Collaborative Learning in Pakistani Teacher Education: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Peer Interactions in Citizenship Courses
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55737/tk/v5i1.51128Keywords:
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Peer Interactions, Collaborative Learning, Pre-Service Teachers, Citizenship Education, Pakistani Education, Teacher IdentityAbstract
This qualitative research examines experiences of pre-service teachers studying Citizenship Education Courses in a women’s university and the meaning-making processes they experience as they work with each other during their learning. This study employs Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to analyse the experiences, conception and sense-making across five pre-service teachers and their experiences in learning through peer interactions in the context of citizenship education. The activities that were decided to be the focus of the semi-structured interviews included the following: instructional activities, lesson planning, microteaching activities, presentation activities, and classroom observation, as well as the specifics of the collaboration by the participants. The review revealed three Group Experiential Themes, namely, navigating the dynamics of relational spaces in collaboration, transformative meaning-making peer dialogue and the embodied growth of pedagogical identity. According to the participants, collaborative learning was the place of vulnerability, as well as development, where disagreements acted as the engine of further knowledge and where peer comments were the mirror of self-reflection of a professional. The results shed light on the phenomenological nature of peer-mediated learning in which the cultural and institutional implications of learning influence the experiential environment of teacher learning. This research adds to the topic of the necessity to design citizenship education courses that consider the complexity of peer interactions and their contribution to the development of critically reflective teachers.
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