Exploring the becoming of pre-service teachers in paired placement models

This chapter draws on the Bakhtinian conceptualisation of ideological becoming to examine the professional becoming of pre-service teachers (PSTs) and their supervising teachers in paired placements as they negotiate unfamiliar situations and tensions. It considers the changing environment of the placement space in Australia by examining findings from survey and interview data with secondary PSTs and their supervising teachers. The findings suggest collaborative teaching in the secondary teaching space was an unfamiliar discourse, with many PSTs perceiving the outcome of a paired placement as limiting their ability to practice their skills in teaching, and with supervising teachers placing limited value on the skills learnt from the experience. The findings illustrated that for paired placements to make a valuable contribution to PST and supervising teachers’ professional becoming it is important to carefully consider the purpose and use of paired placements and in this chapter I suggest strategies for doing so. The chapter concludes by considering the potential of future of alternative models of placement such as paired and group placements and the development of strong school-university partnerships with clusters of schools.