Is it possible to enhance the teacher students’ quality of learning in the school based periods of teacher education by providing the supervising mentors with a sharpened ability to notice, discuss and articulate their own practical knowing? Results from one of our previous projects show that the sharpening of such abilities can provide tools for shared generic knowledge amongst teachers, but can it also enhance the mentoring quality or the possibilities of transferring practical knowledge to new members of the profession? And does such consciousness-raising lead to an increased ability to assess the students practical knowing? Results from a design experiment where we - in collaboration with field mentors - have studied these questions will be at the center of the presentation.

14 supervisors, from pre-school up to senior level, have participated in the project. The methods used in this study for enhancing the supervisors ability to notice, express and discuss their own practical knowledge are a variation of a traditional e-delphi study (Reid, 1988, Lindqvist & Nordänger, 2007b), stimulated recall (Calderhead, 1981) and dialogue seminars (Göranzon, 2006). The outcomes, in form of supervisors’ apprehension of changes in quality, have been studied through interviews.

The preliminary results show that the supervisors claim to have detected their own practical skills and ways of talking about them. This has, in the supervision, led to a sharpening of practical sight and a strengthening of focus on how this type of knowledge is learned and transferred. Another effect is, according to the teachers, that their assessments and grading of students practical skills have been more rigorous.

This presentation is attached to the symposium “Learning within the school based parts of teacher education. Practical knowing, apprenticeship and mentoring”, NERA-network Teachers’ work and lives.