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Introduction
This chapter outlines a study that investigated how a descriptive observation tool
used by mentor teachers, other school-based teacher educators, university-based
teacher educators and preservice teachers enables and guides professional conversa-
tions during the placement experience. The tool, a clinical observation protocol,
guides an observer to log teacher and student activities and interactions during a
lesson. The conversations that are based on the clinical observation tool provided
multiple loops of evidence-informed feedback on teaching practice. In this respect,
the provision of evidence plays an essential role in a clinical model of teaching
(Burn & Mutton, 2013 ; Kriewaldt & Turnidge, 2013 ; Kriewaldt, McLean Davies,
Rice, Rickards, & Acquaro, 2017 ). Used as the foundation for discussion, this tool
encourages the preservice teacher to develop as a reflective professional during
placement experiences. This chapter draws on Timperley’s ( 2001 ) research that
identified the importance of structured mentoring conversations and draws on
Edwards’ work (2010) in theorising ‘relational agency’ in collegial conversations.
By providing preservice teachers with a variety of evidence from their practice, it
enables them to examine pathways to improvement from multiple perspectives, thus
creating an environment to help them develop as expert practitioners.
This research project is situated in the Master of Teaching (MTeach) program in
the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE) at the University of
Melbourne. The MTeach is a 2-year postgraduate initial teacher education program
that is structured around the nexus of theory and practice together with the concept
of clinical teaching informed by evidence. Each preservice teacher is supported by
a mentor teacher in the preparation and teaching of classes. At a group level, preser-
vice teachers are organised into groups of about 25 across three to five schools.
Each of these groups is monitored by a school-based teaching expert known as a
teaching fellow and a university-based expert known as a clinical specialist, who
draw connections between school placement experiences and academic course-
work. The preservice teachers are placed in a school for 2 days a week from early in
the MTeach program and, in addition, complete an intensive 4-week block place-
ment of 20 consecutive school days in that school. This program structure enables
the preservice teachers to implement strategies and theoretical approaches discussed
at a university, on a weekly basis. In addition, theory-practice integration is sup-
ported by designing course assessment tasks that are founded on the collection and
analysis of school-based evidence.
J. Kriewaldt et al.