This thesis investigated professional agency for student teachers in their final practicum of the Auckland College of Education Bachelor of Education (Teaching) early childhood pathway. Professional agency is an element in the matrix representation of the philosophy of the degree programme. Relevant to this study a working definition of professional agency with regard to the practicum was articulated through a consultative process with early childhood colleagues and final year student teachers who were not involved in this investigation. Six student teachers volunteered to engage in this research. Their respective associate teachers and visiting lecturers also agreed to contribute to the investigation. All participants were interviewed by means of semistructured interviews before and after the final practicum. This process provided a total of thirty- six interviews, which were transcribed and analysed. The research was based in a constructivist-interpretive research paradigm with a view to understanding social reality as perceived by the research participants. The methodology encompassed a qualitative case study approach framed within Giddens' (1984) theory of structuration. Congruent with Giddens' theory the practicum was constructed as a social system and the relevant actors were identified. Subsequently, data analysis revealed the student teachers as actors who operated with agency. However, when the concept of professional agency was investigated only three of the six student teachers were deemed to have achieved all of the elements of the working definition. Pertinent to Giddens' theory the intersections of practice between the student teachers and their associate teachers and visiting lecturers were examined. This scrutiny illuminated factors that were perceived to have contributed to or detracted from professional agency. / A further mode of analysis advocated by Giddens revealed that practices actioned in the social system or context of the tertiary institution were not necessarily effectively carried out in the practicum environment. Therefore, due to lack of appropriate links between social and system integration, provision for professional agency was impeded. Findings from the research prompted the argument that opportunity for student teachers to achieve professional agency in their final practicum was contingent upon system integration in the practicum. Arising from that conclusion a theoretical model to promote system integration in the practicum was proposed. The model was supported by recommendations for improved practicum preparation for the early childhood student teachers, and on-going professional development in supervisory practice for the visiting lecturers and the associate teachers. Principles to underpin the supervision of adults in the practicum were identified, and a reconstructed working definition of professional agency was articulated. A significant outcome of this research was the introduction of the notion of student teacher professional agency to the research literature on the practicum. Another important feature was the utilisation of Giddens' (1984) theory of structuration to analyse the practicum. In viewing the practicum as a social system, and applying the three modes of analyses recommended by Giddens, new insights into the professional practices of the relevant social actors were gained.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/223142 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Turnbull, Margaret D. |
| Publisher | Curtin University of Technology, School of Humanities. |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | unrestricted |
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