© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 71
J. Kriewaldt et al. (eds.), Educating Future Teachers: Innovative Perspectives
in Professional Experience, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-5484-6_5
Chapter 5
Boundary Objects and Brokers in Professional
Experience: An Activity Theory Analysis
Tony Loughland and Hoa Thi Mai Nguyen
Abstract Professional experience (PE) is a key element in the preparation of future
teachers. However, a growing number of researchers have raised concerns about the
need to enhance the effectiveness of the professional experience in teacher educa-
tion programs and have called for innovations that will enhance the current school-
based experiences within these programs. In response to this call, there have been
many innovations which have been implemented worldwide. Most of the innova-
tions place emphasis on bridging the gap between theory and practice by enhancing
the quality of school-based experiences, including the one we describe in this chap-
ter. Within the scope of this chapter, we report the findings of a case study that
explored the learning experiences of preservice teachers through professional expe-
rience. The focus of this chapter is to examine the boundary objects and brokers that
assisted the preservice teachers’ boundary crossing between the university and
school context. The innovation in this chapter is the novel use of activity theory to
examine preservice teacher learning in professional experience.
Introduction
There is a trend towards restructuring teacher education around a clinical practice
model that emphasises the shared responsibility and mutual benefits of schools and
universities to educate prospective teachers. These efforts range from the inten-
sively resourced and well-theorised model established by the Graduate School of
Education at the University of Melbourne (McLean Davies et al., 2012 ) to radical
school-based models that accentuate learning in practice as exemplified by the
Teach For Australia program (Teach For Australia, 2009 ).
School and university partnerships have been a key strategy within a clinical
practice model in an effort to improve the quality of initial teacher education.
Accordingly, school-university partnerships have received significant attention in
the literature (Allen, Howells, & Radford, 2013 ; Brady, 2002 ; Burton & Greher,
T. Loughland (*) • H.T.M. Nguyen
University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
e-mail: [email protected]