"Finally, I Can Talk About This": The Possibilities of Learning Communities for Teacher Candidate Policy Engagement

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Analyzing Policy From All Angles: Content, Concepts, and Contradictions

Abstract

This paper explores the possibilities of learning communities in increasing teacher candidate engagement with educational policy. Drawing upon data from teacher candidates in multiple school sites, the paper analyzes teacher candidates' sensemaking around educational policies they encounter in their practicum sites and the affordances of the learning community in generating increased policy knowledge and engagement. Early findings of this study in progress suggest that teacher candidates struggle to make sense of educational policies given their limited professional training around policy matters in traditional teacher education programs, and that learning communities represent a challenge to limiting, compliance-oriented visions of teacher education and a potential catalyst for teacher candidates to engage more deeply with educational policies they encounter in schools and classrooms.

Author

• May Hara, Framingham State University