Abstract

Since 2002, teacher educators in the Netherlands can develop a portfolio to show that they meet the professional standards as established by the Dutch Association of teacher educators. A study on the portfolio's of the first cohort (Koster, Dengerink, Korthagen & Lunenberg, 2008) showed that the teacher educators chose a practice-oriented approach to prove their competences. Within a European context of increasing policy attention from the European Commission (2013), the aim of this study, ten years on, is to examine 12 teacher educators’ portfolios written in 2012, and explore the possible consequences of social changes for the learning of teacher educators. Specifically the study seeks to address what standards teacher educators focus on, how do they learn and with whom, and what is the contribution to their professional development of following the programme? To analyse the data, we use the slightly adapted - 2002 protocol from the original study. To guarantee reliability each portfolio is analysed by two researchers. One significant outcome, compared with study ten years earlier, is that the variation in learning strategies has been extended, with a particular focus on the role of educational theory.

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Authors

Jurriën Dengerink, VU University Amsterdam

Mieke Lunenberg, VU University Amsterdam

Abstract

This roundtable discussion brings together teacher educators from diverse European and international backgrounds: England, Belgium, Holland, Israel, New Zealand and Norway.

Within the backdrop of the European Commission's recent policy gaze on teacher education we stand at the juncture of paradigmatic and contradictory shifts in teacher education. While politicians and policy makers point to the significance of the academy in top performing PISA education systems, teacher education, in many countries, is increasingly moving into schools as are many of the professionals and para-professionals associated with this contested field. Conflicts between policy and practice arise as teacher educators are caught between the competing demands of job preparation, social reproduction, social engineering and social justice. By exploring broader and deeper understandings of what it means to be a teacher educator this international roundtable discussion seeks to explore the policy, practice and values that underpin this hybrid and ill-defined professional group (Murray 2012; Berry 2013). In so doing it seeks to reassert and reframe a pedagogy and knowledge base of teacher education in the light of shifting landscapes. To frame this discussion on the nature and role of a teacher education profession our round-table dialogue, with teacher educators from different European settings will, through systematic enquiry, draw upon four domains, namely identity, criticality, communication and boundary crossings.

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References

Berry, M. 2013. Teacher Educators’ Professional Learning: “You’re more or less on your own”. Paper Presented at ISATT, Ghent, 2-7th July 2013).

European Commission. 2013. Supporting Teacher Educators For Better Learning Outcomes. Brussels, October 2013.

Murray, J. Czerniawski, G. & Barber, P. 2011. Faculty Identities, Academic Communities and Knowledge Terrains in Teacher Education. Journal of Education for Teaching, 37.3. pp.105 – 125.

Murray, J. 2012. Towards the re-articulation of the work of teacher educators in Higher Education institutions in England European Journal of Teacher Education 31. 1. pp. 17–34

Smith, K. 2012. The multi-faceted teacher educator- a Norwegian perspective. Journal of Education for Teaching, 37 (3), 337-349.

Zeichner, K., & Conklin, H. (2005). Teacher education programs. In M. Cochran‐ Smith & K. Zeichner (Eds.), AERA panel on research in teacher Education. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.

Authors

Ainat Guberman, The MOFET Institute

Warren Kidd, University of East London

Mieke Lunenberg, VU University Amsterdam

Jean Murray, University of East London

Kari Smith, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Ruben Vanderlinde, Ghent University