Perspectives From the Field: When Field-Based Learning Supersedes University Teaching

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: Preservice Teachers' Positionality With Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

Abstract

As teachers are a critical component for educational equity for students from minoritized backgrounds, their preparation is of utmost concern. Currently, there is a policy press to make teacher education more clinical, and student teaching remains the most common field experience across teacher education programs (TEPs). Though it holds great potential, little is known about what PSTs learn during student teaching; this is particularly important for PSTs preparing to teach students from minoritized backgrounds that the system has continually failed. This study investigated the field-based learning of three PSTs enrolled in a social justice-oriented TEP committed to preparing teachers to work in underserved communities. It highlights the ways their field-based learning superseded the TEP’s teachings, at times in troubling ways.

Author

• Kathryn Struthers Ahmed, Hunter College