Modeling for Capacity: A Study of a Teacher Education Practice

Abstract

This chapter focuses on one particular practice that came to the forefront in over a dozen teacher education sessions with government schoolteachers in southern India- the reflective practice “Dialogic Modeling.” This chapter delves into two primary facets of dialogic modeling: how it operates and how it fosters opportunities to study the practices being modeled. To help supporters’ and critics’ reading, this chapter examines the form of several episodes of dialogic modeling. By form, the author refers to terms such as logic, structure, and conditions. This form and function analytic is critical to recognizing the mechanics of the practice, and provides an understanding of how a reflective dialogic practice can operate. The chapter also takes up why this form matters for how teachers learn to do their work, and how doing the work of teaching can be bolstered through reflective practice. By doing so, the chapter aims to provide additional warrants for the claims that teacher education can, and likely should, involve teacher-learners in the deliberate study of principled practices. Moreover, the author argues that modeling as it is commonly done leaves much to chance and squanders the opportunity to learn and build teachers’ capacities.

Citation

Setty, R. (2021), "Modeling for Capacity: A Study of a Teacher Education Practice", Wiseman, A.W. and Kumar, P. (Ed.) Building Teacher Quality in India: Examining Policy Frameworks and Implementation Outcomes (International Perspectives on Education and Society, Vol. 41), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 215-242. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-367920210000041010