A Critical Perspective on Exploratory Rehearsals: Tensions Between Practice-Based Teacher Education and a Democratic Orientation

This article presents an analysis of interviews with two teacher educators in a practice-based teacher education program in Norway. The project Rehearsing Teaching Professionally has implemented exploratory rehearsal cycles in this program to enhance democratic education. The study focuses on teacher educators’ reflections on exploratory rehearsals and discusses potential implications for a democratic orientation in teacher education. The main findings suggest that exploratory teaching may serve a democratic objective by acknowledging teaching as a relational and contextual practice. Furthermore, teacher educators express that implementing rehearsal cycles has contributed to a stronger collaboration between practicum and campus, facilitating room for essential discussions about teaching practices and their purpose. However, tensions between practice-based teacher education and a democratic orientation in teacher education highlight some inherent dilemmas regarding exploratory rehearsal cycles. These dilemmas revolve around whether such rehearsals reinforce an uncritical understanding of “good” teaching practices and whether certain instructional strategies should be transferred from the university to the classroom setting.