Chapter 2: Professional Development for University-Based Teacher Educators: A Perspective on Faculty Learning Communities

In a competitive education market, it is imperative to find qualified and experienced educators. Teacher preparation programs in higher education institutions around the world must “up their game,” as the young teacher candidate might say. This simple phrase conveys the expectation that a new generation of teacher candidates have of teacher educators to bring into the classroom a learning experience that is innovative and current.

As teacher educators, we often emphasize that “we are lifelong learners.” We are constantly encouraging teacher candidates to maintain current in the field by engaging in literature review research, and regularly expanding their knowledge of best practices through active participation in professional development sessions. However, how do teacher educators remain current? We must realize that it is important to continue to expand our knowledge, experience, and expertise regarding pedagogy to stay current in a competitive and constantly evolving world, with societal expectations and a spotlight on “educators” as resources. In this chapter, I present a section that defines professional development and high lights it as necessary for pedagogical expansion, I included an overview of Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) as a method of professional development for teacher educators and share my personal experience with establishing a successful learning community within the TESOL and Bilingual Teacher Education Department at Touro University to illustrate how best practices can be implemented.