Cases of unacknowledged contradictions at the meso level of institutions, which result in low levels of support or challenge at the micro level of the individual

This is the fourth chapter in Part II ‘Case studies of learning to teach in specific contexts’. Through its case studies this chapter illustrates the third typology described in Chapter 2, resulting from a combination of a socio-cultural approach to the social situation of development with a sociological concern to understand institutional practices and the particular forms of pedagogic discourse operating within them. The third typology is characterised by unacknowledged contradictions across institutions at the meso level (school and HEI) leading to low levels of pedagogic support or challenge for the individual as a learner at the micro level. The five cases presented in this section illustrate a range of possible tensions that may arise from a lack of alignment across institutions.