Navigating the contested terrain of teacher education policy and practice: Introduction to the special issue

Abstract

In the policy climate where various actors claim to have the solutions for the enduring challenges of teacher education, policy deliberations sideline certain voices. This introduction to the special issue explores policy contestations surrounding teacher education and highlights some of the perspectives overlooked by policy debates. It lays out new priorities for the teacher education community to ensure that the profession’s collective voice would be heard by policy-makers and by the public at large.

Addressing mentor wellbeing in practicum placement mentoring relationships in initial teacher education

“…This has clear implications for the nature of pre-service work, particularly in terms of tensions between institutional expectations, personal accountability and resources provided. Participants reflected on the implications of the status of the teaching profession and teacher education being under scrutiny (Aydarova and Berliner, 2018; Cochran-Smith et al , 2018), confirming earlier research that those involved in mentoring pre-service teachers are “second-class citizens in a university culture that downgrades the practical” (Beck and Kosnik, 2002, pp. 15-16).…”

Shadow Elite of Teacher Education Reforms: Intermediary Organizations’ Construction of Accountability Regimes

“…It behooves the educational community to consider what can be learned from IOs' pursuit of shared vision, networked collaborations, and intentional focus on reaching policymakers with their message. The collective nature of IOs' policy activities requires a consolidated response from educators and educational researchers (Aydarova & Berliner, 2018). Taking cue from social movements, the educational community needs to come together in order to subvert the spectacle of neoliberal reforms and interrupt inequities of unjust social systems.…”

“…Supported by funding from venture philanthropies, these proposals have gained foothold through “knowledge ventriloquism” and “echo chamber” effects, which create a system where policy advocates consistently cite a small set of studies to promote a narrow reform agenda (Zeichner & Conklin, 2016). Yet the influence of intermediary organizations has extended beyond advocacy for alternative routes (Aydarova & Berliner, 2018; Cochran-Smith et al, 2016). In recent years, these groups began to advocate for a complete redesign of teacher education through accountability reforms.…”

Determinants of teacher attrition: Evidence from district-teacher matched data

“…Torres (2014) shows that, when leaving their positions, teachers have expressed concerns over a lack of voice, which indicates autonomy with decisions, based on data from 20 teachers in a charter school in New York City. Aydarova and Berliner (2018) argue that the teacher education community should reclaim "a collective voice over the directions of change and its future such that the profession's collective voice would be heard by policy-makers and by the public at large. "…”

“…First, there has been significantly increased attention to teacher issues in the media and in policymaking discussions in recent years, followed by a series of teacher protests, during which teachers themselves highlighted the importance of their voices being heard as a critical factor (Booker, 2019;Kolins Givan & Schrager Lang, 2020;Rich, 2015;Strauss, 2015Strauss, , 2017Westervelt, 2015). Second, though there is ample qualitative evidence on how and why voice-and related traits, such as autonomy or control-influence teachers' careers, including decisions to leave their school or the profession (Aydarova & Berliner, 2018;Rigsby & DeMulder, 2003;Torres, 2014), quantitative evidence on this factor is scarce. Our study attempts to fill this knowledge gap and identify strategies that help counter persistent challenges to attracting and retaining highly qualified teachers on a national scale.…”