Chapter 4 - Teacher Knowledge

Summary

In Chapter 3, I outlined findings of studies on novice-expert teacher comparisons. I pointed out that these studies were heavily influenced by the information-processing model in cognitive psychology, and that though the features of expertise in teaching identified were commonly found in expertise studies in other domains, I questioned whether these studies accurately captured the way teacher knowledge is held and developed. I also pointed out the lack of attention being paid to the subject content aspects of teacher knowledge. In this chapter, I shall focus on approaches to investigating teacher knowledge, which are fundamentally different from the information processing model, and discuss the insights that they provide for investigating teachers' lives, teachers' knowledge and how it is acquired.

One of these approaches focuses on teacher knowledge as personal, practical, and tacit knowledge developed in the course of engaging in the teaching act and responding to the context of situation. It is very much influenced by the work of philosophers. Studies adopting this approach focus on teachers' personal understanding of the practical situations in which they work and how their professional knowledge is embedded in and developed through their daily practices. Another approach takes an anthropological perspective on teacher knowledge. It sees teacher knowledge as situated in the specific context in which teachers operate. It focuses on the characteristic features of the environment in which teachers work and the knowledge so developed.