Constructing the Clinical Preparation Field: Re-Envisioning the Role of Pre-Service Teacher Clinical Supervision

Abstract

Given the difficulties that newly trained teachers currently encounter in entering the profession, it has become increasingly necessary to reexamine the nature of pre-service clinically-based teacher preparation. This paper focuses on the role of clinical supervisors in the context of the College–Field Partnership (CFP), an innovative program that reframes clinical preparation as going beyond a focus on classroom teaching to experiencing the school as a whole. The paper is based on “Self-in-Field” action research (SiFAR) involving eight experienced clinical supervisors who were leaders of teams of clinical supervisors in the CFP program. Through joint reflection on their professional practice, they came to see the clinical supervisor’s role as constructing a “clinical preparation field” that extends beyond the traditional “triad” of pre-service teacher, mentor teacher, and clinical supervisor. Constructing an expanded clinical preparation field involves building relationships among a wide variety of actors within the school and the academic preparation program as well as fostering learning and development for students and school staff alike. Two important implications of this new role for clinical supervisors were the need to become more skilled at (1) dealing with the emotional elements of school practice and (2) facilitating organizational learning processes in the school.