Four spheres of knowledge required: an international study of the professional development of literacy/English teacher educators

Abstract

This paper reports on a research study of 28 literacy teacher educators (LTE) in four countries: Canada, the USA, England and Australia. It identifies three main forms of professional development: informal, formal and communities of practice and four spheres of knowledge: research; pedagogy of higher education; literacy and literacy teaching; and current school district and government initiatives. The study reveals the sheer scale of knowledge required to be an effective LTE and demonstrates how participants used the three forms of professional development to enhance their knowledge in each sphere. It concludes that the professional development of teacher educators is not conducted systematically; rather, it is quite ad hoc with much of it occurring through learning while doing. All had to construct their own programmes for professional development, which added yet another layer to their responsibilities.

Team-Based Professional Development Interventions in Higher Education: A Systematic Review

“…Six articles described how participating in a team-based professional development intervention resulted in colleagues learning more about each other ( Dickerson et al, 2014 ; Keevers et al, 2014 ; Kosnik et al, 2015 ; Norton et al, 2011 ; Poyas & Smith, 2007 ; Schuck et al, 2013 ). A participant in the qualitative study by Keevers et al (2014) described how it is useful to get to know people you are working with, to empathize with the challenges they are going through.…”

The professional developmental needs of higher education-based teacher educators: an international comparative needs analysis

“…Teacher educators' professional learning tends to be positioned within a complex amalgam of the biography, identity work, skills, values and dispositions embedded within different learning communities (Czerniawski 2013;Feiman-Nemser 2001;Kosnik et al 2015). It is also positioned, to varying degrees, within wider international discourses reflecting the marketisation of public sector work, in which teacher education is often portrayed as a 'policy problem ' (D. Mayer 2013).…”

Field Experiences in Literacy Teacher Preparation: A Snapshot of Current Practices

“…While the preceding implications focused on literacy teacher educators, findings from the present study have also suggested the need for administrators of teacher preparation programs to support the work of literacy teacher educators. Preparing preservice teachers to become effective literacy teachers is complex, intense, and time-consuming (Kosnik et al, 2015). In addition to teaching literacy-focused courses, literacy teacher educators attend to a myriad of additional responsibilities within their department, college, university, local schools, community, and profession (Kosnik, Meena, Dharamshi, Miyata, & Beck, 2013).…”

“…In addition to teaching literacy-focused courses, literacy teacher educators attend to a myriad of additional responsibilities within their department, college, university, local schools, community, and profession (Kosnik, Meena, Dharamshi, Miyata, & Beck, 2013). Although literacy teacher educators enhance their preparation practices through informal self-reflective exercises (Griffith, Bauml, & Quebec-Fuentes, 2016), it is essential that they are also supported with more formalized professional development activities (Kosnik et al, 2015). Thus, administrators of teacher preparation programs must provide literacy teacher educators with the necessary funding and time to develop and refine their preparation practices, as well as study the teaching practices of their graduates.…”