ABSTRACT
As with many work environments, schools contain boundaries that are being constantly negotiated by teachers. Subject specialization at the secondary level has resulted in teachers who are trained in specific disciplines, who then take on the task of translating disciplinary knowledge, practices, and modes of inquiry into school curriculum. The question for this chapter is in relation to the boundary negotiations involved for teachers who move from an in-field subject to out-of-field subjects, that is, subjects for which they hold no formal qualification in either the discipline or teaching method. Such teachers have conceptualized learning and teaching within the field of their specialist area, but are required to take on new knowledge, and find ways to translate or transform what they already know into another subject. Despite the obvious discontinuity relating to new content knowledge for the teacher, there are many factors that disrupt the ‘rhythm’ of a teacher when teaching out-of-field. This chapter focuses on the need to define the ‘field’ and resultant discontinuity in order to identify where learning can take place during a boundary crossing.
