Teacher Educator Identity in a Culture of Iterative Teacher Education Program Design: A Collaborative Self-Study

Faculty in the School of Education have collaborated to re-envision teacher education at our university. A complex, dynamic, time-consuming and sometimes painstaking process, redesigning a teacher education program from a traditional approach (i.e. where courses focus primarily on theoretical principles of practice through textbooks and university-based classroom discussions) to a model of teacher education that embraces teaching, learning and leading with schools and in communities is challenging, yet exciting work. Little is known about teacher educators’ experiences as they either design or deliver collaborative field-based models of teacher education. In this article, we examine our experiences in the second implementation year of our redesigned teacher education program, Teaching, Learning, and Leading with Schools and Communities (TLLSC) and how these unique experiences inform our teacher educator identities. Through a collaborative self-study, we sought to make meaning of our transformation from a faculty delivering a traditional model to educators collectively implementing a field-based model, by analyzing the diverse perspectives of faculty at different entry points in the TLLSC development and implementation process. We found that our participation in an intensive field-based teacher preparation model challenged our notions of teacher educator identity. In a culture of iterative program design, this study documents the personal and professional shifts in identity required to accomplish this collaborative and dynamic change in approach to teacher education.     

Taking the next step: Connecting teacher education,research on teaching,and programme assessment

We cite four disconnections among teacher education programmes, research on teaching, and programme assessment that contribute to a paucity of systematically collected evidence and the inability of teacher educators to fully address the “outcomes question” [Cochran-Smith, M. (2003). Assessing assessment in teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 54, 187–191] now central to the conduct and future of teacher education programmes. To reduce those disconnections, we present the Development, Research, and Improvement model of programme assessment [Metzler, M. W., & Tjeerdsma, B. L. (1998). PETE program assessment within a development, research, and improvement framework. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 17, 468–492] that has guided a comprehensive, longitudinal, and research-based assessment project at Georgia State University in the United States for 13 years. We situate this work in the framework of Self-Study of Teacher Education, now gaining attention worldwide as a legitimate approach to bridging the methodological and evidentiary gap between teacher education programmes, research on teaching, and programme assessment. Examples of data collected in the longitudinal programme are described, along with illustrations of how those data have guided decisions about our teacher education programme, and how those findings can add to the empirical knowledge in teacher education.     

Navigating the complex cognitive task of classroom assessment

We investigated how a fifth-grade literacy teacher with classroom assessment expertise integrated assessment into his teaching practice. We employed a qualitative case study methodology to examine and document the processes this teacher used to make instructional decisions informed by classroom assessment events. We identified a repertoire of assessment relevant management routines and interpretation strategies that supported his assessment practice and instructional decision-making. Findings can be used to inform policy and organize content for teacher education by identifying a repertoire of potential management routines and interpretation strategies for engaging in classroom assessment and documenting how to enact these practices.     

Organizational learning and program renewal in teacher education: A socio-cultural theory of learning, innovation and change

Pressures for change in the field of teacher education are escalating significantly as part of systemic education reform initiatives in a broad spectrum of economically developed and developing nations. Considering these pressures, it is surprising that relatively little theoretical or empirical analysis of learning and change processes within teacher education programs has been undertaken. In this paper, we illustrate some ways in which contemporary socio-cultural learning theory may be used as a lens for addressing these issues. Using a theoretical framework developed by Harré [Harré, R. (1984). Personal being: A theory for individual psychology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press], we show how processes of individual and collective learning led to changes in a teacher education program observed over an eighteen month period of time. Important innovations in program practice were generally found to have their sources in the creative work of individual faculty. However program level changes required negotiation of new ideas and practices within small groups of faculty, and with the larger collective of the program. We conclude that the Harré model, and the socio-cultural learning theories from which it is derived, may offer a useful theoretical framework for interpreting complex social processes underlying organizational renewal, innovation, and change.     

Complexity Science and Cohorts in Teacher Education

In this paper we examine the nature of our self-study practices in an elementary teacher education cohort called CITE (Community and Inquiry in Teacher Education). We argue that self-study is not only important to our continued work in CITE but also a critical feature of professional practice in general. Two general questions frame our analysis: (1) What is significant about cohorts in teacher education? (2) How might complexity science inform our understanding of cohorts in particular and of teacher education programs in general? We argue in the paper that the use of a cohort-type structure in a teacher education program provided us with flexibility and potential for improvisation to address the perennial problems of program fragmentation. To better understand our own teaching and learning practices in this community setting, we sought an analytic framework that emphasized the importance of the learning potential of the collective as opposed to just the learning potential of the individual. We argue that complexity science, with its ecological emphasis on learning systems, is such an analytical framework. We generate six propositions about the role and value of cohorts in teacher education that arise from self-study of our own practice.     

A framework for conducting research on collaborative teacher education

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for conducting research on teacher education programmes that practise collaboration between special and general education faculty to advance inclusion. Such a framework can establish a common language for collaborative teacher education and provide a structure for conducting research on individual programmes as well as cross-site comparisons. It is based on the assumption that collaboration represents a robust, systematic integration of special and general education across all aspects of the preservice curriculum. The proposed framework includes three collaborative program models and five programme dimensions.     

Developing a shared cluster construct of instructional leadership in TALIS

In the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), instructional leadership is measured by the self-reports of principals on three items only. When this measure is investigated together with teacher satisfaction with current work environment, no significant associations were found in the Nordic countries participating in the TALIS 2013 round. This paper argues that a potential reason for this might be the severely underrepresented construct of instructional leadership. As an alternative approach, teacher data from the same study are used to establish two important dimensions of instructional leadership at the school level: 1) managing the instructional program and 2) developing the school learning climate. Applying multilevel structural equation modelling (MSEM), we establish two shared cluster constructs at the school level and observe significant modest relationships between these constructs and teacher job satisfaction with current work environment. The paper brings to our attention the different approaches for interpreting, exploring, and making sense of instructional leadership in international large-scale studies, such as TALIS, from the joint perspective of teachers.     

Teacher assessment literacy in practice: A reconceptualization

This paper aims to reconceptualize teacher assessment literacy (AL) by connecting two fields of research: educational assessment and teacher education. It begins with a scoping review of AL studies. By synthesizing and analyzing 100 studies on teacher AL, a new conceptual framework of teacher assessment literacy in practice (TALiP) is proposed. This framework is illustrated by a discussion of the various components of teacher AL and their interrelationships. This paper concludes with the theoretical contributions of the framework, a working definition of TALiP, and implications for policy and practice of assessment education.     

Acting as accountable authors: Creating interactional spaces for agency work in teacher education

In this paper, relying on the sociocultural framework of learning, we report on the results of an ethnographically-grounded investigation of agency work among nine pre-service teachers: The main objective is to determine how agency emerges and is constructed in situated discourse practices within the context of a teacher education program embedded in the collective inquiry approach. Our study identifies the forms of agency that emerged in the collective discussions of the classroom community, evidencing pre-service teachers’ transformative agency, relational agency and epistemic agency. This study also shows that the negotiation and framing of agency, and acting as accountable authors, involves changes in teacher-student positions, such as crossing and transforming traditional expert-novice boundaries, as well as recognizing and crediting this crossing of boundaries. The methods and conditions for supporting students’ agency work in teacher education are discussed.     

Understanding video as a tool for teacher education: investigating instructional strategies to promote reflection

There is a general consensus among researchers and teacher educators that classroom video can be a valuable tool for pre-service teacher education. Media such as video are not, however, in themselves effective. They have to be embedded in an instructional program to be useful. Yet, little empirical research examines how specific instructional approaches might effectively exploit the potential of video in teacher education. In this study we explored the use of two video-based university courses, one representing a cognitive instructional strategy integrating video, the other representing a situative strategy. Using data from learning journals we analyzed the effects of the two strategies on pre-service teachers’ (N = 28) ability to reflect on classroom video. We found that the two strategies have distinct impacts on the kinds of reflection patterns that are fostered. Our findings suggest that the learning goal and purpose at hand should determine which instructional strategy should be employed when embedding classroom video into teacher education courses.     

信息技术教育对教师和学生传播行为的影响

信息技术运用于教育教学,丰富了我们的教学资源、教学手段和教学方法.本文在剖析信息技术教育的基础上,从教育传播学的角度,探讨了信息技术教育对教师和学生传播行为的影响.     

Lesson Study with preservice teachers: Lessons from lessons

This article examines a 2-year process of integrating Lesson Study—a form of teacher-led professional development—into an introductory course on the principles of teaching for students majoring in early childhood education. The course is taught in conjunction with beginning practicum work in area schools. We describe obstacles, modifications, and outcomes as we adapted the Lesson-Study process to help preservice teachers pay closer attention to instructional strategies (such as questioning techniques, anticipating student responses, and how lesson flow affects student understanding), and become more comfortable with constructive criticism by focusing on the lesson plan rather than the teacher.     

MAKING THE CONNECTION THROUGH STAFFING: MECHANISMS TO INCREASE CONSISTENCY BETWEEN UNIVERSITY EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION COURSES AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT LAB SCHOOL PRACTICES

Abstract

A team of early childhood teacher education faculty developed the 3‐D talent development model of teacher education, blending theory and research from many sources. These sources include research on talent development, nonuniversal development, and roles of teachers and their professional growth. The faculty integrated constructs from these sources into a program rooted in principles of social constructivism. Using the 3‐D model, the faculty team identified their task as taking students of teaching through the phases of discovery, discipline, and divergence. Assessments that we developed needed to correspond to this conceptual framework, moving us away from traditional types of student assessment. In this article we offer a synopsis of the talent development model; review five of the approaches to student assessment we use, including alternative assessment activities, “Employmee” feedback forms, electronic portfolios, state teacher evaluation frameworks, and action research projects; and articulate the linkages between our approach to assessment and the talent development model of teacher education.     

Situated case-based knowledge: An emerging framework for prospective teacher learning

While the use of situated cognition theory in teacher education programmes has the potential to teach prospective teachers, research on teacher knowledge and learning from a situated perspective has been slow to emerge in reference to prospective teacher education. In this paper, we present a situated case-based knowledge framework to explain the development of prospective teachers’ knowledge and beliefs. The framework includes conceptual case knowledge, strategic case knowledge, and the shared identities and beliefs of practicing teachers. In addition, we summarize findings from a study wherein the situated case-based knowledge framework was applied to support prospective teachers’ learning, as well as discuss implications for research and practice.     

Evaluating a Professional Development Framework to Empower Chemistry Teachers to Design Context-Based Education

Even experienced chemistry teachers require professional development when they are encouraged to become actively engaged in the design of new context-based education. This study briefly describes the development of a framework consisting of goals, learning phases, strategies and instructional functions, and how the framework was translated into a professional development programme intended to empower teachers to design context-based chemistry education. The programme consists of teaching a pre-developed context-based unit, followed by teachers designing an outline of a new context-based unit. The study investigates the process of teacher empowerment during the implementation of the programme. Data were obtained from meetings, classroom discussions and observations. The findings indicated that teachers became empowered to design new context-based units provided they had sufficient time and resources. The contribution of the framework to teacher empowerment is discussed.     

Expanding the instructional triangle: conceptualizing mathematics teacher development

As mathematics educators think about teaching that promotes students’ opportunities to learn, attention must be given to the conceptualization of the professional development of teachers and those who teach teachers. In this article, we generalize and expand the instructional triangle to consider different interactions in a variety of teacher development contexts. We have done so by addressing issues of language for models of teachers’ professional development at different levels and by providing examples of situations in which these models can be applied. Through the expansion of our understanding and use of the instructional triangle we can further develop the concept of mathematics teacher development.     

Creating foundations for collaboration in schools: Utilizing professional learning communities to support teacher candidate learning and visions of teaching

Despite widespread acknowledgment of the power of professional collaboration, the norm in most schools is teachers working in isolation. Our study examined the impact of multiple layers of professional collaboration intentionally integrated into a one-year preservice teacher education program working in two elementary schools. Analysis of 23 teacher candidates' written reflections, focus group interviews, and classroom observations indicated that supported by collaboration with colleagues, they developed the skills and commitment to teach each student for understanding. Based on our research, we propose a shift in teacher education toward collaborative inquiry about teaching and learning within school/university partnerships.     

Becoming coaches: A study of two novices’ journey

This paper examines the practice of two novice teacher educators working as instructional coaches in a university-based teacher education program. Previous research suggests that the knowledge and skills required to be an effective teacher are distinct from those required to be an effective teacher educator. Yet novice teacher educators often receive minimal preparation. This qualitative study identifies dilemmas that novice coaches encounter during observation debrief conversations in order to inform coach training. The findings suggest that the process used by the researchers to surface dilemmas may also be a useful intervention in shaping the identity and practice of novice teacher educators.