Research-based pre-service teacher education - centring teachers in the process of knowledge creation

This paper draws upon influential reviews of undergraduate research-based learning such as the UK Higher Education Academy's "Developing Undergraduate Research and Inquiry" and the Australian Learning and Teaching Council sponsored "Undergraduate Research in Australia" website to propose an argument and agenda for research-based approaches in pre-service teacher education. Reasons for integrating research into the pre-service teacher curriculum include the development of students' ability to think critically, learn material deeply, link theory with practice, perform research processes, collaborate with others, and to cope with supercomplexity. A range of contemporary ways to infuse research-based learning and teaching into the undergraduate curriculum are presented, such as whole course projects, staff-student research partnerships, and the establishment of undergraduate research journals. Strategies to make this learning meaningful to students include building upon their own personal sense of inquiry, scaffolding design and implementation to support significant contributions to the field, and providing opportunities to communicate findings. Issues regarding implementation at different levels of operation are also discussed.