Teacher Educators Learning to Braid the Technical, Relational, Social, Cultural, and Political Dimensions of Teaching

• In Event: Making Teacher Education a Site for Transformation by Empowering Teacher Educators

Abstract

Purpose. This is a cross-institutional study of teacher educators of color across 6 different campuses.

Perspective(s). The consensus from the last three decades of research is clear: there is little systematic study about what distinguishes the professional expertise of teacher educators and how teacher educators grow in their practice (Knight et al., 2014). Teacher educators often fall into their roles based on their prior experience as teachers or because they hold an advanced degree in education (Dinkelman et al., 2006; Goodwin et al., 2014; Wolf-Wendel et al., 2006). Yet these taken-for-granted assumptions about qualifications lack empirical support (Bullock & Christou, 2009; Korthagen et al., 2005). Much of what we know about the development of teacher educators is based on self-studies that are highly specific to institutional contexts (e.g. Berry, 2009; Cochran-Smith, 2003; Russell & Loughran, 2007). Furthermore, an emerging body of scholarship suggests that teacher educators of color bring a unique set of strengths and that they experience a particular set of challenges that are overlooked in the existing literature on teacher educators (Goodwin et al., 2014).


Methods. The data included semi-structured interviews with 10 teacher educators of color that included questions about their (a) trajectories as teachers and teacher educators, (b) conceptualizations of teacher educators and teacher learning, and (c) descriptions of the distinct work of teacher educators.

Data sources and analysis. A preliminary analysis of data was conducted by the interviewer who used inductive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to engage in repeated “active” readings of the interview transcripts to search for patterns and variations in the participants’ experiences. Drawing on Kidd and Parshall (2000), the interviews were analyzed using a combination of “broad-brush coding” for narrative units and fine-grained, line-by-line coding for substantive content. The preliminary findings were shared back with the larger group for collective sense-making, refinement, and revision across a series of iterative engagements including dialogue through a shared cloud-based document and a 2-day in-person structured collaborative analysis session.


Findings. The findings elucidate the unique work of teacher educators that entails the intentional support of teacher learning across technical, relational, social, cultural, and political dimensions. Through illustrative cases, our findings show that these dimensions are co-constitutive; for instance, the technical dimensions of learning to teach cannot be fully disentangled or taught in isolation from the relational or political dimensions of teaching. The deeply integrated nature of teaching teachers across these dimensions further reveals the unique experience and expertise of teacher educators: experience as classroom teachers, which is critical to understanding and responding to the complexity of learning and human diversity that teachers must continually navigate both in-the-moment and across longer time-scales; the ability to iteratively connect theory and practice while simultaneously expanding both toward justice and liberation; a deep understanding of historical, institutional and local contexts and how to leverage these insights to support teachers in crafting classroom culture and practices.


Scholarly significance of the study. These findings will contribute to the recruitment, retention, and professional development of teacher educators of color.

Authors

• Thomas M. Philip, University of California - Berkeley
  Presenting Author

• Margarita Jimenez-Silva, University of California - Davis
  Non-Presenting Author

• Darlene Lee, University of California - Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author

• Thandeka K. Chapman, University of California - San Diego
  Non-Presenting Author

• Josephine Pham, University of California - Santa Cruz
  Non-Presenting Author

• Annamarie M. Francois, University of California - Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author

• Eduardo F. Lopez, University of California - Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emma D. Hipolito, University of California - Los Angeles
  Non-Presenting Author