Teacher Educator Learning in a Professional Development School

• In Event: Facilitating Professional Growth for Teachers in Professional Development Schools

Abstract

This paper reports on a hermeneutic-phenomenological study of teacher educator professional learning in a professional development school (PDS). The study characterized eight teacher educators’ learning both outside and within a weekly professional development hour designated for learning about teacher education. The researchers found that teacher educators’ on-the-job, incidental learning was infrequently connected to their growth as teacher educators. However, the designated professional development hour supported learning specific to teacher education. The inquiry orientation of the hour nurtured a collaborative community of teacher educator-learners in the third space of a PDS; it supported teacher educator learning as a supportive, collaborative, and reflective process, enhancing teacher educators’ ability to live out their partnership’s mission.

Authors

• Rachel Wolkenhauer, The Pennsylvania State University

• Logan Rutten, The Pennsylvania State University