Marilyn Cochran-Smith

Wednesday 3 September 14:00 - 15:00
Chairperson: Marit Honerod Hoveid

Location: AUDITORIUM at FEP (Keynote will be streamed to room B020)

Research on teacher preparation is an emerging, complex, and multi-faceted field, influenced by competing ideas about the purposes of research and the goals of education. This keynote address will focus on the past, present and future of teacher preparation research. Combining ideas from the sociology of knowledge with ideas about research as social practice, this presentation will be based on the perspective of "teacher preparation research as situated social practice," a process wherein differently-positioned researchers with diverse aims and objectives engage in multiple configurations of research practices, which emerge from and are located in complex social, historical and political contexts. The point of the presentation will be to consider not simply the various research methods that have been employed in research on teacher preparation over time, but also to consider the purposes of research and the relationships between research practices and social, economic and institutional power. The presentation will draw on previous reviews of teacher preparation research as well as the presenter’s review of more than 1500 recent studies of teacher preparation, with the majority from the U.S., but also with many from Europe and the Asia Pacific area.  Multiple examples will be used to convey major historical, methodological, and conceptual trends in the sprawling field of teacher preparation research.

MARILYN COCHRAN-SMITH is the Cawthorne Professor of Teacher Education for Urban Schools and the Director of the Doctoral Program in Curriculum and Instruction at the Lynch School of Education, Boston College. A teacher education scholar and practitioner for nearly 30 years, Professor Cochran-Smith is  widely known for her work in teacher education research, practice and policy and for her sustained commitment to teaching and teacher education for social justice with inquiry as the centrepiece. A former President of AERA (2004-05), Professor Cochran-Smith is an elected member of the National Academy of Education and the current Chair of its Professional Development Committee. In 2012, Professor Cochran-Smith received honorary doctorates from both the University of Glasgow (Scotland) and Alicante University (Spain).  Professor Cochran-Smith is the Co-Editor (with Susan Lytle) of the Teachers College Press book series on Practitioner Inquiry, which now includes 50-some books written by practitioners or about practitioner research. Professor Cochran-Smith’s recent publications include: The Politics of Accountability: Assessing Teacher Education in the United States  (The Education Forum, 77(1), (2013); Teachers’ Education and Outcomes: Mapping the Research Terrain (Teachers College Record, 114(10)), 2012; A Longitudinal Study of Teaching Practice and Early Career Decisions: A Cautionary Tale (American Education Research Journal, 49(5), 2012,  and Trends and Challenges in Teacher Education: National and International Perspectives. In Waldron, F., Smith, J., Dooley, T., and Fitzpatrick, M.Reimagining initial teacher education: Perspectives on transformation. Dublin: Liffey Press.