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Holistic, aspirational professional standards as a boundary object between communities of practice for pre-service teachers.

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Title: Holistic, aspirational professional standards as a boundary object between communities of practice for pre-service teachers.
Authors: Breeze, Thomas (AUTHOR), O'Dubhchair, Emma (AUTHOR), Dafydd, Sioned (AUTHOR)
Source: Oxford Review of Education. Aug2026, Vol. 52 Issue 4, p439-457. 19p.
Subjects: Professional standards, Mentoring, Teacher education, Self-evaluation, Career development, Student teachers, Communities of practice
Abstract: This article reports on a research project which seeks to understand how pre-service teachers and their school-based 'mentors' use a holistic, developmental set of professional standards as a tool for professional development and assessment. The standards are designed to be used to 'improve not prove', but there has not been research into the efficacy of this approach for the newest members of the teaching profession. Using Lave and Wenger's concept of communities of practice, Maton's concept of semantic waves from his Legitimation Code Theory and Korthagen & Lagerwerf's Gestalt model of theory formation, the authors propose that the school-based mentors' strategies to 'unpack' the standards for use in the specific school context are vital for pre-service teachers' development, but that the absence of an explicit imperative to 'repack' the standards at points of transition reduces their efficacy as a boundary object, creating moments of discontinuity in the pre-service teacher's journey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Oxford Review of Education is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
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  Data: Holistic, aspirational professional standards as a boundary object between communities of practice for pre-service teachers.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Oxford+Review+of+Education%22">Oxford Review of Education</searchLink>. Aug2026, Vol. 52 Issue 4, p439-457. 19p.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Professional+standards%22">Professional standards</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Mentoring%22">Mentoring</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teacher+education%22">Teacher education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Self-evaluation%22">Self-evaluation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Career+development%22">Career development</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+teachers%22">Student teachers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Communities+of+practice%22">Communities of practice</searchLink>
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  Data: This article reports on a research project which seeks to understand how pre-service teachers and their school-based 'mentors' use a holistic, developmental set of professional standards as a tool for professional development and assessment. The standards are designed to be used to 'improve not prove', but there has not been research into the efficacy of this approach for the newest members of the teaching profession. Using Lave and Wenger's concept of communities of practice, Maton's concept of semantic waves from his Legitimation Code Theory and Korthagen & Lagerwerf's Gestalt model of theory formation, the authors propose that the school-based mentors' strategies to 'unpack' the standards for use in the specific school context are vital for pre-service teachers' development, but that the absence of an explicit imperative to 'repack' the standards at points of transition reduces their efficacy as a boundary object, creating moments of discontinuity in the pre-service teacher's journey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Oxford Review of Education is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1080/03054985.2025.2473966
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      – SubjectFull: Teacher education
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      – SubjectFull: Career development
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              Text: Aug2026
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