Job Shadowing Across Boundaries: Collaborative Learning between Chemistry Pre- and In-Service Teachers

Abstract

This case study examined a job shadowing intervention embedded within a Community of Practice (CoP) involving pre-service and in-service chemistry teachers in Germany. The aim was to explore job shadowing as a boundary-crossing learning format in teacher education and to analyse participants’ perceived learning, collaboration, and awareness of systemic interconnections within the educational ecosystem. Amixed-methods case study design was used, combining Likert-scale questionnaires with qualitative open-ended responses. Findings indicated that participants experienced job shadowing as highly valuable, characterised by eye-level exchange, reciprocal perspective-taking, and strong mutual engagement. Pre-service teachers reported enhanced professional identity and career orientation, while in-service teachers highlighted reflective renewal and new instructional perspectives. Both groups emphasised the importance of cross-institutional networking between university, school, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics -related contexts. A key contribution was a recursive multi-level model integrating micro (individual learning), meso (CoP interaction), and macro (educational ecosystem) levels. The results suggested that these levels interact through feedback loops, producing a self-reinforcing learning system rather than linear knowledge transfer. The study sought to advance research on CoP and boundary crossing by showing how job shadowing can foster connected, multi-level teacher professional development.