Pedagogy, empowerment and discipline: Comparative perspectives of novice teachers in England and Turkey reflecting on 'the other'

This article discusses the views of Turkish and British novice teachers on pedagogy and pedagogical relationships with school students when confronted with the pedagogical practices of the 'Other' in particular policy contexts. Experiences of those practices were gained by novice teachers during an exchange visit for British and Turkish university students in the period 2008-2009. Data was collected through questionnaires and focus group interviews. Findings suggest that Turkish and British novice teachers initially constructed the 'Other' as very different from themselves. The views of members of both groups were heavily influenced by the cultural contexts in which they trained and worked. British novice teachers tended to take as axiomatic constructivist and inclusive approaches to pedagogy and the relevance to successful pedagogy of listening to students' voices. Turkish novice teachers questioned both, many seeing control and dissemination of knowledge as central to pedagogy and student teacher relationships. © 2011 British Association for International and Comparative Education.University of Leicester European CommissionThe data for this essay arises from a postgraduate student teacher exchange programme (jointly funded by the European Union and the Turkish government) between three universities in Turkey, led by Us¸]csel[di ak University and the University of Leicester in the UK. The programme focused on participants’ understandings of European citizenship, Citizenship Education and pedagogy. This article focuses on the last aspect