Looking Closely at Clinical Practice: A Clear-Eyed Vision for the Future of Teacher Education

ABSTRACT

Clinical practice has long been an integral component of teacher education. In the past two decades, however, the call has intensified for more purposeful, inclusive, integrated, and reflective clinical experiences for teacher candidates learning how to teach and, more broadly, what it means to be a teacher. This article aims to offer a conceptual understanding of clinical practice, the challenges to its viability, and recommendations for its future in teacher-education programs. The authors lay out defining characteristics of clinical practice; describe structural features that provide for extended time in the field, meaningful dialogue between stakeholders in clinical settings, and alignment between university coursework and field-based experiences; and cite the benefits of teacher candidates learning to teach in clinically rich settings. The authors also identify significant threats to establishing and maintaining a clinically based model of teacher education—specifically, the perception that theory and practice exist in distinct and disparate spaces in teacher preparation, the complex nature of school-university partnerships, and an entrenched neoliberal reform perspective. The essay concludes with recommendations for the sustainability of clinically rich teacher education, including the articulation of clinical-practice components and structures; a comprehensive research agenda derived from diverse purposes, methods, frameworks, and perspectives; inclusive and boundary-spanning collaborations between and among P–12 and university partners; and patience to work through the inevitable deliberations, challenges, and complexities of implementing and maintaining an effective clinical-practice model.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Janna Dresden

Janna Dresden is Clinical Professor Emerita from the University of Georgia (UGA) and an adjunct faculty member in the Elementary Education program at George Mason University. Reflecting her deep commitment to integrating theory and practice, Janna has alternated between roles in academia and in environments of practice throughout her 40 years in education. She was a classroom teacher in a variety of settings and after receiving her doctorate spent 10 years as a public elementary school teacher in Georgia. Upon her return to academia, she was an assistant professor at Auburn University and then served for 11 years as a clinical professor and the founding director of the Office of School Engagement at UGA. Janna’s research, teaching, and action-oriented projects with colleagues have been intertwined in a dynamic process focused on clinical practices in teacher education, partnerships, the impact of test-based accountability on teaching and learning, and teacher voice.

Katherine F. Thompson

Katherine F. Thompson is a Clinical Professor of Middle Grades Education at the University of Georgia (UGA). A veteran educator of more than 30 years, she was a public middle school teacher for 14 years before entering higher education. She was a founding member of the Office of School Engagement at UGA and served as a Professor-in-Residence in the PDS partnership between the Mary Frances Early College of Education and a local school district for seven years. Kathy has authored numerous publications focused on the education of young adolescents, professional learning of teachers, and school-university partnerships. She serves on the Georgia Middle School Association Board of Directors and the executive board of PDS SERVE, a southeast regional affiliate of NAPDS.