Developing the Professional Knowledge of Technology Student Teachers via a Parallel Approach: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

In a small scale, four-year longitudinal, quasi-experimental research project, technology student teachers could study the school subject in parallel, together with the development of discipline knowledge (or their major) within the broader development of their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). We investigated the performance of students – who had studied the school subject at school and those who studied it in a postschool-university context – in their (1) major, (2) specialised methodology/ pedagogy and (3) their experiences and competencies during their final year work-integrated learning period in schools. We interpreted the findings within the broader theoretical framework of Shulman’s PCK by relating the first aspect to content knowledge, and the second aspect to pedagogical knowledge. We found that the parallel approach to PCK development in technology teacher education seems to be viable to increase the number of prospective technology student teachers, with the requirement that it happens within a social constructivist, co-operative learning environment with ample opportunities for cognitive and practical apprenticeship in a community of practice. However, by building on Shulman’s PCK and Gardner’s cognitive theory, Banks has developed the internationally acknowledged model of teacher professional knowledge (TPK). It entails the active interaction between subject knowledge, school knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and experience which underpins the personal subject construct of the teacher. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to reinterpret the previous findings through the lens of Banks’ TPK model by following a qualitative meta-synthesis as research methodology. In conclusion, implications for curriculum design of initial professional education of technology teachers are drawn.