From Content Experts to Field Supervisors: The Dispositional Shift and Tensions When Building a Collaborative Community of Stakeholders

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Learning From Challenges and Tensions in Field Experiences

Abstract

Teacher educators aim to prepare teachers with best practices for facilitating learning. As preservice teachers (PSTs) shift from theory to practice in internship placements, their dissonance must be reconciled (Andrews & Quinn, 2005). Field supervisors support this reconciliation, as expected content experts, “coaches, mentors, negotiators, advocates, and evaluators” (Slick, 1997, p. 715). The latest call for clinically-rich preparation requires cohesion among stakeholders involved in PST development (CAEP, 2013; NRC, 2010). However, the transition from solely responsible field supervisor to a community of stakeholders requires an unexplored, dispositional shift. This study examined ways two content experts serving as field supervisors, experience collaboration with stakeholders, dispositional shifts, and tensions, while describing structures in the program that facilitate and impede the transition.

Authors

• Yvonne Franco, University of Tampa

• Margaret Billings Krause, University of South Florida