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(Cochran-Smith et al., 2016 ; Gay, 2010 ) demonstrates a reciprocal relationship
between teacher educators and preservice teachers could put equity at the centre and
have a lasting effect on improving their vocational, academic and behavioural
outcomes.
Mentoring and Innovation: Applying an Integrative
Pedagogical Model
Several scholars assert teachers’ professional experience should emphasise the
interplay of theory and practice advocating for the use of ‘praxis’. A central part of
Carr and Kemmis ( 2009 ) and Mattsson, Eilertsen and Rorrison ( 2011 ) claim is that
‘praxis refers to the sayings, doings and relatings that people enact when they take
into account the universal values embedded in history and when they try to improve
the world’ (p. 3). Kemmis and Smith ( 2008 ) state:
Praxis is a kind of action. It is action that is morally committed, and oriented and informed
by traditions in a field. It is the kind of action people are engaged in...when they consider
all the circumstances and exigencies that confront them at a particular moment and then,
taking the broadest view they can do what it is best to do, they act. (p. 4)
Working with the notion that praxis is a theoretically informed action, Tynjälä,
Slotte, Nieminen, Lonka and Olkinuora ( 2006 ), Tynjälä ( 2008 ) and the revised
Integrative Pedagogy Model (Heikkinen, Tynjälä & Kiviniemi, 2011 , p. 97) support
the unification of theoretical and practical ‘praxis’ by engaging learners in four
highly integrated elements that they call ‘(1) theoretical and conceptual knowledge,
(2) practical and experiential knowledge, (3) regulative knowledge and (4) sociocul-
tural knowledge’ (Heikkinen et al., 2011 , p. 107, italics from original).
Heikkinen et al. ( 2011 ) argue that theoretical knowledge is universal, formal in
quality and often referred to as declarative knowledge. It could be more clearly
explained by considering theoretical knowledge as contrasting and yet complimen-
tary to practice knowledge. Practical knowledge tends to emerge from practical
experiences, procedural knowledge and when developing diverse skill sets. Whereas
the third form of knowledge in the Integrative Pedagogy Model is self-regulative
knowledge, this is where the learner allows space for reflection on their metacogni-
tively informed actions. Mediating tools such as informal discussions with mentors
are needed to make tacit knowledge more explicit. The fourth component of the
Integrative Pedagogy Model is the sociocultural knowledge, where cultural tools
and artefacts become embedded in social practices. This supports Wenger’s ( 2010 )
and Lave and Wenger’s ( 1991 ) notion that sociocultural knowledge can be stimu-
lated by one’s participation in a community of practice. Together, these four differ-
ent forms of knowledge expertise form the foundations of an integrated pedagogical
process.
At one university, the Integrative Pedagogy Model (Heikkinen et al., 2011 )
assisted the preservice teachers in gaining a deeper understanding of their conceptual,
M. O’Brien et al.