ABSTRACT
This chapter reports on research projects within a well-established initial teacher education (ITE) partnership in England that explored the problematic issue of many beginning teachers' misconceptions of child poverty and educational attainment. A cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) analysis is used to consider the social situations of development in which beginning teachers learn and the complex interactions between the often competing object motives of different participants in ITE. The chapter argues that confronting deficit models of poverty requires a form of practical theorising which involves subjecting theory to critical examination. Some research suggests that ITE programmes can challenge some entrenched views through a combination of exposure to relevant theory through reading relevant research and policy literature and small-scale research projects in placement schools. However, although much research has focused on the relationship between poverty and educational achievement, far less has addressed the impact of pressures of performativity on teachers' understanding, perspectives and enactment of teaching for social justice.
