Teacher Educator Identity in a Culture of Iterative Teacher Education Program Design: A Collaborative Self-Study

• Published in: Studying teacher education Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 152 - 169
• Main Authors: Chang, Aurora, Rak Neugebauer, Sabina, Ellis, Aimee, Ensminger, David, Marie Ryan, Ann, Kennedy, Adam
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 03.05.2016; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Classroom Communication; College Faculty; Communities of Practice; Culture; Educational Change; field-based teacher preparation; formación docente basada en experiencias de campo; Futures (of Society); identidad de formador docente; Learning; Professional Identity; Program Design; Program Development; reform; Reforma de la formación docente; Teacher Collaboration; Teacher education; Teacher Education Programs; teacher educator identity; Teacher Educators; Teacher Improvement; Teaching Methods; Teaching Models
• ISSN: 1742-5964; 1742-5972
• DOI: 10.1080/17425964.2016.1192030

Faculty in the School of Education have collaborated to re-envision teacher education at our university. A complex, dynamic, time-consuming and sometimes painstaking process, redesigning a teacher education program from a traditional approach (i.e. where courses focus primarily on theoretical principles of practice through textbooks and university-based classroom discussions) to a model of teacher education that embraces teaching, learning and leading with schools and in communities is challenging, yet exciting work. Little is known about teacher educators' experiences as they either design or deliver collaborative field-based models of teacher education. In this article, we examine our experiences in the second implementation year of our redesigned teacher education program, Teaching, Learning, and Leading with Schools and Communities (TLLSC) and how these unique experiences inform our teacher educator identities. Through a collaborative self-study, we sought to make meaning of our transformation from a faculty delivering a traditional model to educators collectively implementing a field-based model, by analyzing the diverse perspectives of faculty at different entry points in the TLLSC development and implementation process. We found that our participation in an intensive field-based teacher preparation model challenged our notions of teacher educator identity. In a culture of iterative program design, this study documents the personal and professional shifts in identity required to accomplish this collaborative and dynamic change in approach to teacher education.