Facilitating preservice teacher induction through learning in partnership

Abstract

Partnership in teacher education is usually seen as needing to occur between the university and a school. This teacher education program, however, considers partnership across many stakeholders, in addition: employer authorities, community agencies and pre-service teachers themselves as active partners. Using Wenger's (1998) concept of communities of practice, this paper explores several action research cycles of a teacher educator, examining changing practices in a regional/rural initiative. The paper explores strategies at the university to promote induction into the profession, examples of university pedagogies to facilitate professional growth and understanding of professionalism, orientation to the regional community, orientation to the school, and the support of the development of a peer group among the cohort. Pre-service teacher learning became a vehicle not only for their own professional growth but also as a vehicle for the learning of other partners, including the teacher education program itself.