Chapter 5: The Changing Role Of University-Based Teacher Educators: Lessons Learned in a Clinical Elementary Teacher Preparation Program

The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) Report of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Clinical Preparation and Partnerships for Improved Student Learning (2010) demanded teacher education “must move to programs that are fully grounded in clinical practice and interwoven with academic content and professional courses” and “must work in close partnership with school districts to redesign teacher preparation to better serve prospective teachers and the students they teach” (NCATE, 2010, p. ii). Taking this edict to heart, faculty in our university decided to revise the elementary and early childhood education programs and create heavily clinical programs.

In revising our programs, we anticipated we would see changes in the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of our teacher candidates and we certainly have. However, we did not expect the role of our university-based teacher educators (UBTEs) to change as significantly as what has occurred. Nor did we anticipate the need to adjust our hiring practices and orientation of new faculty members, or the need to consider how the work of clinical educators impacts faculty evaluation processes.