Teacher Educators and Teacher Education Reform: Individual Commitments, Institutional Realities

I conducted a three-year study of pre-tenure professors of teacher education directly and indirectly involved in the reform of teacher education in Canada to gain a better under- standing of the changes in which pre-tenure teacher education faculty are engaged and of the personal and contextual influences that facilitate and constrain their efforts to do things differently. The research approach was broadly qualitative; more specifically, I conducted my research from a life-history perspective, which situates individuals’ accounts of experience within a broader personal, historical, social, political, cultural, and/or institutional context. In this article I provide an overview of the types of reform characterizing teacher educators’ work and explore some obstacles to this work, highlight- ing the intersection between individuals’ commitments to reform and institutional realities that often militate against or obstruct these efforts. L’auteure présente une étude de trois ans portant sur des professeurs en formation à l’en- seignement, en voie d’acquérir leur permanence et participant directement et indirectement à la réforme de la formation à l’enseignement au Canada. L’étude visait à mieux cerner la nature des changements mis en œuvre par ces professeurs ainsi que les influences personnelles et contextuelles favorisant ou non les efforts en vue de faire les choses autrement. Il s’agissait d’une étude qualitative, faisant appel à une approche biographique situant les comptes rendus des expériences des personnes dans un contexte personnel, historique, social, politique, culturel ou institutionnel. Dans cet article, l’auteure fait un survol de la nature des réformes caractérisant le travail des responsables de la formation à l’enseignement et explore quelques obstacles à ces efforts. Ce faisant, elle met en lumière le lien qui existe entre l’engagement personnel vis-à-vis des réformes et les réalités institutionnelles qui souvent font obstacle à ces efforts.

Teacher Educators and Teacher Education Reform: Individual Commitments, Institutional Realities

I conducted a three-year study of pre-tenure professors of teacher education directly and indirectly involved in the reform of teacher education in Canada to gain a better under- standing of the changes in which pre-tenure teacher education faculty are engaged and of the personal and contextual influences that facilitate and constrain their efforts to do things differently. The research approach was broadly qualitative; more specifically, I conducted my research from a life-history perspective, which situates individuals’ accounts of experience within a broader personal, historical, social, political, cultural, and/or institutional context. In this article I provide an overview of the types of reform characterizing teacher educators’ work and explore some obstacles to this work, highlight- ing the intersection between individuals’ commitments to reform and institutional realities that often militate against or obstruct these efforts. L’auteure présente une étude de trois ans portant sur des professeurs en formation à l’en- seignement, en voie d’acquérir leur permanence et participant directement et indirectement à la réforme de la formation à l’enseignement au Canada. L’étude visait à mieux cerner la nature des changements mis en œuvre par ces professeurs ainsi que les influences personnelles et contextuelles favorisant ou non les efforts en vue de faire les choses autrement. Il s’agissait d’une étude qualitative, faisant appel à une approche biographique situant les comptes rendus des expériences des personnes dans un contexte personnel, historique, social, politique, culturel ou institutionnel. Dans cet article, l’auteure fait un survol de la nature des réformes caractérisant le travail des responsables de la formation à l’enseignement et explore quelques obstacles à ces efforts. Ce faisant, elle met en lumière le lien qui existe entre l’engagement personnel vis-à-vis des réformes et les réalités institutionnelles qui souvent font obstacle à ces efforts.

Shattered images: Understanding expectations and realities of field experiences

In this paper we explore the phenomenon of "shattered images" in the learning to teach process. For our presentation and discussion we draw on: reflective accounts of preservice teachers written prior to, during, and following periods of field experience; our experiences as teachers and teacher educators; and, on our own and other research on teacher education and development, particularly on our ongoing work which focuses on field experiences. We highlight and examine some of the discrepancies between preservice teachers' expectations and experiences, identify and discuss circumstances contributing to the discrepancies, and consider ways in which such inconsistencies might be taken into account in order to develop and maintain productive preservice teacher preparation programs.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/30560/1/0000193.pd

The Denial of the Personal, the Preservation of the Status Quo in Teacher Education

This paper presents two stories of learning and teaching. Through the stories, the author explores the relationship between personal history-based learning and teaching practice and advocates a process of reflexive inquiry for teacher learning and teacher education. A major focus is on how a curriculum and pedagogy of reflexive inquiry can transform, deepen and broaden conceptions of teacher education as well as make a difference in how teachers see and express themselves in educational contexts. The author also describes the meanings and implications of a personal history pedagogy for teacher education institutions as well as the contextual changes required for such transformative practices to be adopted

Arts-informed research for public education: The alzheimer’s project, Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education – Online Proceedings

We take seriously the challenge of the conference theme to "think about policies and practices that chart the course for our contemporary learning society." We respond to this challenge with an invitation to join us in an imaginary tour of a seven-part multi-media exhibit of our research, "The Alzheimer's Project", 1 displayed in a prominent public historic site in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In this venue and through our work we articulate and demonstrate a methodology that has a central agenda of making social science research accessible to audiences beyond the academy. We introduce community centred arts-informed research as the methodology that drives our research purposes of public education and community development and supports our commitment to the preservation and advancement of human dignity in the contexts of research and health care education

Support for beginning teachers : Ontario perspectives : final report submitted to Teacher Education Council, Ontario /

Bibliogr

Reflections on partnerships : making sense of new teacher support /

La couverture porte en outre: Papers presented at the Invitational conference of the Canadian Association of Teacher Educators, Kingston, Ontario, May 30-June 1, 1991