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ABSTRACT
Given the intense politicisation of education, many teacher educators are caught in the cross-hairs of government’s reform agendas, university expectations and student teacher needs. This paper reports on a study of 28 literacy teacher educators in four countries (Canada, US, Australia and England). This paper reports on the broad question: How is politics affecting literacy teacher educators? Three specific aspects are considered: their pedagogies, identity and well-being. It describes how their pedagogy (goals and teaching strategies) has narrowed because of mandated curriculum and exit exams. It shows how their identity as academics is being complicated because they often do not have time for their research. And their well-being is compromised because of excessive external inspections and as their community in the university splinters.
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for their generous support of this research.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Pseudonyms are used throughout the paper.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Clare Kosnik
Clare Kosnik is a professor at the University of Toronto. Her area of research is teacher education, in particular literacy teacher education.
Lydia Menna
Lydia Menna is an Assistant Professor in the area of Language and Literacy in the Department of Elementary Education at the University of Alberta. Her research interests include literacy teacher education, critical literacy, multiliteracies, and teacher identity construction.
Pooja Dharamshi
Pooja Dharamshi is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. Her research focuses on teacher education as a site for social justice and equity-seeking pedagogies.