Exploring Preservice Teachers’ Pedagogical Reasoning: A pilot study

Resumo

In contemporary times policy makers are calling for preservice teachers to be ‘classroom ready’ at the end of their education. Previous research investigating the pedagogical reasoning of expert teachers suggests that making explicit pedagogical reasoning can assist a teacher in communicating aspects of their often tacit practice and improve their understanding of teaching. This pilot study sought to investigate whether preservice teachers would relate to pedagogical reasoning. It found that the entire sample reported valuing the potential benefits in aiming to interrogate their pedagogical reasoning and the pedagogical reasoning of their mentors on placement. This suggests that a larger study exploring the pedagogical reasoning of preservice teachers is feasible and appropriate to address the political demands on the future generation of teachers.