Chapter 10
Clinical Practice in Education: Towards
a Conceptual Framework
Jeana Kriewaldt, Larissa McLean Davies, Suzanne Rice,
Field Rickards and Daniela Acquaro
10.1 Introduction
Clinical practice has recently emerged as a promising approach that is being applied
to teaching and teacher education. Despite this growing interest, however, con-
ceptual and practical ambiguities continue to surround the term. This chapter
provides a critical and comprehensive review of how clinical practice is being
conceptualised in education by: (a) identifying the core components that charac-
terise clinical practice in education; and (b) discussing the complexities and pos-
sibilities of clinical practice in theory and practice. The chapter begins by forging a
conceptual framework for understanding clinical practice by identifying three core
components that are central to characterising teaching as a clinical practice pro-
fession: (1) a focus on student learning and development; (2) evidence-informed
practice; and (3) processes of reasoning that lead to decision-making. In summary,
we argue that clinical practice offers important possibilities for deepening the
theoretical and practical aspects of teaching and teacher education, but that several
cautions need to be born in mind in order for it to continue to develop into a
meaningful and sustainable concept. While adapting a medical model to teaching
J. Kriewaldt (&)L. McLean DaviesS. RiceF. RickardsD. Acquaro
University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
e-mail: [email protected]
L. McLean Davies
e-mail: [email protected]
S. Rice
e-mail: [email protected]
F. Rickards
e-mail: [email protected]
D. Acquaro
e-mail: [email protected]
©Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017
M.A. Peters et al. (eds.),A Companion to Research in Teacher Education,
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4075-7_10
153