In search for a good class: positioning of teacher trainers and student teachers in a Chilean University

Abstract

Teacher formation implies, beyond the implementation of technical competences, an effort to rethink pedagogical spaces and classroom practices. The purpose of this article is to present the findings of an investigation that aimed to analyze the pedagogical characteristics of a classroom practice from teacher trainers’ and student teachers’ conceptualizations in a School of Education of a Chilean university. A qualitative methodology with a descriptive-narrative approach was used with 149 participants (76 teachers and 73 student teachers) and the data were analyzed through content analysis. Results show that there is a consonance between teachers and student teachers regarding the importance of class organization; however, student teachers are more focused on the importance of a voice space where emotionality, creativity, and contextual reality must be considered in teacher training. A worrying finding is the emergence of a fragmented discourse between us (the teachers) and them (the student teachers), which questions the class as a pedagogical unit.