Preparing the Teacher Educators of the Future.

Overview & Synopsis

In 2001, 11 Texas universities offering doctoral programs in education completed surveys about the focus of their programs on preparing teacher educators. Overall, three stated that their degrees in educational leadership were designed primarily to prepare school leaders, but might prepare teacher educators. The rest cited as teacher education doctorates their Ph.D. and/or Ed.D. degrees in various fields. The institutions addressed 13 topics in their doctoral programs (e.g., curriculum theory, research in teaching, and theories/strategies of instruction and classroom management). Regarding additional experiences to prepare doctoral candidates as teacher educators, one cited the doctoral dissertation, two cited graduate assistant assignments in preservice education, and one indicated that either field research or an internship was required for the Ed.D. degree. A second survey, designed to learn more about knowledge and experience desired by the "market" for teacher educators, was completed by 49 teacher education entities that offered programs approved by the State Board for Educator Certification that were not doctoral institutions. Results indicated that although graduates of most Texas doctoral programs in education might, at some time, be employed as teacher educators, only a small set of doctoral institutions have a terminal degree program specifically to prepare teacher educators. A number of factors in Texas teacher education policy discourage program quality. (SM)