The theory–practice nexus in teacher education: new evidence for effective approaches

All but one of the substantive papers in this issue report on novel approaches to that fundamental issue in teacher education: the relationship between educational theory and the practice of teaching and learning. A gap between these essential elements of professionalisation has been described, discussed and debated over the last three decades (e.g. Carr 1980; Korthagen 2007) and in a variety of cultural contexts, in this journal (e.g. Cheng, Cheng, and Tang 2010; McGarr, O’Grady, and Guilfoyle 2017) and elsewhere. However, as Editor, I would like to argue that this relationship should be seen not so much as a divide, but as a nexus. From the Latin verb nectere, this connection (connexion? ) combines the notions of ‘bringing together’ and ‘forming a focal point’. Theory, arising from both empirical evidence and original argument based on research, underpins each element of pedagogic practice (la Velle and Flores 2018). Additionally, close-to-practise-research (BERA 2018) can also generate new theory, focussing as it does on issues defined by practitioners as relevant to their practice through collaboration with those whose main expertise is research or practice, or both. Thus, the nexus comprises practice informed by theory and theory informed by practice. It is within this space that research into initial teacher education (ITE) needs urgently to be concentrated. It is timely therefore that this issue of JET presents some significant new knowledge about strategies for the theory–practice nexus in ITE. School-based ITE has gained much traction in the UK and increasingly internationally. Key to the progress that student teachers can make during school experience is the role of the mentor (Hobson 2002). Ciarán Ó Gallchóir, from the University of Limerick in Ireland, opens this issue with his methodologically innovative paper describing the experiences of the mentoring of Irish student teachers nearing the completion of their ITE. The Teaching Council of Ireland, considering teaching to be the ‘most important profession in society’ (The Teaching Council An Comhairle Múinteoireachta 2015), has introduced a comprehensive induction programme for newly qualified teachers called Droichead, the Irish word for ‘bridge’, implying a nexus between ITE and the early years of a teacher’s career. High-quality university-based ITE is characterised by the appropriate theoretical underpinning of the preparation of teachers (la Velle 2013), but as Gallchóir argues in this article, the opportunity for nexus with the latter stages of ITE has unfortunately been missed in the design of the Droichead programme. That student teachers are more focussed on practice than theory during their ITE is readily acknowledged by university tutors and school mentors alike (e.g. Bullough 2010), both of whom agree that reflection in and on action (Schön 1987) is basic in learning to teach. The next paper in this issue, from Agurtzane Martinez and colleagues from the University of Mondragón in Spain, presents a study into a tutor-assisted joint reflection on the theory–practice nexus. Various patterns of interaction were identified, but JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR TEACHING 2019, VOL. 45, NO. 4, 369–372 https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2019. 1639267