Clinical Faculty in Colleges of Education: Problems and Prospects

Abstract

Certain colleges of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and library science are increasingly hiring clinical faculty members to teach courses that were previously taught by academic faculty with terminal degrees in their fields. These schools have a wide range of experiences relating to the introduction of a clinical "subculture" into the larger culture of an academic professional school. Various explanatory models have been devised that attempt to clari5 these experiences and ofser suggestions for improvement. This article reviews the literature regarding these issues in order to apply its findings to colleges of education, many of which have also begun to experience a growing clinical faculty presence over the last ten years.