Building Capacity and Commitment for Leadership in Preservice Teacher Education

Abstract

Current educational reform initiatives advocate changes in both teachers’ and administrators’ roles. Increasingly, teachers are being asked to work with colleagues, administrators, and parents to achieve school-wide reforms. The existing professional socialization of new teachers, however, does little to encourage teachers to gain the skills required to collaborate with other adults. In this article, we argue that preservice teachers education must help beginning teachers develop the commitments, skills, and knowledge required for teacher leadership, and explore the implications of this argument for the pedagogy and curriculum of preservice education.

A Narrative Analysis of Scholar-Practitioner Teacher Leadership Preparation

“…Although longtime teachers across the nation have felt, and sometimes resisted, the challenge of systemic change for two decades, teacher educators must continue to prepare new teachers as educational change agents. Grossman and Richert (1996) have identified key outcomes essential to teacher leadership capacity. Preservice teachers must see change as constant and learning as continuous, must grow to understand that learning is dynamic and education is a social event that occurs within a learning community, and must "value risk-taking as a necessary part of teaching" (p. 204).…”

“…Preservice teachers must see change as constant and learning as continuous, must grow to understand that learning is dynamic and education is a social event that occurs within a learning community, and must "value risk-taking as a necessary part of teaching" (p. 204). Essential knowledge includes the historical context of educational reform, self-understanding, and commitment to reflective practice; and essential skills include inquiry and collaboration (Grossman & Richert, 1996).…”

A Pedagogy of Collective Action and Reflection

“…The emphasis on school-based decision making, team teaching, interdisciplinary curriculum, and teacher professionalism has led teacher educators to consider new approaches to teacher preparation (Goodlad, 1990;Grossman & Richert, 1996;Merz & Fuhrman, 1997;Shulman, 1989). Important reports such as the Holmes Group's (1986) Tomorrow's Teachers and the Carnegie Task Force's (1986) A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century were issued with an eye toward meeting the challenges posed by these new school structures and priorities.…”