James de Winter: Educating pre-service physics teachers in England: The need for knowledge transformation

Abstract

This thesis considers what it means to be a ‘good’ secondary school physics teacher in England. The main question asked is how pre-service physics teachers in England can be supported to draw from the large body of physics and science education research to inform their practice as they try to become a ‘good’ physics teacher.

The thesis is based on eight publications (I – VIII). The first four publications are empirical journal articles predominantly focused on what it means to be a ‘good’ physics teacher. All four use questionnaires and interviews to identify the views of various education stakeholders. Publication I identified some subject-specific aspects relating to ‘good’ physics teachers, but most views focused on generic attributes even when prompted to focus on physics. Publication II identified that teaching was not seen as a good career choice for a physics graduate, but within schools, physics teachers may have a higher status than those teaching other subjects. Strong subject knowledge was seen as necessary, but not sufficient to be a good physics teacher however in schools, the focus was often on generic, rather than physics-specific, aspects of teaching. Publications III and IV used questionnaires and interviews with pre-service physics teachers to focus on their views and experiences relating to two discipline-specific aspects of being a physics teacher identified in Publication I. These were the roles of practical work (III) and mathematics (IV) in the teaching and learning of physics.

This thesis makes the case that supporting pre-service teachers in England to draw from research knowledge requires a process of knowledge transformation. The nature of the research knowledge about physics teaching and learning is different from the practical knowledge pre-service teachers need (or at least believe they need) and so the transformation of knowledge originating in educational research into knowledge for use by teachers is necessary. This process of knowledge transformation is theorised and presented in the thesis. Publications V – VIII are book chapters written for pre-service physics teachers and presented as exemplifications of the outcome of this process together with consideration of the importance of this process and wider implications in the English context.