ON-GOING LEARNING FOR LITERACY/ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATORS: EXAMINING FOUR SPHERES OF KNOWLEDGE Clare Kosnik, Pooja Dharamshi, Cathy Miyata, Lydia Menna, and Yiola Cleovoulou
LITERACY TEACHER EDUCATORS: THEIR BACKGROUNDS, VISIONS, AND PRACTICES.
to study in depth a group of literacy/English teacher educators, with attention to their backgrounds, knowledge, research activities, identity, view of current government initiatives, pedagogy, and course goals.
PARTICIPANTS
28 literacy/English teacher educators
Canada US UK Australia
1-5 years = 7 6 -10 years = 10 11-15 years = 2 16 -20 years= 5 21+ years = 4 New: 0 - 5 years experience; Mid-career: 6 - 10 years
experience Later-career: 10 + years
experience
METHODOLOGY
Interviews Course-related materials Nvivo for data analysis
Goodwin (2008)
Boyd and Harris (2010) content area must be considered separately because each discipline places different demands on teacher educators.
five types of knowledge: • personal; • contextual; • pedagogical; • sociological; • social.
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KNOWLEDGE OF RESEARCH
LTEs unanimously felt a positive disposition towards conducting and using research was essential
developed PD mainly through their own initiative, using all three forms of PD
FORMS OF PD
Building on doctoral research Studying one’s own practice Engaging in scholarly endeavors Being part of a research team
“one needs to develop the professional and intellectual resources to be able to engage.” Bob
KNOWLEDGE OF PEDAGOGY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
KNOWLEDGE OF LITERACY AND LITERACY TEACHING
KNOWLEDGE OF CURRENT SCHOOL DISTRICT AND GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
LTEs main difficulty was remaining current with school and government initiatives
PD predominantly a self-directed “informal process within a situated, socio-political practice” (Hardy, 2012, p. 1).
STRATEGIES TO REMAIN CURRENT
Drawing on personal networks Capitalizing on school-based activities Juggling personal vision of education with
government initiatives
“I have experienced 4 or possibly 5 different versions of the national curriculum in the UK, so preparing them for the version that currently exists isn’t doing them any favors, they need to prepare, not only for this version… but also for the other ones that will come along”. Justin