Session Information
01 SES 01 C, Teacher Educators
Parallel Paper Session
Contribution
Research questions:
What are the benefits to the workplace as perceived by those in leadership positions in the various teacher education colleges following a professional development course of study?
Do the study programs have an effect on the workplace and what is that effect?
(The term 'workplace' refers to the teacher education colleges in the country? where the teacher-educators work).
Theoretical framework: There is growing recognition that teacher educators are perceived as professionals once they are engaged in further professional development throughout their entire career. Since the recognition of the teacher educator as a lifelong learning professional has only recently emerged as a topic of interest, it is not surprising that the research in this area is still fragmented and limited. Several different perspectives related to the investigation of teacher educators’ professional development can be found in the literature, for example: the induction of teacher educators; the first career stages and the transition from teaching in schools to teaching in higher-education institutions and in teacher training programs; the identities of teacher educators; the characteristics and competencies of teacher educators and the attempt to set standards and quality requirements for teacher educators (i.e., Koster et al, 2005; Murray and Male, 2005; Rieg and Helterbran, 2005; Murray, 2008; Koster et al, 2008; Swennen, Jones and Volman, 2010; Dinkelman, 2011; Mayer et al, 2011). However, there is little information regarding the contribution of professional development activities undertaken by teacher educators (i.e., Kools et al, 2011).
The context of this paper is the School of Professional Development for Teacher Educators at the Mofet institute in Israel. This institute is an intercollegiate professional development institute for teacher educators from all teacher education colleges in Israel. Twelve years ago, four specialization programs aimed at enhancing the professional development of teacher educators were developed. They are: (1) Mentoring and Instruction; (2) Management in Academic Institutions; (3) Research and Evaluation; (4) Information and Communication Technologies. Each program consists of a total of 52 full days of study over a two-year period and includes theory, group discussions, brainstorming and a practicum. The over-all aim of the studies in these specialization tracks is to substantiate theory and link it to practice by furnishing the participants with essential tools for their work in their respective colleges.
Evaluating these programs has been a priority from the start. Over the years, data was gathered from three sources: (a) the teacher educators during the course of their studies; (b) graduates of the different programs (i.e., Feigin, Avissar and Kedem, 2008; Reichenberg, Sagee and Kleeman, 2010) and (c) those in leadership positions in the respective teacher education colleges. Findings from groups (a) and (b) point to a high degree of satisfaction on the part of the teacher educators who participated. The findings from group (c) are presented in this paper.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Dinkelman, T. (2011). Forming a teacher educator identity: uncertain standards, practice and relationships. Journal of Education for Teaching, 37(3). 309-323. Feigin, N. Avissar, G. and Kedem, Y. (2008). Effects of an academic management development program on participants' perceptions and practice. Review of Business Research, 8(5), 96-106. Kools, Q., Van der Klink, M., Avissar, G., White, S., and Sakata T. (August, 2011). Professional Development of Teacher Educators: What do they do? Findings from an explorative international study among teacher educators. A paper presented at the 36th annual conference of the ATEE. Riga, Latvia. Koster, B., Brekelmans, M., Korthagen, F. and Wubbles, T. (2005). Quality requirements for teacher educators. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21 (2). 157-176. Koster, B., Dengerink, J., Korthagen, F., and Lunenberg, M. (2008). Teacher educators working on their own professional development: goals, activities and outcomes of a project for the professional development of teacher educators. Teacher and Teaching: theory and practice, 14(5-6). 567-587. Mayer, D., Mitchell, J., Santoro, N. and White, S. (2011). Teacher educators and 'accidental' careers in academe: an Australian perspective. Journal of Education for Teaching, 37(3). 247-260. Murray, J. and Male, T. (2005). Becoming a teacher educator: evidence from the field. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(2). 125-142. Murray J. (2008). Teacher educators' induction into higher education: work-based learning in the micro communities of teacher education, European Journal of Teacher Education, 31(2), 117-133. Reichenberg, R., Sagee, R.,and Kleeman, S. (August, 2010). "Now I am not ashamed to say I am a teacher educator". A paper presented at the 35th annual conference of the ATEE. Budapest, Hungary. Rieg, S.A. and Helterbran, V.R. (2005). Becoming a teacher educator. Education, 126(1). 47-54. Swennen, A., Jones, K. and Volman, M. (2010). Teacher educators: their identities, sub-identities and implications for professional development. Professional Development in Education, 36(1-2). 131-148.
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