Urban teacher education in partnership: An inquiry stance sustains collaboration
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Summer 2010
Publication Title
Teacher Education and Practice
Abstract
The relationship between Brighton High School (BHS) and Boston College (BC) spans several decades. Professors from multiple departments at the university--not only teacher educators but professors of psychology, measurement, and arts and sciences--have walked, as regular parts of the school community, the halls of the gothic-style high school building on a side street in Boston's Brighton neighborhood. As school teachers and administrators have cycled through their careers at BHS, so too have BC professors; yet, the school-university partnership remains solid through changes in personnel, politics, and policies. As those who are deeply committed to the promises and potentials of collaborative work between schools and universities are acutely aware, these collaborations are successful for the long-term only when they do not rely on particular people to continue operating but when they are founded on solid, shared, theoretical commitments. The theoretical commitment that has driven the simultaneous renewal of BHS and BC is that of inquiry as stance. Inquiry as stance necessitates that educators approach dilemmas of practice as problem posers who have the knowledge, skills, dispositions to resolve dilemmas in contextually appropriate ways.
Recommended Citation
Stairs, A. J. (2010). Urban teacher education in partnership: An inquiry stance sustains collaboration. Teacher Education and Practice, 23(3), 344-346.
