Investigating knowledge exchange and creation on a practice-based Master's programme

Abstract

Continuing emphasis on lifelong learning arguably requires universities to move away from transmissive teaching to pedagogies centred on transforming practice. Whilst the professional learning of established teachers has attracted increased attention, describing processes that bring about changes in the teaching practice of experienced practitioners remain problematic. This paper reports on an investigation of knowledge usage and creation on a practice-based postgraduate programme for experienced teachers that combined both schooling and developmental pedagogic strategies. It examines the programme’s operation by describing the activity of the tutors who performed it. The use of a materialist approach to surface the spatio-temporal effects of pedagogic activity showed how the programme provoked reflexivity and the creation of ‘new’ knowledge. This was an integral part of changes in practice across the various spaces the course created. The paper argues that viewing pedagogic systems as complex relational practices offers a productive way of illuminating professional learning processes.