Learning a teacher's work

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to bridge the theoretical perspectives of workplace learning and teacher learning. Teacher learning takes place, for example, in the course of a teacher's work as well as in the institutional setting of a school. This article describes research conducted on such learning.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a mixed methods approach. It includes interviews (n=8), which are analysed according to a qualitative content analysis, as well as a survey, which is analysed quantitatively (n=113). In the quantitative analysis descriptive statistics as well as a factor analysis were used.

Findings

The research indicates that teacher learning takes place in several different settings; when these are taken into account teacher education is shown to be important. The study also shows that teacher education has succeeded in integrating work and study to some degree when the perspective of workplace learning is taken into account.

Originality/value

There seem to be few studies that have addressed workplace learning from the point of view of teacher education or teacher learning. This study endeavors to fill this gap.

Citation

Maaranen, K., Kynäslahti, H. and Krokfors, L. (2008), "Learning a teacher's work", Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 133-145. https://doi.org/10.1108/13665620810852287