional practice. The author clearly accomplishes the research objectives of promoting democratic and humane values by emphasizing the importance of time, space, and experience in ITE in the LLS. Moreover, the book establishes a strong framework and literature review of teachers’ professional knowledge and practice. The book is based on Iredale’s PhD dissertation and, therefore, includes a combination of research questions, theoretical frameworks, and the reflexive methodology that guided the research process. This structure helps strengthen the book’s scholarly rigor. To clarify the central theme of each chapter, the author starts with an abstract and ends with a conclusion in every section and also summarizes the main arguments multiple times throughout the book. Though it helps to maintain the readers’ focus, to some extent, it also leads to content repetition and duplication. It is one of the weaknesses of the book.
Overall, the book makes a valuable contribution to the study of teacher education. It would most benefit teacher educators who focus on teacher training and teacher professional development. It is also a valuable tool for practitioner researchers who faces a dilemma in their transitions from teachers to researchers. Throughout the book, Iredale shares how she gradually moves forward to accomplish her PhD study. It enlightens and encourages novice adult education graduate students to develop their research projects step by step into publications.