“Writing is a key phase of the research process in social science research—it is the phase of sense-making through analysis and synthesis, gleaning significance, and testing one’s intuition through thick, rigorous interrogation. The conviction that rigorous inquiry into experience through writing can contribute to professional formation of teachers underlies the collection of essays in this book. This book offers a thoughtful new argument that researched reflection through empirical explorations and writing contribute to teacher formation, and extends our understanding of research in the social sciences. The collection in this book shows us that teaching is not only social action but also extends to social inquiry, conducted through empirical field engagement, and rigorous reflection and sense-making through writing. The editors argue for research-writing-to-think-things-through by student-teachers in their own professional formation. By identifying rigorous academic writing as a distinctive practice in the BElEd and reflecting on the process and outcomes of nurturing it in student-teachers, the editors are able to draw attention to a hitherto undervalued professional competence of teachers. In a profession where professional knowledge and insight remain personal and often only orally shared in corridors, taking student-teacher research more seriously and cultivating it with communicative purpose could be valuable for the professional community.”Padma M. Sarangapani, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India“The BElEd programme, one of the earliest four-year undergraduate teacher education programmes of University of Delhi, with a research project integral to the completion of the course, has offered generations of student-teachers an opportunity to reflect upon their practice with evidence from classroom experiences. In a much needed intervention, Jyoti Raina and Gunjan Sharma, make these student projects a subject of research work. In the process, we get to read an insightful book, where teacher educators and student-teachers come together to examine their own work and learning. This is a timely book, as there is an increasing emphasis on undergraduate research, without many guidelines. Raina and Sharma give a framework to look at the student projects, as well as a window to the thoughts of student-teachers, as they put their theory under test in real classroom situations.”Radhika Menon, Mata Sundri College for Women, University of Delhi, Delhi, India“This is a landmark book as it signifies the fulfilment of a very important goal: elementary teachers who get trained to do research in order to constantly reflect on their teaching and nourish it. Started in 1994, BElEd programme envisaged a teacher as a researcher, and the present volume is a testimony that such curricular goals can be actualised. The volume will inspire ordinary teachers to treat themselves as researchers and the classroom as a field that needs constant enquiry. It enhances the professional image of the teacher education programmes and their discourse and thus makes an important contribution and reading.”Latika Gupta, University of Delhi, Delhi, India“A significant contribution to teacher education literature, this volume brings in documentation of authentic experiences of research by student-teachers, a critical training exercise in reflective practice within the BElEd programme, which is one of the most thoughtfully designed and executed experiments in teacher education in the recent decades. In the first part of the volume, Jyoti Raina and Gunjan Sharma do a brilliant job of framing these research documentations in a coherent conceptual perspective, and further establishing their value through a self-study exercise.”Shyam B. Menon, BML Munjal University, Haryana, India“Student-teachers researching pedagogic practice as part of their teacher preparation programmes is key to fostering their ability to become transformative and reflexive agents in the classroom. This book by Jyoti Raina and Gunjan Sharma provides a powerful, compelling, and insightful account of student-teachers’ practices in the BElEd programme at the University of Delhi. By including the voices of student-teacher-researchers themselves, this book is an invaluable resource for scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and students engaged in teacher preparation programmes both in India and globally.”Yusuf Sayed, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom“This edited volume addresses historical amnesia towards a systematic study of research by student-teachers. The meaningfully selected contributions provide valuable insights for mentoring and undertaking research by prospective teachers. This book is essential for every teacher education programme. Others in the education sector will benefit from its fresh perspectives.”Mythili Ramchand, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, India“This is a groundbreaking scholarship on teacher education in India. Anchored in the rich empirical experience of the BElEd programme at the University of Delhi, the book offers fresh analytical perspectives in student-teacher research. It is a must read for all those who care about education in India.”Manisha Priyam, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, & National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, Delhi, India
