© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 175
J. Kriewaldt et al. (eds.), Educating Future Teachers: Innovative Perspectives
in Professional Experience, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-5484-6_11
Chapter 11
Professional Experience and Project-Based
Learning as Service Learning
Bill Eckersley, Kellie Tobin, and Sally Windsor
Abstract Professional experience is an essential component of initial teacher edu-
cation. It provides preservice teachers with opportunities to develop their knowl-
edge and skills in learning and teaching in school and early childhood settings. It
engages preservice teachers in real situations that facilitate authentic learning typi-
cally supported by mentor teachers. These situated learning experiences enable
undergraduate and postgraduate preservice teachers to develop skills and practices
that meet national standards. In addition to more traditional professional experi-
ences, some universities have developed school-university partnerships that engage
their preservice teachers in professional experiences based on project-based learn-
ing. Three university partnership collaborations with schools (mostly located in low
socio-economic status (SES) communities) are discussed in this paper in which
curriculum-based ‘learning by doing’ (Dewey, 1897 ) projects are a priority. Projects
typically identified by school partners and linked to school strategic plans and pri-
orities involve preservice teachers forming small professional learning teams (that
include university and school-based educators and teachers as researchers) who
facilitate the planning, management and reporting of a project. These project-based
learning tasks are facilitated and aligned to the traditional professional experience
and often involves work-integrated learning and development of twenty-first-
century project management skills: teamwork, leadership, negotiation, evaluation,
collaboration, entrepreneurship and project management and research skills. In the
three cases reported here, there is a focus on addressing social and educational
inequality through the programs.
B. Eckersley (*)
Victoria University, Footscray, VIC, Australia
e-mail: [email protected]
K. Tobin
Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia
e-mail: [email protected]
S. Windsor
Department of Pedagogical, Curricular and Professional Studies, Gothenburg University,
Gothenburg, Sweden
Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne,
Melbourne, VIC, Australia
e-mail: [email protected]