174
5.2 Nature of Pedagogy
Learning
experience
The discussion in the previous section suggested that what students
learn from encounters is unpredictable and one aspect of school group
work is to do with understanding, evaluating and advancing practice
in difficult areas.
The Research Group emphasised that on
occasion
students felt that the complexity of the classroom situation required
careful observation and analysis by ’disinterested’ tutors which
could subsequently be used in discussion to extend and deepen the
16
student’s awareness and active knowledge. Moving towards profes-
sional understanding and development can only be accomplished with
painstaking and comprehensive discussion. Edgar Stones (1984) has
given meticulous attention to developing and analysing a practice
for the supervisory relationship that does justice to the complexity
of its requirements upon both the tutor and the student. Too fre-
quently, the tutor’s role is accepted by students and teachers and
soemtimes by tutors as classroom observer and assessor of a rela-
tively unproblematic
17
set of student performances.
Even in research
on teacher education this view may be found.
In the account given
by Patrick et al (1982) there is a strong assumption that criticism
is
the raison
d'etre of
classroo:
111
observation and that
support from
the tutors to the student somehow misinterprets and obscures that
central function. In the next extract Ml illustrates how acceptance
of this view by tutors or by teachers can restrict the use that is
made of what might be a useful and appropriate learning situation.
School B 24.11.81 P6∕7 ki
Ml
In the SMILE class they (the teachers of
the class) can observe you but really when I