Three Forms of Professional Development Used By Literacy /English Teacher Educators: Informal, Formal, and Communities of Practices

Clare Kosnik and Clive Beck Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of TorontoSeptember 2014

Specific Goals: * What kinds of knowledge do LTEs need? * In what forms of professional development do LTEs engage?

Overall Goal: to study in depth a group of literacy/English teacher educators, with attention to their backgrounds, knowledge, research activities, identity, view of current government initiatives, pedagogy, and course goals

Participants

Experience as a classroom teacher

0 years = 1

1-5 years = 3

6-10 years = 12

11-20 years= 6

21+ years = 6

Rank at the University

Assistant Professor (Lecturer) = 6

Associate Professor =5

Senior Lecturer = 7

Full Professor = 5

Other =1

Contract = 4

Professional Development

The Green Paper on Teacher Education in Europe “coherent initial as well as a continuous in-service teacher education for teacher educators” ((Buchberger, Campos, Kallos, & Stephenson, 2000, p. 58).

Forms of Professional Development

Formal

Informal

Communities of Practice

PD for What?

Knowledge of Research

[O]f course I’m always finding out new things, but that's part of what I mean about being intellectually active and critical. (Justin)

Building on doctoral research.

Studying one’s own practice.

Being part of a research team.

Knowledge of Pedagogy of Higher Education

“Learning takes time. I've become much more confident and I think that's changed my practice. Not panicking, not rushing, not getting anxious about things.”

Trial and error.

Student feedback and observation of student growth.

Collaboration with other teacher educators.

Knowledge of Literacy and Literacy Teaching

Fostering school-based partnerships

Participating in teacher associations.

Reading journals

Cultivating networks in their university.

Working on research teams.

Participating in literacy conferences and external academic networks

Knowledge of Current School and Government Initiatives

I have experienced 4 or possibly 5 different versions of the National Curriculum in the UK, so preparing them for the version that currently exists isn’t doing them any favors. They need to be prepared not only for this version but also for the other ones that will come along.

Drawing on personal networks.

Capitalizing on school-based activities.

PD for teacher educators is not

conducted systematically; rather, it

is quite ad hoc with much of it

occurring through learning while

doing.

Although valuable, informal PD has limitations because it is often dependent on the goodwill of colleagues and has a strong trial and error component; and it is not always apparent what needs to be learned.

The most common type of PD for the new LTEs in our study was informal.

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