The Reform Logics of Teacher Education: How Conceptions of Teaching and Teacher Education Become Institutionalized (Poster 38)

• In Event: AERA Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

"The institutional landscape of teacher education in the US is both complex and rapidly evolving. As the entry point into the teaching profession, teacher education programs have the potential to shape who becomes a teacher, how they are prepared to teach, and which knowledge informs the work of teaching. As such, teacher education has emerged as a key site of political struggle between diverse political and ideological camps seeking to shape the education system.

In this multiple case study, I investigate the extent to which the three teacher education programs across the US reflect underlying institutional logics. I find that each program operates as a hybrid organization and is organized around multiple competing logics. In particular, the programs all draw upon two “constellations” of logics: democratic professionalism and corporate marketplace. Each of the underlying logics is associated with different conceptions on the purposes and nature of teaching, and became reflected in program structures and activities.
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Author

• Maya Kaul, University of Pennsylvania