- Strong articulation between coursework and professional practice founded on a
shared understanding and commitment to clinical reasoning and practice; - Professional conversations between novice and mentor that pose questions and
probe to make reasoning explicit (Kriewaldt and Turnidge 2013 ); and - A shared community of practice who are committed to a clinical approach.
By interweaving these four elements, a strong model of teacher preparation is
built. Clinical models of teacher education, while incorporating the above elements,
also draw on medical education models of doctor preparation in which universities,
current practitioners and those studying to become a practitioner work together to
support the application of knowledge and the development of clinical judgement.
Educators in the relational professions share in the challenging quest to develop
graduates’processes of reasoning to successfully enable them to engage in complex
practices. In broad terms, this can be seen as the capacity to use complex and
interlocking processes of reasoning to exercise judgement. Such ways of thinking
or habits of mind go beyond technical or instrumental responses, to encompass
dialogic and critical dimensions. By using explicit clinical reasoning processes,
teachers are better able to understand their own and other teachers’ways of thinking
and acting enabling them to work individually and collaboratively.
Using clinical models of education to frame and inform the work of teachers
presents challenges that need to be borne in mind as there are limits to the extent to
which it is both possible and reasonable toapplymodels from otherfields of
practice to teaching. For example, aligning teaching and teacher education too
closely with medical models may run the risk of ignoring the centrality of rela-
tionships and values to effective teaching and learning (Grossman et al. 2009 ). In
utilising medical models and language to reconceptualise teaching, it is vital for
both practitioners and theorists to think critically about how broadly such models
and language apply. In this chapter, we have argued that there are important pro-
spects for education in conceptualising teaching as a clinical practice profession
notwithstanding that cross-professional comparison also pose risks. However,
adaptingclinical models to frame and inform the work of teachers offer significant
affordances for teacher practice.
References
Alter, J., & Coggshall, J. (2009).Teaching as a clinical practice profession: Implications for
teacher preparation and state policy. New York: National Comprehensive Center for Teacher
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Burn, K., & Mutton, T. (2013). Review of‘research informed clinical practice’in initial teacher
education.British Education Research Association (BERA). Retrieved fromhttp://www.bera.
ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/BERA-Paper-4-Research-informed-clinical-practice.pdf
Cochran-Smith, M., & The Boston College Evidence Team. (2009).“Re-culturing”teacher
education: Inquiry, evidence, and action.Journal of Teacher Education, 60(5), 458–468.
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164 J. Kriewaldt et al.