In recent years, the concept of knowledge has become a fruitful analytical area within the field of teacher education. It is recognised that knowledge can take different forms, and in this regard, Aristotle’s tripartite distinction has been most influential. This consists of theoretical knowledge (episteme), practical knowledge (techne) and the wisdom necessary to combine the two and to know when and how to implement them (phronesis). Much of this research has been rather deductive, with pre-existing categories being used rather than letting categories arise from the data. This chapter attempts to capture a more emic picture of the knowledge production of preservice teachers (PSTs). The chapter is based on semi-structured interviews of 30 PSTs at various stages of their education. The interviews revolved around their experiences of being taught on campus and teaching for themselves during classroom practice. Our findings are that the PSTs experience a circular production of competence, where theoretical knowledge from the lecture hall becomes grounded in their experiences from practice. Such experiences are also brought back into the lecture hall where they may gain more theoretical context. This cyclical analysis is reminiscent of the hermeneutic circle, where deeper understanding is created through repeated oscillation between two different framings of the material.
En syklisk vei til profesjonell kunnskap: Praksisperiodens påvirkning på kunnskapsproduksjon i lærerutdanning
