A Synthesis of Research on the Characteristics of Teacher Educators

Abstract

Although teacher educators have not been the focus of extensive research efforts, a body of knowledge about them is beginning to emerge. Troyer summarizes the research conducted during the past two decades that focuses on teacher educators and suggests areas in need of additional study. he quality of any teacher education program is at least partially dependent on the quality of its professoriatethe men and women who develop, implement, and evaluate programs of teacher education. For a variety of reasons, however, teacher educators have not been the focus of much research on teacher education. Perhaps we are fearful that common criticisms of teacher educators will be substantiated, or that additional criticism will be forthcoming as a result of new fndings. Perhaps we are hesitant to consign a complex and divergent population with whom we identify so closely to the few lines of simplistic findings that may result from some research efforts or, perhaps we perceive research on teacher educators as less salient than other lines of educational inquiry. Cruicl~shank (1984) articulated reasons for the dearth of research on teacher education in general. These reasons would seem to apply to the lack of research on teacher educators as well. The importunate state of inquiry can be attributed to a number of causes including : the culture of teacher education that, to a large extent, is based upon professional wisdom, common sense, and commitments ; lack of aptitude for or training in inquiry by teacher educators; absence of time, support, and reward for inquiry; the promotion of inquirers into unrelated positions; the near absence of vehicles that encourage and transmit scholarly knowledge ; the commonly held belief that teacher education is too complex a phenomenon to be successfully studied; and perhaps most notably the absence of paradigmatic communities of teacher education researchers. (p. 45) Whatever the reasons, research on teacher educators appears limited not only in comparison to other lines of inquiry in teacher education, but also in comparison to research on the professoriate in general. Finkelstein (1984), WII ,=.;B1: for example, identified over 300 systematic, explanatory, empirical studies of college and university faculty since 1942, in addition to hundreds of purely descriptive and demographic studies.The far more limited number of studies on teacher educators may be due in part to the relatively recent emergence of teacher preparation as a function of colleges and universities.

Vocational Home Economics Teacher Educators: A Profile

“…Ducharme and Agne (1982) state that &dquo;... there is little that describes the complexity of SCDE (schools, colleges, and departments of education) faculty, their collective and individual professional and personal background, [or] their roles in higher education&dquo; (p. 30). Other authors have also recognized this lack of research on teacher educators (Carter, 1981;Cruickshank, 1984;Ducharme & Agne, 1982;Troyer, 1986;Weber, 1986;Zeichner & Tabachnick, 1981).…”

University Music Educators' Effectiveness as Determined By Public School Music Teachers

“…The work ethic of the SCDE faculty has also been examined by various researchers, including Ducharme and Agne (1982), Yarger, Howey, and Joyce (1977), Mager and Myers (1983), Metzler and Freedman (1985), and Troyer (1986). These researchers found that on the average, SCDE faculty spend 40 to 70 hours per week on their work.…”

Differences in Reasons Why Individuals Choose to Become Agricultural Teacher Educators by Demographic Characteristics

“…contract, marital status, and number of dependents under the age of 21 (McCullough, 1992). Troyer (1986) found that there were more males in the education professoriate than females. Ducharme, et al (1996) reported that teacher educators were middle-aged white males tenured at either the full or associate professor level.…”

“…The quality of teacher education programs is dependent on the quality of its professoriate -the men and women who develop, implement, and evaluate teacher education programs (Troyer, 1986). Yet, it was not until the 1960s that one began to find literature about members of the education professoriate v (Howey & Zimpher, 1990).…”