Field-based Teacher Education Research Articles

“Together, I Don’t Feel so Alone”: Collaborative Teaching as Third Space in University/School Sites

This qualitative study foregrounded four teacher educators’ perceptions of teaching collaboratively at shared school sites over the span of two years. As we reconvened to reflect on our experiences both individually and collectively, we retrospectively examined the affordances and challenges from this shared experience. Our data collection was guided by Pinar’s method of currere which involves four “steps or moments that are temporal and reflective.” These moments are “the regressive’' as past experiences are revisited; “the progressive” as the future was anticipated; “the analytic” to seek understanding of the past and future together; and finally, “the synthetical” to mobilize for action based upon these understandings. In considering the demands of university/school partnership work, methodologies such as currere, an autobiographical curriculum theory and method to support a context for reflection, is one that is rarely afforded due to the demands of higher education in general, and in field-based teacher education in particular. In analyzing these reflective interviews, we began to make sense of how these relationships shaped our perspectives of the past and led us to understand our present. Findings suggest that collaborative teaching created a third space that transformed our relationships with our teaching partners, enhanced our relationships with our students, and informed curricular revisions.

A Culturally Sustaining Approach to Multimodal Literacies: Building from Students’ Funds of Knowledge in Field-Based Teacher Education

ABSTRACT This article examines a culturally sustaining approach to learning about and enacting multimodal literacy instruction that was developed during a field-based reading methods course for elementary preservice teachers. Despite a large body of work exploring preservice teachers’ learning about multimodal literacies, few studies have explored their experiences incorporating multimodal literacies from an explicitly culturally sustaining lens, nor examined learning about multimodal instruction in field-based settings. In this qualitative case study, we explore the ways in which one preservice teacher’s experiences in a field-based reading methods course impacted her conception of multimodal literacies and her understanding of the cultural and semiotic resources of diverse students. The findings detail the culturally sustaining, multimodal literacy instruction that emerged from a mentoring dyad of the focal preservice teacher and a second-grade multilingual student, the preservice teacher’s developing conceptions of multimodal literacy, and the conditions of learning that facilitated her teaching and learning.

Ways of Being in Community: Centering Preservice Teachers’ Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies in Field-Based Literacy Teacher Education

A common model for connecting theory to practice within literacy teacher preparation programs involves preservice teachers (PTs) working in field-based courses to contextualize their learning. Field-based courses create hybrid spaces for personalizing curricula and following students’ lead outside of the pressures of normal classrooms. Researchers note that although PTs have found field-based courses in diverse, minority school settings helpful, many PTs feel unprepared to work with diverse populations. There is a need for literacy teacher preparation programs to enhance field experiences and incorporate culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) within coursework. Few studies, however, have explicitly examined the role of CSP in literacy courses or field-based coursework. Moreover, even coursework intended to prepare teachers to work in diverse settings often centers the experiences of White PTs and reinforces pedagogical practices associated with White cultural and academic norms. In this qualitative case study, we explore the potential of experiences in field-based teacher education courses to disrupt White values, traditions, and curricular norms when CSP is centered and when PTs have the opportunity to work with, and learn from, young students. Findings highlight innovative ways three PTs worked in community with young students and built innovative curricula around their students’ funds of knowledge: by restorying deficit narratives about students’ literacies, following students’ lead into multimodal literacies, and bridging linguistic differences through translanguaging.

Teacher Mentoring in Service of Preservice Teachers’ Learning to Teach: Conceptual Bases, Characteristics, and Challenges for Teacher Education Reform

Preservice teacher education programs worldwide are increasingly becoming field based with student teaching as the capstone experience for preservice teacher learning in the program. Consequently, mentor teachers at field-placement program schools are bestowed with new and unique functions to support preservice teachers’ learning to teach, which calls for new conceptualizations of teacher mentoring approaches. This article critically examines the theoretical underpinnings of four existing approaches to teacher mentoring during student teaching, analyzes the focuses and practices associated with each approach, and identifies the major challenges that each approach faces in guiding preservice teachers to learn to teach as expected by the field based teacher education reforms. Finally, it proposes an integrated approach to teacher mentoring for field-based teacher education that transcends the four existing teacher mentoring approaches.

Learning From Students, Teachers, and Schools: Field-Based Teacher Education for Emergent Bilingual Learners

Today’s schools are more culturally and linguistically diverse than ever before, prompting the need for teachers with the requisite expertise for work with emergent bilingual learners. As students grow in numbers and fill seats in classrooms spanning grades and disciplines, teacher educators must consider ways to prepare an increasing number of teachers, including those spanning licensure areas. This research probed one university’s efforts to prepare all teacher candidates for this growing subgroup of students through a field-based undergraduate teacher education program in the urban Midwest. Using artifact data from 29 program completers and survey and interview data from five focal teachers spanning licensure areas, this study investigated how particular facets of the field-based program promoted or deterred candidates’ learning across the 4-year program and into teachers’ first year of teaching. Implications center on how universities can leverage field-based teacher education to prepare future teachers for diverse classrooms.

Socialization of Preservice Adapted Physical Educators: Influence of Teacher Education.

Occupational socialization theory has been used to understand the recruitment, education, and socialization of physical education teachers for nearly 40 yr. It has, however, only recently been applied to the study of adapted physical education teachers. The purpose of this descriptive case study was to understand the socialization of preservice teachers in an adapted physical education teacher education graduate-level program. Participants included 17 purposefully selected preservice teachers (5 male and 12 female) enrolled in a yearlong graduate-level adapted physical education teacher education program. Qualitative data were collected using interviews, reflective journaling, and field notes taken during teaching and coursework observations. Data analysis resulted in the construction of 3 themes: overcoming contextual challenges to meet learners' needs, the importance of field-based teacher education, and coping with the challenges of marginalization. The discussion connects to and advances occupational socialization theory in adapted physical education and suggests that professional socialization may have a more profound influence on preservice adapted physical education teachers than on their physical education counterparts.

Chapter 3: Recruitment and Retention in PETE: Foundations in Occupational Socialization Theory

Chapter 2 overviewed the teacher pipeline and documented some of the challenges faced by the physical education profession in relation to teacher education recruitment and retention. Given declining program enrollments and the elimination of some once-prominent programs, a theory of action is recommended for understanding how the field can better recruit and retain diverse, highly qualified preservice teachers. In this chapter, we argue that occupational socialization theory presents one such theory of action. We begin with an overview of the theory in a general sense and then discuss possible implications for preservice teacher recruitment and retention. Recommended recruitment efforts focus on leveraging both physical education teacher education faculty members and in-service teachers as agents of recruitment; retention strategies relate to developing field-based teacher education programs that adopt a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. We conclude by describing how occupational socialization theory relates to guide research presented within this monograph.

A Qualitative Case Study of Field-Based Teacher Education: One Candidate’s Evolving Expertise of Science Teaching for Emergent Bilinguals

ABSTRACTTeacher education programs are responsible for preparing science teachers for today’s culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, which includes preparing them to support students’ science learning and language development. Given the rapid growth in linguistic diversity across the country, science teacher preparation for English learners, referred to here as emergent bilinguals, is particularly critical. Although research-based pedagogical practices have been established for both science learning and language development, the fields remain separated in preparatory programs, which makes it unlikely that teachers will merge the 2 in future practice. To date, research has begun to explore professional development efforts with in-service teachers focused on science education for emergent bilinguals, but studies involving preservice science teachers are scant. Working within a sociocultural paradigm, this single-case study uses narrative methods to explore the following question: How does field-based teacher education promote and influence the development of professional expertise for teaching emergent bilinguals in secondary science classrooms? Analyzing data collected over 2 years, we present findings from a secondary science teacher candidate’s experiences across a field-based teacher education program that prioritizes understandings, knowledge, and skills for emergent bilinguals. We discuss implications for science teacher educators seeking to design effective field-based programs that prioritize emergent bilinguals.

Dialogic pedagogy in the supervision of social studies student teachers

PurposeResearch reveals very little about how the supervision of social studies student teachers ought to be enacted. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachBased on the broader arguments for the democratic purposes of social studies, the author argues for the development of the democratic capacities of teacher citizens by creating deliberative and dialogic spaces in social studies field-based teacher education.FindingsFour conceptual dimensions of dialogic pedagogy in the supervision of social studies student teachers are explored: questioning, listening, negotiation, and self-critique.Originality/valueBecause supervision of student teachers is a pedagogical interaction, a pedagogy of social studies field-based teacher education must be grounded in dialogue and deliberation.

Coordinating Effective Field Experiences: Recommendations for Cooperating Teachers

The role of the cooperating teacher is an integral component of field-based teacher education because the cooperating teacher can bridge the gap between the knowledge developed on campus during physical education teacher education and preservice teachers' field-based learning experiences leading up to and including student teaching. In order to understand the function of the cooperating teacher, it is necessary to evaluate the relationship between cooperating teachers, preservice teachers, and physical education teacher education faculty members. Through the lens of occupational socialization theory, the purpose of this article is to explore best practices for coordinating field experiences with a focus on the role of the cooperating teacher. A conceptual model for understanding how coordinated efforts promote successful socialization is provided, and practices for effective supervision are discussed. The importance of congruence between the cooperating teacher and teacher education faculty members is stressed through this process.

‘Where do I go from here?’: learning to become activist teachers through a community of practice

ABSTRACTBackground: Student-Centered Inquiry as Curriculum (SCIC) is an activist approach [Oliver, K. L., and H. A. Oesterreich. 2013. Student-Centered Inquiry as Curriculum as a Model for Field-Based Teacher Education. Journal of Curriculum Studies 45 (3): 394–417. doi:10.1080/00220272.2012.719550] inspired by years of research with youth. It was designed as a means of listening and responding to youth in order to better facilitate students’ interest, motivation, and learning in physical education settings. While we have a strong and growing body of activist research with youth in physical education, SCIC as a specific approach to working with youth is in its infancy; thus, there is a need to further explore the challenges teachers/researchers face learning to use this approach to teaching.Purpose: This study explores how educators, in different contexts, learn to use an activist approach called SCIC, in order to better facilitate students’ interest, motivation, and learning in physical education and physical activity settings.Research setting and participants: Participants included a university professor, a college instructor, a postdoctoral student, a doctoral student, and a pre-service teacher. Data were collected between January and May 2016.Data collection and analysis: Data collection included weekly field notes and debriefings following observations, teacher artifacts, weekly collaborative group meetings, and two individual interviews per teaching participant.Discussion and conclusions: The main challenge that emerged was learning how to move from a theoretical understanding of student-centered pedagogy to the practice of student-centered pedagogy. Specifically, the amount of time that was necessary to build a foundation that allowed for student and teacher understanding, respect, and comfort, negotiating teacher and student assumptions that were embedded in the status quo of physical education (PE), and the struggle to gather and use meaningful data to guide pedagogical decisions. We negotiated these challenges through our professional learning community whereby we worked to all be able to see and name what was happening in our individual classes and collectively planned what was needed to move forward through these challenges.

Community-based collaboration for early childhood teacher education: Partner experiences and perspectives as co–teacher educators

ABSTRACT The relevance and effectiveness of traditional, course- and clinical-experience-based models of teacher preparation have been called into question, and institutions of teacher education must respond to the changing landscape of educational policy, which increasingly emphasizes that candidates must be prepared for challenges faced in complex, increasingly diverse classroom and community contexts through extended field experiences (Rust, 2010). In this article, we present a case for the development of mutually beneficial community partnerships as the foundation of all early childhood teacher education. First, key policies and research findings are presented that point to partnership as a key theme that must be addressed by preparation programs; next, a framework for the development of mutually beneficial partnerships between preparation programs and schools/community agencies is introduced; interview and focus group data are presented from the development and implementation of a field-based undergraduate early childhood teacher preparation program. These include examples of strategies that assist in leveraging resources toward mutual benefit, as well as vignettes illustrating field-based teacher education in action. Finally, partnership practices that address the shared goals of early childhood educators and those who prepare them are presented.

The person over standardisation: a humanistic framework for teacher learning in diverse school-based contexts

This paper argues that the purpose of education is to help students realise their unique potentials and pursue inner directions. With this assumption, we critique the inadequacy of the current emphasis on standardisation and provide a theoretical framework for teacher education based on humanistic psychology. Three tenets of humanistic psychology, which we argue are helpful for teacher education, are discussed: (1) emphasis on relationship, (2) space for creativity, and (3) importance of meaning-making. That is, we argue that prospective teachers should be given opportunities to experience empathy and congruence, to practice creativity, and to start the journey of finding meanings of their experiences and teaching. As examples that put the tenets into practice, we discuss a field-based teacher education programme and a college programme that promotes pro-social activities with displaced children.

Teaching, Learning, and Leading

Within the current federal, state, and local contexts of educational reform, teachers must be recognized as central actors in policy work, but rarely do we explicitly consider preparing teachers to become policy actors. Understanding these implications for teacher education, we investigate teacher candidates’ learning of the complexity and dynamism of educational policy through a field-based teacher preparation program. Situated across four unique school contexts in the diverse neighborhoods of Chicago, Illinois, we qualitatively study the cases of eight teacher candidates as they explore policy in practice. We found that candidates developed enduring understandings about policy as complex, situated, and multilayered, as well as the central role of the teacher. This learning was mediated by multiple facets of the field-based module, including readings, panels, and observations. Implications center on the use of field-based teacher education to support policy-related learning and development.

Field-based teacher education in literacy: preparing teachers in real classroom contexts

For the past two decades, scholars have advocated for reforms in teacher education that emphasize relevant connections between theory and practice in university coursework and focus on clinical experiences. This paper is based on our experiences in designing and implementing an integrated literacy methods course in a field-based teacher education program. We describe issues involved in helping preservice teachers learn to differentiate literacy instruction for diverse learners in urban schools and describe how we use Grossman’s framework of representation, decomposition, and approximation of practice to connect theory and practice. We offer insights about the importance of using recursive cycles of practice and carefully scaffolded learning through attention to different aspects of practice. Initial successes and challenges in implementing field-based literacy education are discussed.

Tensions of Reimagining Our Roles as Teacher Educators in a Third Space: Revisiting a Co/autoethnography Through a Faculty Lens

This co/autoethnography uses our lens as university faculty to examine how engaging in a year-long self-study with mentors nurtured a complicated third space where we could together begin to reimagine our roles as teacher educators. Two secondary faculty members and a doctoral assistant used co/autoethnography to revisit a collaborative self-study with mentors to better identify both the individual and programmatic complexities that arise when a third space is opened and we are invited to reinvent our perspectives and responsibilities as co-teacher educators. We ask two questions: What happens when faculty facilitate a third-space teacher education program with mentor teachers? How does this third space influence the teacher education practices in an urban teacher residency program? We present a series of tensions about our work together as teacher educators in the third space. They include professional into authentic relationships, authority into collaboration, collaborative agency into individual agency, and apprenticing to master teacher into apprenticing within a collective. Following findings about each tension, we discuss how we as faculty navigated each tension. Finally, we consider the implications of our work for all field-based teacher education programs.

The Influence of Prior Knowledge, University Coursework, and Field Experience on Primary Preservice Teachers' Use of Reading Comprehension Strategies in a Year-Long, Field-Based Teacher Education Program

This descriptive study employed mixed methods to explore preservice teachers’ initial knowledge and subsequent use of explicitly taught reading comprehension strategies in primary grade classrooms during a year-long, field-based teacher preparation program. Self-Knowledge Rating Surveys, Strategy Multiple-Choice Tests, strategy logs, lesson plans, self-evaluations, mentor teacher/university liaison evaluations, and interviews with university liaisons comprised data sources. Research questions addressed what reading comprehension strategies primary preservice teachers self-reported they knew; what they demonstrated they actually knew via testing and implementation; and how the self-reports, test results, and implementation compared. Results indicated that neither knowledge nor prior exposure to research-based comprehension strategies transferred into teaching when strong external influences that did not support strategy use such as scripted programs, district policies, high stakes testing environments, and public school mentor teachers’ examples of teaching were present.

Student-centred inquiry as curriculum as a model for field-based teacher education

This research project focuses on teacher education in a field-based methods course. We were interested in understanding what could be when we worked with pre-service teachers in a high school physical education class to assist them in the process of learning to listen and respond to their students in ways that might better facilitate young people’s interest, motivation and learning. To develop a theoretical understanding of what happened in this field-based methods course designed to promote listening and responding to students as a way to guide curriculum, we utilised grounded theory. In this paper, we describe a model, student-centred inquiry as curriculum, which includes a cyclical process of building the foundation, planning, responding to students, listening to respond and analysing the responses. Student centred-inquiry as curriculum is a blending of action in the historical, localised and particular lived realities of students and teachers illuminated through inquiry with the simultaneous engagement of autobiographies, the negotiation of student voice and the social construction of content. We discuss this model as a possibility for transforming the status quo of teacher education and K-12 schools.

‘I wondered does this make me any less of a teacher …?’ Early childhood teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand claimed by and claiming authority within a dominant discourse

Early childhood teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand negotiate their personal professional identities within the context of a nationally organised and regulated education sector. Early childhood teaching has become increasingly professionalised. Emphasis on qualifications and professional standards has constrained possible ways of being early childhood teachers. This article discusses two newly qualified teachers’ perceptions of claiming and being claimed by authority as they engaged in facilitated self-study. These teachers were participants in a post-structural qualitative collective case study that was a master’s thesis study. They had recently graduated from a field-based initial teacher education course, so they had been practitioners in early childhood settings while student teachers. The dominant authority discourse that emerged from data positioned these teachers as claimed by authority of qualification requirements and hierarchical professional relationships, and as claiming authority as knowledgeable and responsible teachers. I propose that these two participants’ ways of being teachers were constrained by disciplinary discursive practices within the authority discourse. They also actively negotiated their personal professional identities within the authority discourse through seeking pleasure, resistance to positioning and through negotiation of their subjectivities. I suggest that early childhood teachers and teacher educators should critically reflect on how the dominant authority discourse limits possible ways of being teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand, and consider whether this discourse unfairly excludes some people from the teaching profession to the detriment of practitioners, parents and families, and children.

Conceptualizing the Roles of Mentor Teachers During Student Teaching

The field-based mentoring of student teachers is often an idiosyncratic and nuanced practice in which mentors' conceptualizations of their interactions with student teachers are generated through personal experiences with teacher education. If teacher educators and programs are to strengthen the tie between campus and field-based teacher education, in effect bridging the perceived disconnect of campus-based learning and the “realities” of the classroom, acknowledging these divergent perspectives is a first step in providing transformative learning experiences for student teachers. To that end, in this article the authors use recent empirical research into the school-based mentoring of student teachers to describe three conceptions of mentor teacher roles and responsibilities. Centered in the notion that mentoring is often a socially constructed practice, these roles include a consideration of the mentor teacher as (1) instructional coach, (2) emotional support system, and (3) socializing agent. Through a discussion of these conceptions, the hope is to further the conversation about ways to provide a common language between university and field-based teacher educators.