Chapter 9: Making The Case For Practitioner Inquiry In Doctoral Student Education: Supporting the Development of Future Teacher Educators

The teacher education community has called for centering teacher preparation on high quality clinical experiences (Darling-Hammond, 2009; National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education, 2010). This means that teacher education programs can no longer be designed as clinically accompanied where the field and the university coursework are separated (Dennis et al., 2017). Teacher educators must now weave together academic content, professional courses, and clinical experiences. To accomplish this, teacher education programs would benefit by rethinking the preparation and support provided to doctoral students who will one day be responsible for preparing teacher candidates. Actualizing clinically rich teacher education requires a greater emphasis on the development of future teacher educators who are prepared to navigate many practical, conceptual, and structural challenges (Burns, Jacobs, & Yendol-Hoppey, 2016). These new teacher educators will be responsible for developing high quality coursework (Ball & Forzani, 2009), planning integrated field experiences (National Association for Professional Development Schools, 2008; NCATE, 2001), preparing teacher candidates to meet diverse students’ needs (Cochran-Smith, Barnatt, Friedman, & Pine, 2009; Howard & Aleman, 2008; Villegas & Lucas, 2002), and cultivating in teacher candidates an inquiry orientation towards teaching and learning (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009). Today’s calls for teacher education reform necessitate future teacher educators who understand the need for innovation; are invested in the work of clinically rich teacher education; and possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities to develop new roles and practices.