Leading Change in Teacher Education

Lessons from Countries and Education Leaders around the Globe

Thuwayba Al Barwani, Maria Assunção Flores, David Imig, Thuwayba Al Barwani, Maria Assunção Flores, David Imig

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138310988
• eBook ISBN: 9780429859762
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Classroom Management

The international attempt to expand schooling despite dealing with an insufficient number of trained teachers has placed significant pressure on teacher education. Continued effort to change all aspects of teacher education, including ways of learning, methods of practice, institution interaction and assessment of teaching ability, in order to fulfil the desire to offer inclusive and equitable teaching for all, is a serious consideration. In response to this increased attention on cross-national campaigns, Leading Change in Teacher Education features discussions covering what has been done, how and why the change has happened, the journey itself and the challenges encountered along the way, alongside contributions from international academics who share their reflections and suggestions for a way forward, despite a global shortage of teachers.

Strategies surrounding the design and delivery of education now centre on improving how teachers are prepared, supported and evaluated. Leading Change in Teacher Education captures the stories of international change leaders by:

• Providing details of both the successes and challenges faced
• Presenting innovative practices in teacher education from around the world
• Describing the strategies put in place to ensure that teacher education is developing

The topics discussed are relevant for educators, policymakers and international organizations involved in the design and implementation of programmes in teacher education. Leading Change in Teacher Education is also an invaluable resource for those looking to increase the changes occurring within teacher education.

PART I

Framing change in teacher education

1

Leading change for teacher education

Thuwayba Al Barwani, Maria Assunção Flores, David Imig and Scott Imig

Everywhere, there are extraordinary efforts underway to change all aspects of teacher education. The selection of those who desire to be teacher education students, the venues in which they study and the courses and practices they experience are in transition. The faculties with whom they engage, the ways they learn, the measures and tools used to assess their readiness to teach, the induction processes and the professional development that will guide their everyday life as a teacher are evolving. Everywhere in teacher education there is change and, in many exceptional places, there are leaders envisioning and guiding the process.

Everywhere, nation states are expanding schooling but finding it more and more difficult to provide sufficient numbers of trained teachers to meet the increasing demand. UNESCO (2016) figures show that there is a massive global shortage of teachers and assert the world needs almost 69 million new teachers to reach 2030 education goals of ensuring inclusive and equitable schooling for all. Policymakers question the quality of beginning teachers and the programs that prepare them while seeking new ways to prepare more teachers efficiently, effectively and economically. The evidence that the teacher is the most significant variable in the learning of all students is now widely embraced and countries are seeking ways to better prepare beginning teachers and to support them in their practice (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Hattie, 2003; Sanders & Rivers, 1996).

Seemingly, there is worldwide recognition that teachers have to be better prepared and better supported in classrooms to enable countries to reach their socio-economic and civic goals. The twin needs of more teachers and more accomplished teaching at a time of competing priorities demand new forms of leadership for the teacher education community. Leadership is needed to shape the next generation of teacher preparation. That leadership must be able to challenge current practice while showcasing new ways of preparing more teachers to be more effective in P12 classrooms everywhere.

Policymakers, academics, researchers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs are challenging the status quo in the initial preparation of teachers. There is a surge of models for the preparation of teachers – many extending programs from a few semesters or years to multiple semesters and more academic years. At the same time, there is a counter movement of truncating preparation into a single year or even a few months. A shift continues moving teacher preparation from training colleges to universities while at the same time in some contexts there is the debate of whether universities can really prepare teachers. New preparation programs are emerging at a number of new for-profit and independent graduate schools while there is the push for academies disassociated from universities and unconstrained by traditional faculty requirements and practices. There is a return to more training at school sites yet there is a press for deeper learning of content knowledge on the part of teacher candidates. There is an increasing reliance on distance learning and course sharing but there are also calls for expanded clinical experiences and active apprenticeships with seasoned or master or accomplished teachers. Teacher education is expanding in new ways to meet new expectations while also contracting in response to economic realities and public-sector demands. Sorting through the quantity of new models and new approaches and gleaming quality needs careful consideration and great leadership. As Ling (2017, p. 570) states,

Rather than lamenting the fact that the role of teacher education and indeed of the University in a world of supercomplexity is now radically changed, it is perhaps even more exciting to be a part of this era as it has unbounded possibilities, unknown unknowns, space for risk and experimentation, permission to be uncertain and insecure, and contains the awkward spaces in which we can find some of those unknown unknowns.

Everywhere there seems to be great interest in finding better ways of preparing effective teachers. There is new focus on developing teachers skilled at instruction and communication, at devising lessons and contributing to curricula, of mastering subjects and knowing ways to integrate knowledge across or between subjects. There is a need for teachers capable of using new technologies, drawing on community resources and capturing the engagement and enthusiasm of students for learning. Realizing these demands requires new leaders capable of leading the transformation of teaching and teacher education.

Nation states are expanding their investments in teacher education and calling for change in the structures and processes of teacher preparation. There are a number of well-funded forces at play in teacher education reform. Using the United States for illustration, teacher education is changing to address standard setting (Common Core State Standards [CCSs]) and accreditation processes (Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation [CAEP] and Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation [AAQTE]), performance assessments (edTPA), philanthropic funded models (TNE), evidence-based designs (Gates), entrepreneurial efforts (TeachNOW) and innovative models (high leverage practices and virtual teacher education for virtual schools). Innovations are found in multiple countries and regions and are being replicated across the globe with surprising speed. Variants of Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) are now mandated across Australia and experimented with in many countries. TeachNow candidates are found in more than 80 countries world-wide.

While organizations and ideologies are reshaping teacher education, the realities of 21st-century life and schooling are the greatest forces altering the field. Seemingly limitless technology opportunities require a rethinking of what it means to teach and new fields of knowledge call for bold curricula responses. Demographic shifts and a widening gap between the haves and the have nots demand an educational response while crucial shortages of teachers necessitate a rethinking of how we recruit, train and reward. The great challenge for leaders in teacher education however, is to harness the forces and realities of change to identify and accomplish visionary things for their teacher education programs.

New policy documents, legislative mandates and government leaders continually modify preparation while presenting an ever-changing portfolio of new ideas for teacher education. Leaders in teacher education leverage such demands to accomplish visionary goals for their programs. The need for such leaders everywhere is an imperative.

This book is the story of innovative leaders and teacher educators around the globe guiding the transformation of teacher education in multiple aspects and settings – in schools, in colleges and universities, at innovative training sites and in centers that “do” teacher education on-line. Some of the stories will be about policy makers and those outside training sites that exert enormous influence over teacher education. Many of the stories are about the women and men who assume leadership responsibilities for teacher education at training colleges and within universities, and who have many titles and great responsibilities. Few of these deans, principals, heads, chairs, program directors and departmental chairs are formally prepared for their roles. The announcements and role responsibilities for the positions of leadership are often ambitious and imprecise in their setting of requirements and expectations. Typically, they call upon the occupants of the position to focus on the program objectives and to acquire and allocate scarce resources to the enterprise. They require leadership to ensure the priorities and objectives of the teacher education program are aligned with those of the host institution in which they are located. In many parts of the world, leaders are asked to educate a more diverse teacher candidate population with fewer resources, promote exemplary teaching and high-quality research by the faculty and establish reciprocal partnerships with communities and schools. Often the assignment exceeds the capacity of the individual who assumes the position. In many parts of the world, such leadership is of short duration.

There are almost no programs anywhere that prepare teacher education leaders – with the exception of a few short training courses or panels or sessions at professional conferences or annual meetings. The Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET) in the UK provides networking opportunities for deans and other education staff by holding regular symposia, forums and other events (Noble-Rogers, 2018). The International Deans’ Course in Germany for African and Asian leaders across multiple disciplines offers courses (Wahlers & Wilde, 2011) and the longstanding residential New Deans’ Institute hosted by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education in the US serves the needs of education deans in that country (Cimburek, 2005). One of the better-established training programs is hosted by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) in Britain. A body funded by the university sector collectively, HEA supports the development of academics for universities and colleges. A 2018 HEA development course announcement promises the following:

The Deans’ Development Programme is designed to enable deans to confront the competing challenges of providing operational leadership to both academic and professional colleagues while also being asked to support the development of institutional strategy (and respond to an ever-increasing range of external challenges). The programme recognises the role of Deans as senior academics, and managers of significant financial and human resources; individual sessions will focus on the core aspects of the role, building in the experience of senior colleagues from many different backgrounds, who are able to reflect upon their experience and to engage participants in self-reflection and debate. The programme will be focused upon both the conceptual and practical aspects of maintaining a senior leadership role in a higher education environment.

(Higher Education Academy, 2018, para. 1)

Similar short courses are hosted by national and regional associations of teacher educators in many different places.

Leaders for the transformation of teacher education can be teacher practitioners or researchers, politicians or bureaucrats, academics or entrepreneurs. Many have had successful careers before they come to teacher education leadership. As we would argue, many share a common orientation to teacher education (derived from academic preparation in European and American universities) and many assume their leadership roles because of their successes in academic fields or other endeavors. Most hold a vision of an ideal preparation program rooted in an orientation or belief about good schools and good teaching.

Most leaders for teacher education in traditional colleges and universities are positioned in the middle of bureaucratic hierarchies with administrators above and faculties below (Howey & Zimpher, 1990). What power these leaders possess is granted by faculties, particularly in universities with ambitious faculty governance protocols, and by university presidents and chancellors, provosts and academic vice presidents (Morris, 1981). Education deans report “up” and “down” and must carefully represent the interests of faculty to administrators and administrative priorities and concerns to faculties. Ambitious designs for change can be thwarted by either entity and deans have to manage carefully between these two contending bodies. Skillful leaders derive power from being in the middle but this can also be a treacherous place to be (Gmelch, Hopkins & Damico, 2011; Gmelch, Wolverton, Wolverton & Sarros, 1999; Roper & Deal, 2010). Managing the flow of information offers education deans leverage but that is often challenged by new technologies and long-standing relationships that circumvent the positional power of the dean. Managing change in such an environment is challenging, particularly at a time when there are increasing demands and declining resources.

There are few relevant studies and reports on leading teacher education reform. A recent collection of reflections by Canadian deans of education (Elliott-Johns, 2015) and new handbooks featuring international perspectives on the role of the education dean (Clift, Loughran, Mills & Craig, 2015) comprise current literature on leading teacher education reform, innovation or transformation. American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) has published pieces on the subject in the past (Bowen, 1995; Gmelch, 2002; Thiessen & Howey, 1998) and the Journal of Teacher Education in the US once included reflections by former deans and other leaders on their efforts (Denemark, 1983; McCarty & Reyes, 1987; Morsink, 1987; Gardner, 1992). Much of the literature on leading change in education is either about leadership for P12 schooling, post-secondary education or derived from an expansive literature from the business sector on change. While Kotter (1988) and Collins (2001) are typical of writers who describe change strategies for business, their strategies and tactics provide guidance to potential change leaders. Hall & Hord (2015), Elmore (2000) and Fullan (1993, 1999, 2001) offer guidance on the change process in education and their work can be readily adapted to guide change in teacher education. A host of writers have offered strategies relative to higher education that are relevant to this examination of change (Christensen & Eyring, 2011; Christensen, Horn & Johnson, 2016; Goodyear & Mehmedovic, 2016). There are journal articles and collections of essays about the emergence of women and/or minorities in leadership roles in the US (Welch, 2012; Stallings, 1997) but few studies about the ways that leaders and teacher educators assume their responsibilities, develop a vision, gain faculty and administrator trust or undertake program changes in teacher education.

Throughout this book there are examples of change agents for teacher education who are exemplary leaders. We believe they are leaders who have inspired fundamental transformations in their programs, structures, policies and organizational outreach. From these individuals, we believe:

Leaders see opportunities for change and/or are adept at interpreting demands and expectations set by others to both lead and manage the change process.

Leaders offer a strategic vision and use data to provide evidence and direction. They can visualize the final desired outcome and describe it to others.

Leaders are able to build a coalition of supporters from both inside and o...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of contributors
• PART I: Framing change in teacher education
• PART II: Changing curriculum and structure in teacher education
• PART III: Quality and accreditation in teacher education
• PART IV: University–school partnerships
• PART V: ICT and teacher education
• PART VI: The role of teacher educat ors
• Index