167In his statement, Andre notices that reorienting the discussion to become learn-
ing focused had changed the relationship between the preservice teacher and more
experienced observers. This change of focus opened up spaces to probe reasoning
that underlies judgements that are commonly quickly made. When preservice teach-
ers are told their teaching is either proficient or lacking in some way, this can serve
to curtail interrogation of evidence of teaching and learning, and consequently their
opportunity to reflect is diminished. Instead, in this project, preservice teacher and
observer refer to the data together and ask ‘why do you think that happened, and
what were your options?’ (Hugo, Clinical Specialist). The effect of descriptive
observation was aptly described as assisting preservice teachers who use the evi-
dence and ‘dig deep [into the evidence] and make the judgement’ (Julia, Clinical
Specialist). This comment illuminates that ‘mining’ evidence, to continue Julia’s
metaphor, is crucial to further preservice teacher understanding of teaching and
their own development of practice.
Ideally, this process hones the preservice teacher’s capacity to draw conclusions
based on their own analysis of the observation records and evidence. An instance of
this occurring was described by Stephanie:
The discussion I had with my teaching fellow after using the Teaching Tracker was very
insightful. We had a brainstorming discussion about how I could improve the class, without
giving me their opinions. I was encouraged to come to the conclusion by myself, with some
limited input from my teaching fellow. (Stephanie, Preservice Teacher)
Using the T3 when reviewing the lesson can foster a more inquiring and collab-
orative stance. The relational agency granted to the preservice teachers scaffolds
their transition to independent teaching. These collaborative dialogues or conversa-
tions help build preservice teachers’ fledgling careers by promoting a stance in
which they continue to seek evidence of how their actions are resulting in learning
when there is no recourse to another teacher in the room. This builds the conditions
for reflective practice.
The Processes of Gathering Evidence, and the Opportunity
for Professional Dialogue that Focuses on Evidence, Provides
the Preservice Teacher with Opportunities to Enhance Their
Capacity to Reflect on Their Teaching
Evidence provided by mentor teachers, clinical specialists and teaching fellows on
teaching practice is non-judgemental by design to encourage preservice teachers to
become reflective practitioners. Similar to Stephanie’s comment in the previous
quotation, Frances describes how descriptive observation makes space for substan-
tive dialogue and provides opportunities for preservice teachers to reflect on their
practice:
I think by just observing and just making comments, it leaves lots of room for deep discus-
sion with the preservice teacher after the observation. So by leaving out judgements, it
allows room for questions and for them to really reflect on what they’ve done and why, as
well. (Frances, Clinical Specialist)10 Fostering Professional Learning Through Evidence-Informed Mentoring Dialogues...