10.3.2 Evidence and Research-Informed Practice
In this section, we turn attention to the second of the central tenets of clinical
teaching—a focus on data, evidence and research in order to determine the next
stage or step to advance student’s learning. Arguably, defining what constitutes
evidence-informed practice in teaching is essential in this era of policy focus on
teacher education and professionalism. On one level, an interest in and commitment
to evidence-informed practice might be seen as a part of a general move in teacher
education to a greater emphasis on basing decisions on data and knowledge that
extends beyond an individual teacher’s intrinsic understanding, and more broadly
the development of teaching as a profession. This reflects Timperley’s edict that
teachers need to shift their mindset, as historically, teacher training and practice‘did
not require [teachers] them to interpret and use evidence because assessment
information was about labelling and categorising students, not about guiding and
directing teaching practice’(Timperley 2010 , p. 5).
On another level, though, clinical understandings of the uses of evidence and
research extend beyond general principles of good practice, and offer ways of
identifying how the various forms of evidence and research can be used to inform
the development of learning interventions designed and enacted by teachers in
classrooms. Fundamental to this enterprise is the notion that clinical teachers are
interventionist practitioners capable of using data to meet the needs of individual
learner, and that, importantly these interventions are designed to promote growth—
all evidence is used to support learners to move along a developmental continuum.
Pavlovic et al. ( 2014 ) note that framing student learning in terms of a develop-
mental continuum does not refer to
a cognitive, Piagetian style of development but to the accumulation of skills, knowledge
and attitudes that accrue as a result of exposure to new ideas, new procedures and new
opportunities to learn. (Pavlovic et al. 2014 , p. 61)In light of this, a central premise of clinical teaching models is that with a
data-driven, evidence-based approach to teaching and learning, teachers can create
productive learning environments and scaffold learning for every student, regardless
of the student’s development or intellectual capacity (Griffin 2007 ; cited in McLean
Davies et al. 2013 ).
Data and other forms of evidence are only useful if students’learning goals are
understood and shared. Having said this, it is important to emphasise that evidence
itself cannot be used without judgment, and that the collection of evidence in no
way compromises teachers’professional responsibility to analyse, synthesise and
make decisions about the relevance of the data they have collected. In what follows,
we will explore the different forms of evidence that clinical teachers draw on in
order to make professional judgements about the individual needs of learners. In
their research and analysis of the way evidence was conceptualised in their clinical
pre-service teacher education program, Cochran-Smith and The Boston College
10 Clinical Practice in Education: Towards a Conceptual Framework 157