Using grounded theory: a collaborative approach

There are many video clips that are widely available to support CPD for teachers but what do student teachers make of this material? This study focuses on student teachers following a one year post graduate initial teacher education programme. Student teachers were given a video clip to watch about supporting pupils make the transition from using the grid method to the standard written method. They split into small groups to discuss their initial thoughts and then came back together as a group (approximately 30 students) to share their thoughts more widely. Following this discussion they were asked to write a short reflection about the session. Seven researchers used grounded theory to analyse the data and this session will provide an overview of the approach we took. We will begin by showing the video clip used in the study and some excerpts from the student teachers’ reflections. We will explain the collaborative approach taken to coding the data and ask participants to engage in discussion about the codes we have assigned. Following this, early findings from the study will be discussed.