Identity Development, Moral Authority and the Teacher Educator

Abstract

Th eo ther parts of this boo kh ave spoken to the tangible issues of assessing the quality of a teacher education program. Thi sc hapter now speak st o t he issues of the teacher educator’s identity development. In thi sc hapter I will consider the context where I teach and the impact this has on my own identity as a teacher educator; then, I will consider th ew aysi nw hich attention to my moral authority as a teacher educator enables me to support the development of the identity of preservice teachers, an dfi nall yIw ill consider the potential confounding relationships of reciproca li d entity development for adolescent publi cs c hool students, teachers, and teacher educators. Key t ot he awareness of my own identity development i st he process of self-study as a recommende dp rofessiona lp ractice for teacher educators an dp reservice students. Aubusson (Chapter 3) not only captures well the issues of secondary teacher education in his context, his account articulates the issues at Brigham Young University where I have been a teacher educator since 1992. During that time, my own identity as a teacher educator has been influenced by three reform efforts in secondary education. We are currently in the third. Having spent three years away from campus working on a special project, my own voice in the current reform effort is minimal and my connection is distant. Aubusson outlines a program similar to ours with similar concerns and disconnects. In his context, I would be one of those generic teacher educators that “deliver” bits and pieces of teacher education preparation, such as educational psychology, school and society, or diversity courses rather than the methods for teaching the discipline that seem more central in his account. As I discuss teacher education at my institution, I will analyze the implications for my own role and its implications for my identity as a teacher educator.