Reform-Oriented Collaborative Inquiry as a Pedagogy for Student Teaching in Middle School

Specialized middle level teacher education programs are an oft-purported lever for middle level education reform. Preparing teachers to enact “new” teaching practices that challenge the status quo in field placement schools presents a formidable challenge, however. This research investigated reform-oriented collaborative inquiry (ROCI), a framework developed by the author, as a pedagogy for facilitating reform-oriented student teaching. Qualitative methods were used to investigate the challenges and benefits experienced by the student teachers as they used ROCI to engage in reform-oriented student teaching. A case description is provided to illustrate how ROCI was used by 4 student teachers and 1 teacher educator to collaboratively develop a student-driven social action project aimed at engaging middle school students in “active, purpose learning” and “relevant curriculum.” Challenges included (a) a disconnect between university-based and school-based visions of teaching, and (b) cultivating student engagement in “new” teaching approaches. The benefits of participating in ROCI were (a) en-“courage”ment to remain reform oriented, and (b) increased confidence in and understanding of reform-oriented teaching. These findings point to the potential for ROCI to serve as a framework for building capacity in reform-oriented teaching, the importance of early opportunities to practice reform-oriented teaching, and the urgent need for political, structural, and financial support of school-university partnerships.