Unpacking TPACK: reconsidering knowledge and context in teacher practice

Teacher knowledge has been a research focus for a number of decades and is a core of the TPACK framework and the PCK framework which preceded it. Despite the centrality of knowledge in both conceptualisations, it is difficult to find clear and universally excepted conceptualisations of the term knowledge. We believe that, before proceeding with additional definitional work of different knowledge forms or the boundaries between these, the community of TPACK researchers - and indeed those who use PCK in their research - may benefit from the opportunity to step back and clarify what is meant by the term ‘knowledge’. This paper presents an argument that the knowledge required by teachers should not be thought of as one form. In contrast, discussion presented in this paper will outline a continuum from justified and true knowledge to actionable, craft knowledge by which researchers might consider teacher knowledge.