Session Information
10 SES 02 E, Teacher Educators for Just and Equitable Education: Learning from research across three continents
Symposium
Contribution
Internationally, many are calling for “more attention to what teachers of teachers themselves need to know” (Cochran-Smith, 2003, p. 6). Yet, formal preparation for those who instruct teachers is absent (Author, 2014; Ellis & McNicholl, 2015), despite agreement that “the quality and the effectiveness of teacher education largely depends on the competence and expertise of teacher educators” (Buchberger et al., 2000, p. 57-58). The “sparse knowledge base” on teacher educators (OECD, 2010, p. 288), stands in stark contrast to “the issue of educating teachers for diverse classrooms [that] needs to be addressed urgently” (p. 14). A recent European Commission report (2013a) prioritizes teacher training to support children from poor, migrant, or “disadvantaged” minority backgrounds. In China, reform is focused on teacher development to achieve “equity and quality” (Weng, 2017), while U.S. teacher preparation programs “express commitments to social justice” (Agarwal et al., 2010, p. 237). These imperatives underscore how teacher educators must prepare teachers for classrooms they themselves have not experienced (Chou, 2010), and further accentuates the issue of teacher educator preparedness for social justice. This study employed five knowledge domains (Author, 2010): personal, contextual, pedagogical, sociological, social—to analyze how key teacher education journals published in the U.S., U.K., and Australia from 2010-2015, define preparing “good and just teachers” (Cochran-Smith et al., 2009). By examining the practices/findings discussed in teacher education scholarship, through the lenses of these domains, we hoped to gain insight into the skills and knowledges teacher educators in these different international contexts seem to emphasize in the preparation of equity-minded (preservice) teachers. Preliminary analysis revealed that teacher educators seem to place importance on personal and sociological knowledge, over contextual, pedagogical, social. Their priorities and silences indicate what teacher candidates are learning—or not—about equity education, and suggest understandings teacher educators may need to develop if they are to capably prepare quality teachers ready to instruct all children. Our study has implications for multiple contexts where teachers—and teacher educators—are being “asked to teach in increasingly multicultural classrooms…[and]…[adjust] to the evolving needs of learners in a world of rapid social, cultural, economic and technological change” (European Commission, 2013b, pp. 7, 9). Unquestionably, contexts differ, yet there are many similarities in the issues facing policy makers and educators globally, rendering sharing across (inter)national borders potentially meaningful.
References
Agarwal, R., et al. (2010). From ideal to practice and back again: Beginning teachers teaching for social justice. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(3), 237-247. Author. (2014). Author. (2010). Buchberger, F., et al. (2000). Green paper on teacher education in Europe. Umea, Sweden: Thematic Network of Teacher Education in Europe. Chou, V. (2010). Preparing teacher educators for diversity: Complexities and challenges. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/46454172.pdf Cochran-Smith, M. (2003). Learning and unlearning: The education of teacher educators. Teaching and Teacher Education, 19(1), 5-28. Cochran-Smith, M., et al. (2009). Good and just teaching: The case for social justice in teacher education. American Journal of Education, 115(3), 347-377. Ellis, V., & McNicholl, J. (2015). Transforming teacher education: Reconfiguring the academic work. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. EC/EACEA/Eurydice. (2013a). Education and Training in Europe 2020: Responses from the EU Member States. Brussels: Eurydice. EC (2013b). Supporting teacher competence development for better learning outcomes. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/repository/education/policy/school/doc/t eachercomp_en.pdf OECD. (2010). Educating Teachers for Diversity: Meeting the Challenge. Paris: OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264079731-en Weng, T-H. (September 12, 2017). The basic education of Shanghai: Achievements and challenges. Speech delivered at Teachers College, Columbia University.
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