Many of the contributors in this book emphasize that teacher learning is not something that teachers need achieve on their own – it is a social process that is contingent upon dialogue and interaction with others, processes through which teachers can come to better understand their own beliefs and knowledge as well as reshape these understandings through listening to the voices of others. The contributions in this section share a focus on dialogue and collaboration as core processes in teacher learning.

In Chapter 24, Johnston surveys the role of collaboration in SLTE. Collaboration is viewed as a process that facilitates teacher development, serves to generate knowledge and understanding, and helps to develop collegiality, and one which teachers should have or share control of. Such collaboration can take many different forms, such as between teacher and teacher, teacher and university researcher, teacher and students, and teacher with other stakeholders such as parents or administrators. Examples Johnston discusses include action research, narrative inquiry, cooperative development, exploratory practice, team teaching, study groups, and dialogue journal writing. Suggestions are given as to how to respond to commonly encountered challenges in initiating collaborative approaches.

In Chapter 25 on the practicum, Gebhard focuses on how the practicum can be used as a means of facilitating teacher development and not simply as an opportunity to master specific teaching skills. This can come about through using the practicum experience as an opportunity for teachers in collaboration with other student-teachers and supervisors to examine and develop their own beliefs and understandings as well as an awareness of the moral and ethnical dimensions of teaching. In reviewing approaches and practices used in the practicum, Gebhard emphasizes the value of using multiple and complementary activities that go beyond the mere collecting of data about teaching but that allow for reflection on the meaning of teaching. Rather than viewing the practicum as an opportunity to apply knowledge learned in an SLTE program, it is a vital part of the process by which the teacher develops his or her identity within a particular institutional and cultural context.