Teacher Educators' Professional Development: An Evaluation Study

• In Event: 31.022 - Teacher Educators' Professional Development: Paradigms and Approaches

Abstract

The quality of teacher education (TEd) is vital for the preparation of future teachers. Autumn 2011, the large-scale EVALO-project was funded by the government to monitor the quality of teacher education programs in Flanders, Belgium.
One of the key factors in TEd quality are the teacher trainers who teach the program and coach the students. Astonishingly, there is no formal training to become a teacher educator. Consequently, the following research questions serve the purpose to gain insight into the profile and professional development of these key players:
What is the profile (e.g. background, diversity, experience in education and ICT-skills) of pre-service teacher educators?
In what ways do teacher educators deepen or expand their expertise in terms of professional development?
EVALO adopted a mixed method research design, involving six groups of stakeholders (i.e. students, graduates, teacher trainers, TEd management, mentors and school principals) of which the teacher trainers are at the core of the present study. The quantitative part comprised the administration of online surveys for each group of stakeholders (Ntotal=6234), including 611 teacher trainers. The qualitative part included 51 semi-structured focus group interviews (N=3 to 10) by stakeholders in schools and TEd-institutions. 103 lecturers took part in one of 17 focus group interviews for teacher trainers.
Results from the survey show that the majority of teacher trainers are female, Caucasian, all with Dutch as their mother tongue. Only 56% of the surveyed teacher educators had working experience in education, and this percentage is even higher in kindergarten and elementary school TEd. Moreover, if they had experience, this is usually limited to less than five years. Notwithstanding, during the focus groups teacher trainers emphasize the added value of prior experience in kindergarten, elementary or secondary schools. They consider it important that time and resources are available to ensure that teacher educators regularly can return to their field of expertise (e.g. through part-time teaching or short-term internships), which is not the case at this moment. Regarding the second research question, the survey shows that the attention that is given to professional development of teacher trainers and mentors in schools is low. Likewise, international mobility of teacher trainers is rare and involves (only) short-term initiatives. The interviews reveal that there is a wide range of professional activities cited by teacher trainers, including on-site initiatives, activities that are situated within the TEd context, activities that are situated in the school context, activities that are situated outside the educational context, and - although limited - professional activities abroad. The activities are almost all left to the initiative of teacher trainers, based on individual needs or interests. A high workload, lack of time and a limited budget are often perceived as troublesome to participate in professional development initiatives.

Authors

• Katrien Struyven, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

• Martin M. Valcke, Ghent University

• Isabel Rots, Ghent University

• Esther Gheyssens, Vrije Universiteit Brussel