Understanding changes in science teachers' classroom practices

: putting hermeneutic phenomenology to work

Abstract

This thesis describes my engagement as a science teacher educator with hermeneutic phenomenology and how I used the philosophy methodologically to better understand science teachers’ early experiences in the profession. The study arose from several concerns; current teacher education policies that construe practice as unproblematic and something to be controlled, the ongoing issue of science teachers not remaining in the profession, and models of teacher knowledge and development that are applied in deficit ways, often neglecting the experiential nature of practice.
Taking a hermeneutic perspective on teacher learning that sees it as complex, dynamic and emergent, I utilised an applied case study methodology, accounts of practice inquiry, to collect phenomenological data on a small group of science teachers over the first four years of their careers. The data consisted of recordings of teacher study meetings, along with recordings obtained from stimulated recall interviewing that captured teachers’ perspectives on their practice. Heidegger’s hermeneutic circle of iterative interpretation was employed in explicating the data and phenomenological text generated for each teacher in the form of an account of their practice. The meanings of these experiential accounts were then used to develop an elaborated version of an existing teacher growth model (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002)
The study revealed that the development of teachers’ knowledge is complex and ill-defined, being deeply embedded within classroom experience. The model developed was able to elucidate experiential influences, and so could help teacher educators, in working with teachers, to make sense of these experiences and contribute to more effective supporting of teachers at the start of their careers. Changes in practice were characterised with the model, revealing the importance of teachers having a domain of stability and developing their own theoretical frameworks. A notion of the teacher educator being a phenomenological researcher was established, where they share the experiential journey of early career teachers, and the value of co-teaching was highlighted in supporting teachers to understand the complex links between theory and practice.
Methodologically, the work has shown the viability of using both hermeneutic phenomenology and an accounts of practice inquiry methodology in the science education field. The study contributes knowledge for those wanting to carry out phenomenological explorations of science classrooms.

Date of Award	6 Dec 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	David Bainton (Supervisor) & Alf T Coles (Supervisor)