`Does knowing stuff like PSHE and citizenship make me a better teacher?': Student teachers in the teacher training figuration

Abstract

One of the key elements of figurational sociology is the emphasis on understanding complex networks of interdependencies in which people are involved. The focal point of this paper is the process of initial teacher training (ITT) and the relationships of which student teachers are part during their ITT course. The paper does not look at what student teachers ought to think; rather, it is an exploration of why student teachers may think the way they do. The paper uses data which were collected as part of a larger project funded by a Teacher Training Agency small research grant. Results suggest that student teachers value aspects of their course differently. In particular, student teachers value university practical sessions and school-based experiences over university-based theory sessions, which are considered irrelevant to the actual practice of teaching. Despite attempts by university tutors to engage student teachers in academic discourses about the nature of physical education (PE), student teachers' perceptions of PE did not change during their course. Further, student teachers perceived conflict between the university-based theoretical elements and the school-based elements of the course.