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So, what is third space theory all about? What makes it useful for reconceptualis-
ing partnerships in initial teacher education? What is its genealogy as a conceptual,
philosophical and political framework? And what kinds of attendant considerations
should be taken into account by teacher education scholars looking to apply it to
their thinking? These questions form the focus of this chapter, which offers a critical
analysis of the development of third space theory and an interrogation of the possi-
bilities and limitations of its application to the professional experience context.
Introduction
Across the teacher education research literature, references to the problematic
‘theory- practice gap’ in initial teacher education abound. Essentially, this refers to
the dialectical positioning of university-based learning about teaching as abstracted
theory in opposition to situated, school-based learning about teaching through prac-
tice (Ng, Nicholas, & Williams, 2010 ; Sinner, 2010 ). This perceived theory-practice
gap is exacerbated by the fact that the division between university-based and school-
based learning is not only figurative but also literal; that is, teacher education is
taught partly by academics in the university setting and partly by mentors and teach-
ers in schools. This separation accentuates confusion amongst preservice teachers
who often perceive irreconcilable tensions between the theories learned at the uni-
versity and the practices observed during their professional experience in schools
(Rorrison, 2005 ).
Policy reform and popular debate around this persistent problem tend to focus
attention on rebalancing the ratios of theoretical and practical learning in initial
teacher education. But recent scholarship on the subject offers a paradigm in which
theory meets practice and in which university- and school-based learning come
together in a ‘third space’ of mutuality, hybridity and collaboration. Popularised in
professional experience research by Zeichner ( 2010 ), ‘the third space’ is frequently
invoked as a conceptual framework for addressing the theory-practice gap in initial
teacher education, especially as it plays out in its professional experience compo-
nent. It is not difficult to understand its appeal. The spatial metaphor of ‘third space’
readily encompasses a number of associations that powerfully and tangibly express
the complex interrelationships between people, institutions and knowledges; for
example, we might speak of the centre and the periphery, the borders of knowledge,
of marking out territory, exploring new frontiers, crossing boundaries and carving
out new spaces. The possibilities are seemingly endless. And yet, ‘third space’ is
also more than a helpful metaphor for describing relationships and tensions. Third
space theory has transdisciplinary origins that track back some 20 years before
Zeichner’s uptake of the concept. Indeed, third space theory has multiple, simulta-
neous disciplinary genealogies, each of which inscribes the metaphor of the ‘third
space’ with a particular meaning (Bhabha, 1990 ; Gutiérrez, Rymes, & Larson,
1995 ; Soja, 1996 ).
R. Forgasz et al.