Cole, Ardra  L.

English

University of Calgary Journal Hosting

The Alberta Journal of Educational Research Vol. XLVI, No. 2, Summer 2000,192-195 Ardra L. Cole The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto Case Studies of Reform in Canadian Preservice Teacher Education Purpose The broad purpose of this research-in-progress is to examine closely some of the reform-minded efforts to improve preservice teacher education at a selec-tion of teacher education institutions across Canada. This w i l l provide insights into the processes of program reconceptualization and implementation and, more specifically and significantly, the individuals, their work, and the institu-tional structures initiating and facilitating such efforts in current fiscally and ideologically conservative political milieus. The specific goals of the research are: • to develop case studies of progressive, persuasive, and effective teacher education reforms, the institutional contexts and educational settings (broadly conceived) in which the reformed programs operate, and the people who operate them; • to understand the orientations prevalent in institutional contexts and of personnel who are involved in reform efforts; and • to understand the particular personal, curricular, institutional, structural issues and problems that were overcome in the design and implementa-tion of these programs. Background and Context The research builds on the findings of an earlier three-year SSHRC-funded study focused on the professional lives and experiences of pre-tenured teacher education faculty working toward reform in teacher education at a number of Canadian teacher education institutions (Cole, 1999b; Cole, Knowles, brown, & Buttignol, 1999). In brief, that research made evident the considerable dis-sonance underlying and determining the direction and articulation of the teacher education reform agenda in faculties of education; most apparent was the competing nature of the agenda of progressive, "reform-minded" teacher educators and conservative, "response-minded" teacher education institu-tions. Institutional forces that maintain the status quo overpower individual efforts to challenge and change convention, particularly when those individual efforts are made by the least powerful members of the academic community: untenured professors of teacher education. This revelation begged the ques-tion, H o w can substantial teacher education reform ever happen? Ardra Cole can be reached by contacting her Web site at http:/ /www.oise.utoronto.ca/~ardracole. She can also be reached by e-mail at acole@oise.utoronto.ca or by telephone at (416) 923-6641 ext. 2497. Mail correspondence to Ardra L. Cole, Department of Adult Education, Community Development and Counselling Psychology, OISE/UT, 252 Bloor Street West, TORONTO O N M5S1V6. 192 Reform in Canadian Preservice Teacher Education Cal l ing for teacher education reform is not a new phenomenon, and proposals continue to abound; yet when one looks broadly at teacher education over the past several decades, the overwhelming observation is that not much has changed. There is no shortage of information about reform implementation in the United States and Canada. Numerous analyses exist of proposals and strategies for educational reform (Blackwell, 1996; Bush, 1987; Clark, 1993; Cornbleth, 1986; Cuban, 1990; Fullan with Stiegelbauer, 1991; Holmes Group, 1995; Kettlewell, 1996; Portman, 1993; Sarason, 1990). For the most part, how­ever, it seems that only l ip service is paid to the idea of improving schools for students and teachers and improving how teachers are prepared (Cole, 1999a). There are, however, small pockets of reform activity throughout North America as deans of education, or faculties as a whole or in clusters, endeavor to reform their preparation programs. Such efforts stand out as anomalies in an otherwise static and conservative system of teacher education. These efforts typically are not wel l publicized, and the complexities of the reform process are usually made k n o w n only in informal conversation; yet it is these kinds of reform-minded efforts that merit exploration, description, and analysis. This, then, is the focus of the research-in-progress. Progress Report In the first phase of the research I gathered and analyzed information about teacher education reforms underway in faculties and departments of education in Anglophone universities across Canada (Cole, 1999a). From this analysis I identified five sites where substantial programmatic reform is underway. I am now in the process of studying and analyzing these initiatives using a case study framework (Merriam, 1988) situated in a life history perspective (Cole & Knowles, in press; Goodson, 1995). These case studies of teacher education reform w i l l emerge as compelling, in-depth analyses of individual , institution­al, and programmatic change. I chose research sites that on examination w i l l reveal a range of reform efforts in Anglophone Canadian teacher education institutions. The research is guided by several clusters of questions: • What kinds of reform efforts are taking place in Canadian teacher educa­tion institutions? H o w are the innovative, progressive, and conceptually strong programs intellectually and practically shaped? What are the intel­lectual and practical bases for the design and implementation of these reform-minded programs? What is the general climate in the institutional contexts in which substantial programmatic reforms take place? What are the internal and external pressures that have motivated program reconcep-tualization? • What are the central ипгіефіппй^ philosophies, orientations, and prac­tices that give impetus to the reforms? What are the structural, adminis­trative, programmatic, curricular, and institutional constraints that were overcome in the implementation of these reformed programs? H o w have these reforms fitted into the work, agenda, and vision of the greater university context? What is the role of "external" agencies at various levels? What is the sociopolitical mil ieu of these programmatic reforms? 193 A.L. Cole • W h o are the prime movers in these reform efforts? What is the nature of and basis for their commitment and motivations? W h o is responsible for general program and curricular development and for the day-to-day im-plementation? What is the relationship between faculty members and ad-ministrators in both the development process and implementation of new programs? The first cluster of questions is designed to reveal the nature and scope of teacher education reform efforts; the second cluster w i l l uncover information about the rationales for, and intellectual and institutional commitments to, reform; and the third w i l l provide insights into the perspectives, roles, respon-sibilities, and relationships of those involved in reform efforts. The case studies w i l l provide both a description and critical analysis of each reform effort in an attempt to lay bare the complexities, idiosyncrasies, and multiple realities that define and determine the directions of institutional a n d / or programmatic change attempts. I intend to make visible the personal, com-plex, and "messy" nature of reform that reflects the multiple realities of i n -dividuals and institutions operating in particular political and provincial milieus rather than merely describing successful exemplars that defy replica-tion. A s such, the case studies w i l l serve both as examples (not models or standardized frameworks) of teacher education reform initiatives and the bases for theoretical insights into the values, goals, processes, and facilitative structures associated wi th substantive reforms. These are invaluable for propelling reform initiatives elsewhere. Such exploration has the potential substantially to inform the direction of teacher education reform in Canada. I anticipate that although the report w i l l represent the complexities associated with political, institutional, and individual agendas, much w i l l be revealed of the fruitful ways that innovative programs are conceptualized, developed, and implemented. Acknowledgment The research in progress is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. References Blackwell, P. (1996). Reform under adversity. Teacher Education Quarterly, 23(1), 19-26. Bush, R.N. (1987). Teacher education reform: Lessons from the past half century. Journal of Teacher Education, 38(3), 13-19. Clark, S.M. (1993). Higher education and school reform. Review of Higher Education, 27(1), 1-20. Cole, A.L. (1999a). An overview and analysis of teacher education reform in Anglophone Canada. Paper presented at the Canadian Society for the Study of Education Annual Conference, Sherbrooke, QC. Cole, A.L. (1999b). Teacher educators and teacher education reform: Individual commitments, institutional realities. Canadian journal of Education, 24(3). Cole, A.L. , Knowles, J.G., brown, b., & Buttignol, M . (1999). Living in paradox: A multimedia representation of teacher educators' lives in context. A multimedia installation exhibited at the annual conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Sherbrooke, QC. Cole, A.L. , & Knowles, J.G. (in press). Researching lives in context: Examples, methods, and issues in life history research. Walnut Creek, C A : Altamira Press. Cornbleth, C. (1986). Ritual and rationality in teacher education reform. Educational Researcher, 15(4), 5-14. Cuban, L. (1990). Reforming again, again, and again. Educational Researcher, 19(1), 3-13. Fullan, M . , with Stiegelbauer, S. (1991). The new meaning of educational change (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press. 194 Reform in Canadian Preservice Teacher Education Goodson, I.F. (1995). The story so far: Personal knowledge and the political. In J. Hatch & R. Wisniewski (Eds.), Life history and narrative (pp. 89-98). London, UK: Falmer Press. Holmes Group. (1995). Tomorrow's schools of education. East Lansing, MI: Author. Kettlewell, J. (1996). The Miami (Ohio) university story. Teacher Education Quarterly, 23(1), 27-33. Merriam, S.B. (1988). Case study research in education: A qualitative approach. San Francisco, C A : Jossey-Bass. Portman, P.A. (1993). Barriers to change in teacher education. Action in Teacher Education, 25(1), 14-21. Sarason, (1990). The predictable failure of educational reform. San Francisco, C A : Jossey-Bass. 195 

Case Studies of Reform in Canadian Preservice Teacher Education

https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ajer/article/download/54809/41866

Case Studies of Reform in Canadian Preservice Teacher Education

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

University of Calgary Journal Hosting