Advancing Supervision in Clinically Based Teacher Education

<p class=ql-align-justify>Supervision in teacher education is entering an exciting time. In the last decade national reports calling for the transformation of teacher preparation have advocated for greater school-university collaboration and increased clinical preparation of teachers (AACTE 2018; NCATE 2010). Thus institutions with teacher preparation should be increasingly concerned with the clinical component of their teacher certification programs (AACTE 2010; 2018; NCATE 2001; NEA 2014). However supervision in teacher preparation has historically been held in low regard (Beck & Kosnik 2002; Feiman-Nemser 2001; The Holmes Group 1986; Hoover O'Shea & Carroll 1988; Soder & Sirotnik 1990) even though research has shown that high-quality supervision promotes teacher candidate learning (Bates Drits & Ramirez 2011; Burns Jacobs & Yendol-Hoppey 2016; Darling-Hammond 2014; Gimbert & Nolan 2003; Lee 2011). In fact university supervisors may be the most undervalued actors in the entire teacher preparation equation when one considers the knowledge skills and dispositions they must have to teach about teaching in the field (Burns & Badiali 2016 p. 156). Despite this research the function of supervision has often been relegated to adjunct faculty or even removed the university-based supervisor altogether in some colleges/schools of education (McIntyre & McIntyre 2020; NCATE 2010; Slick 1998; Zeichner 1992 2005). These practices are incredibly problematic for actualizing clinically based teacher education. Thus the road to transforming teacher education must involve addressing such long standing misperceptions about what supervision is what purpose it serves and how it can be renewed from an afterthought to become the driving engine of high quality teacher preparation.</p><p class=ql-align-justify> </p><p><em>Advancing Supervision in Clinically Based Teacher Education: Advances Opportunities and Explorations</em> aims to elevate supervision and supervisors as undervalued actors by disseminating high-quality manuscripts on this critical area of study. The chapters in this book tackle the persistent issue of devaluing and marginalizing supervision in some institutions of higher education by sharing current research illuminating challenges of supervising in the current high stakes accountability climate and offering innovative ideas that can improve supervision in clinically based teacher education. </p>