Confidence, risk, and the journey into praxis: work-based learning and the teacher education curriculum

Aim: This paper aims to explore notions of confidence and risk in the context of professional knowledge and practice for trainee teachers in the lifelong learning sector. It will argue that the inculcation of confidence through risk-taking is an imperative for an emancipatory journey into praxis. Content: This paper explores notions of confidence and risk in the context of professional knowledge and practice for teachers in the lifelong learning sector. It draws upon Marianna Papastephanou’s (2006 and forthcoming), work on school teachers and discourse, who argues for the “accommodation of risk in the teacher–pupil relationship and against the managerial narrowing of educational endeavour to the sphere of the secure and the predictable” (2006: p48). She also raises important points about risk in education more generally, “What is missing from such discourses is the acknowledgement of unpredictability and non-calculability (true risk, that is) as an inherent, disruptive and creative force of teaching and learning, as many educational philosophers have convincingly pointed out” (2006: p50). In this respect confidence, whether imbued in the self or inculcated by the processes and products of continuing professional development, correlates with both the developing teacher’s capacity to take risks and their vulnerability when submitting to both course assessment and work-based audits of practice. The paper suggests a tension between learner participation in a higher education course of study, and corresponding participation in skills development in the workplace for trainee teachers, whether on placement or in-service. In this respect the nature of professional knowledge and practice, confidence, and work based learning (WBL) are discussed. This paper will argue that the inculcation of confidence through risk-taking is an imperative for the journey into praxis. The role of HE in teacher education: It explores the tension between learner participation in a higher education course of study, and corresponding participation in skills development in the workplace. While the focus is on teacher education in the Lifelong Learning sector, colleagues in the school sector will recognise these tensions, and the discussions relating to confidence and risk for trainee teachers and their journey into praxis. Hoped for impact on practice: It is hoped that the discussions will cause colleagues to strive for a greater emphasis on the inculcation of confidence and risk-taking between the workplace (placement or in-service), and the teacher education curriculum as an imperative for an emancipatory journey into praxis. The country/ies to which the presentation relates: England and Wale