Rethinking the Connections Between Campus Courses and Field Experiences in College- and University-Based Teacher Education

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Feb. 28, 2010

Source: Journal of Teacher Education, 61(1-2) 89–99. (January/February 2010).
(Reviewed by the Portal Team)

In this article, the author discusses one of the central problems that has plagued college- and university-based preservice teacher education for many years: the disconnect between the campus and school-based components of programs.

The author uses the concept of third space as a lens to discuss various kinds of boundary crossings between campus and schools that are currently being enacted in teacher education programs across the United States. Hence, the article examines a variety of work currently going on across the country in newly created hybrid spaces to more closely connect campus courses and field experiences in university-based preservice teacher education.

It is argued that the old paradigm of university-based teacher education where academic knowledge is viewed as the authoritative source of knowledge about teaching needs to change to one where there is a nonhierarchical interplay between academic, practitioner, and community expertise.

Conclusion

In this article, the author has discussed a number of contemporary efforts in the United States to bridge the gaps between campus and school-based teacher education and the gaps between both of these and the broader communities in which schools and colleges and universities exist.

These efforts involve a shift in the epistemology of teacher education from a situation where academic knowledge is seen as the authoritative source of knowledge about teaching to one where different aspects of expertise that exist in schools and communities are brought into teacher education and coexist on a more equal plane with academic knowledge.
It is argued that this new epistemology for teacher education will create expanded learning opportunities for prospective teachers that will better prepare them to be successful in enacting complex teaching practices.

Updated: Apr. 27, 2010
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