Education of Teachers in Field Settings: A Case Study.

Overview & Synopsis

The efforts of the teacher education program at Northern Michigan University (NMU) to improve the education of teachers in field settings are described, using criteria of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) related to field experience programs. The paper discusses how the NCATE criteria are met or exceeded through the careful selection of sites, provision of various types of experiences, supervision, sequence of experiences, skills developed, lengths of experiences, professional roles and responsibilities, relationships with graduates through follow-up studies and continuing assistance, and relationships with schools via continuing professional development and collaboration in decision making. NMU's field experiences are based upon a taxonomy that includes role orientation, role conceptualization, role learning and commitment, role assumption, and role evaluation. (JDD)