Chapter 13: Concluding Thoughts: Looking Across the Chapters

The chapters within this book collectively demonstrate that the nature and responsibilities of teacher educators who work in programs requiring strong clinical practice are shifting and expanding. These shifting and expanding practices necessitate a rethinking of how to prepare university and school-based teacher educators for their work in clinical settings. We have seen this no more candidly stated than in the words of McCoy and Nickens, shared in Chapter 5 of this book:

This reflection portrays the experiences of many teacher educators as they have began their careers or transitioned to teacher education that includes strong clinical practice. In fact, many academics hired in teacher education have not been prepared for, expected to, or even want to help bridge the university research to school-practice divide. Our school-based partners, although so committed to mentoring new teachers, also struggle to understand and enact the expanding responsibilities that they face. These remarks prompt the question, how can we better prepare the next generation of university and school-based teacher educators for this complex work?