Developing Teacher Identities as In Situ Teacher Educators through Communities of Practice

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study explored the development of classroom teacher identities as in situ teacher educators through a multi-year, school-university partnership. Seven focus group interviews conducted across three years with educators from high-need, urban schools were analyzed using Wenger’s theory of Communities of Practice (CoP). We found that teachers shared a vision for quality equity-based instruction for diverse schools and valued fresh ideas and their roles as partners in preparing a new pool of teachers. Teachers engaged in new practices through embedded learning and were fueled by their developing community with like-minded allies as teacher educators.

Author note

The contents of this paper were developed under grants by the U.S. Department of Education Transition to Teaching and Teacher Quality and National Professional Development Programs. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank our local school partners who generously gave their time and thoughtful attention to working with our preservice teachers and with us as we continuously reflect on and improve our process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Education [T365Z110090,U350A110027].