Social Studies Teacher Education and the Legacy of PCK: Exploring Situated Theories of Preservice Teacher Development

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has framed teacher education for decades, despite the difficulty of demonstrating that teacher preparation effectively develops PCK. Social studies educators have been especially wary of PCK, but their critiques have primarily challenged what knowledge is valued rather than its model of how teachers learn. This comparative case study reexamines PCK’s cognitivist assumptions by analyzing three preservice social studies teachers’ teaching and reflections from a situated perspective on role identity development. Despite unusual amounts of pedagogical experience and content knowledge, each novice had trouble facilitating whole class discussions. Their struggles did not emerge at the intersection of pedagogy and content, but within their role identity negotiations. These results suggest that a situated framework for identity development is a useful alternative to PCK in social studies teacher preparation and recommend deeper engagement with identity development through teacher education practice.