The purpose of this research is to examine teacher preparation program faculty’s incorporation of collegial content/practices into their preparation of pre-service teachers. Collegiality is a complex construct that describes the peer cohesion of employees, or the extent to which they trust and support one another (Jorde-Bloom 1988B; Harris & Anthony, 2001; Shah, 2011). As collegiality has been established as a significant component of in-service teachers' work experience, it is an also important consideration for teacher preparation. The current exploratory study describes teacher preparation programs' faculty members' beliefs related to collegiality, the implementation of collegial practices in teacher preparation, and influential factors to these beliefs and implementation. Forty-one faculty in Early Childhood Education program completed surveys and nine participated in follow-up interviews focused on current practices related to collegiality. Findings indicated that faculty believe collegiality to be very important to the preparation of pre-service teachers but the implementation of collegial content and practices within teacher preparation courses is quite variable. Implications and future directions for teacher preparation are discussed
