Consequently, the pre service teacher and their supervisor seek to form a relationship that is
predicated on mutual trust, mutual respect and a mutual understanding of what the student is
required to do within the context of their practicum experience. A movement in this direction, the
authors believe, will help in ensuring that the practicum experience of the pre service teacher will
be more beneficial and as a result, have a direct impact on the quality of the education program
delivered by their institution. The effectiveness of this collaborative communication is determined
by the need to focus on two intersecting models; The Triangulation Model and The Cyclic Model.
The Triangulation Model is based on the association between three key areas; Aspirations,
Evidence, and Current Position. Aspirations highlight the agreed-upon criteria that the pre service
teacher will be observed against. Evidence reflects the knowledge, obtained from the platform’s
tools, can be used to highlight the gap-of-knowledge between the demonstrated actions of the pre
service teacher and the feedback from the supervisor. Finally, the Current Position indicates the
agreed upon demonstrated actions juxtaposed with the agreed upon criteria that the supervisor
observed. In this triangulation there is a symbiotic relationship between each key area and this
relationship forms a seminal application to helping to establish a collaborative environment based
on mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual understanding. This relationship is augmented by
linking the evidence obtained from the platform’s tools, via The Triangulation Model, with The Cyclic
Model. The emphasis on this focus centres on a critical reflective process that forms the basis to
The Cyclic Model.
The Triangulation Model is an important part of the critical reflective process because it emphasises
a drive towards collaborative discussion which is an integral part of the platform’s capacity to move
into a 21st practicum environment.. The critical reflective process has four main points;
Demonstrated, Notices, Understands and Knows and is developed through The Cyclic Model. In
The Triangulation Model evidence is based on what the pre-service teacher demonstrated in the
moment. The pre service teacher's demonstrated actions reveal their knowledge-in-practice; what
they believe they should be doing based on their understanding of the agreed standards. The
critical reflective process is therefore based on the demonstrated evidence and this is used to
determine if the pre-service teacher has met the agreed standards. In order to undertake this task
the pre service teacher has to view their demonstrated actions and view the data that has been
captured. When the pre service teacher does this they are focusing on their knowledge-in-practice
and that this then leads them to notice, with the context of in-that-moment, what it is that they
demonstrated. It is the noticing, the linking between the demonstrated evidence and the agreed
upon standards, that leads the student onto noticing what it was that they did and from there
understanding their actions.
The understanding that the pre-service teacher acquires is based on a much deeper awareness of
their demonstrated actions because they, in the course of their reflective process, notice in-thatmoment what it is that they have done based against the feedback from their supervisor; their
understanding of the agreed standards and how that links in with their demonstrated actions. The
reflective process by default requires the pre service teacher to think at a higher cognitive level
about their actions, the platform encouraging them to delve deeper into unpacking their
understanding and thereby enlightening them in what they need to do to meet or excel in those
standards. The pre service teacher now knows, from the demonstrated evidence and their
THE CENTRE FOR RECORDING ACHIEVEMENT 104 -108 WALLGATE, WIGAN, WN3 4AB |
53