Transmission Approach:


- The ‘behaviorist’ and ‘traditional craft’ paradigms require student teachers to copy and adopt pre-existing practice and accept knowledge as presented by an ‘expert’ such as a university tutor or school based mentor.

- Some argue that the ‘transmission’ style of ITE is character by a ‘top tips’ approach, where experienced practitioners, either in schools or universities, consider their solution to be the correct one.

- Negative consequences to be aware of:
          a) Teaching is not a science: it is very difficult to identify a solution to a problem that will work in     every context and every time.
          b) Teaching is highly complex and context specific: Schools have their own underlying principles
          beliefs, and values that manifest themselves in the way they teach pupils and in how they expect
          teacher to behave. Again, a teacher moving between contexts may find one approach is not effective
          in other contexts.
          c) Student teachers start ITE with different levels of knowledge and skills, and different
           understandings of pupil learning:
the transmission approach can neglect the individualization of the
           learning process of the student teacher.

- The argument in favor:
          a) it allows for the standardization of knowledge and skills.
          b) It is relatively easy to sit every student teacher in a lecture hall and make sure they know about child protection, or to coach a student teacher to copy how a mentor delivers a particular lesson.
        (for some topics, such as understanding a particular legal framework, this might be the most effective approach.)

Next page Student Teacher-Centered Approach

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