Teacher Education and Development - Publications

Cole, A. L. (1996). Teacher development in the workplace: Perspectives on relationships and their appropriation. In M. Beattie, H. Grunau, & D. Thiessen (Eds.), Interpersonal sources of development for beginning and experienced teachers. Ontario: Among Teachers Community, Centre for Teacher Development, OISE/UT.
Considers the relationship between teacher development and the workplace, examining the effect of individual characteristics and significant others. Researchers interviewed beginning teachers about workplace relationships, teaching situations, high/low points, critical incidents, obstacles, and opportunities. The article looks at rethinking appropriation of professional relationships, responding to diversity, and facilitating development.

Cole, A. L., Squire, F., & Cathers, E. P. (1995). Supporting beginning teachers: A handbook for school administrators. Toronto, Ontario: OISE Press.
Supporting beginning teachers is offered as a practical guide to help school administrators and staff in facilitating a successful first year for beginning teachers in their schools. The authors look at the role of principals, vice-principals, department heads, and peers in providing on-going support for beginning teachers at both elementary and secondary levels. The handbook includes practical planning-worksheets which administrators and teachers may photocopy for use in initiating a new teachers' support system in their school.

Cole, A. L. (1994). Problems and paradoxes in new teacher support: Issues concerning school administrators. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 40(3), 317-338.
Examines how principals, vice-principals, and department heads perceive and carry out their roles in relation to beginning teacher support. Addresses issues identified as problematic in school-based teacher development efforts (role conflict, school culture, resistance to change, overburdened administrators), and relates how four school administrators involved in pilot projects addressed such problems.

Goodson, I. F., & Cole, A. L. (1994). Exploring teachers' professional knowledge: Constructing identity and community. Teacher Education Quarterly, 21(1), 85-105.
Study of teachers' professional knowledge and development examined seven new instructors at a Canadian community college. The paper discusses a range of levels at which teachers' professional knowledge can be discerned, emphasizing the importance of listening to teachers' voices without limiting that listening to personal, practical, or pedagogical knowledge.

Cole, A., & Watson, N. (1993). Reflections on partnerships: Making sense of new support. In Thiessen, D., Cole, A., Diamond, C. T. P., & Watson, N. (Eds.), Reform in teacher education: Towards an agenda for the 1990's: Proceedings from the Fourth Invitational Conference of the Canadian Association of Teacher Educators, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario. Toronto, Ontario: The Act Publishing Group.
We use the Ontario context to identify and briefly discuss aspects of the partnerships phenomenon that has become a recent trend in teacher education reform throughout North America. Drawing on a recent province-wide analysis of teacher induction initiatives and an earlier study of "peer coaching" in Ontario, we examine the phenomenon of partnerships in an attempt to better understand some of the obvious discrepancies between the rhetoric and the reality of collaborative reform.

Goodson, I. F. & Cole, A. L. (1993). Exploring teachers' professional knowledge in context. In D. McLaughlin & W. G. Tierney (Eds.), Naming silenced lives. New York: Routledge.
Study of teachers' professional knowledge and development examined seven new instructors at a Canadian community college. The paper discusses a range of levels at which teachers' professional knowledge can be discerned, emphasizing the importance of listening to teachers' voices without limiting that listening to personal, practical, or pedagogical knowledge.

Cole, A. L., & Watson, N. (1993). Beginning teacher development in Ontario: The ebb and flow of policy and practice. Journal of Education Policy, 8(3), 241-255.
Reviews current teacher induction practices in Ontario, Canada, and considers the relationship between school-system level programs and broad-scale government policy. Uses a policy analysis framework to examine induction interest and activity from 1988 through 1991. Discusses these findings within the 1993 policy context. School systems must develop policies providing support for new teachers.

Cole, A. L. (1992). Teacher development in the workplace: Rethinking the appropriation of relationships. Teachers College Record, 94(2), 365-381.
Considers the relationship between teacher development and the workplace, examining the effect of individual characteristics and significant others. Researchers interviewed beginning teachers about workplace relationships, teaching situations, high/low points, critical incidents, obstacles, and opportunities. The article looks at rethinking appropriation of professional relationships, responding to diversity, and facilitating development.

Cole, A. L. (1991). Relationships in the workplace: Doing what comes naturally? International Journal of Teaching and Teacher Education, 7(5/6), 415-426.
Using data from a teacher socialization study, the paper explores connections between workplace relations and teacher development. Conversations with 13 beginning Ontario teachers regarding psychosocial development, caring communities, and collegiality are the basis of discussions of formalized induction programs, institutionally imposed collaborative agreements, and natural approaches to teacher induction.

Cole, A. L. (1991). Induction programs in Ontario schools: A survey of current practices. Orbit, 22(1), 2-4.
A brief summary of what is known about induction activity across the province of Ontario.

Cole, A. L. (1991). Induction Programs: Opportunities for Career-Long Professional Development. Final Report (Block Transfer Grant) submitted to the Ministry of Education, Ontario.
This report describes a collaborative research and program development initiative undertaken in a southwestern Ontario public school board. This board, like many others hiring large numbers of new teachers and facing pending teacher education reform, recognized the need for a formalized induction program to ease the new teachers' transition to teaching and to facilitiate their growth. Also of primary concern was the provision of assistance and support for principals who would be assuming responsibility for these new staff members.

Four "pilot" schools participated in the project which addressed Transfer Grant Priorities #4 and 8. The objectives of the project were: to develop, in each of the schools, the form and content of a program of assistance and support for new teachers which would also be beneficial to other professionals in the school; and, with an eye to further development, to document and describe the school-based induction programs, the process by which they were instituted in each school, and their impact.

Four main principles related to professional and program development guided the work: (1) staff development activities should be planned and conducted "on site" with teachers at the centre; (2) program development needs to take into account that schools are complex organizations with individual and distinct characteristics; (3) participatory planning is an effective method of program development; and (4) the principal has a key role to play in staff development.

The report contains information about the activities related to the project goals, a description of four different approaches to new teacher support, key findings related to teacher development in general and the induction of new teachers in particular, and a list of outputs.

Cole, A., Cathers, P., & Watson, N. (1991). Support for Beginning Teachers: A Directory of School Board Practices in Ontario. Final Report submitted to the Teacher Education Council, Ontario.
This directory is offered as a resource document for those interested in finding out how other school boards are approaching new teacher support. It is a companion document to our report on induction activity, Support for Beginning Teachers: Ontario Perspectives. It is not a "how-to" guide to the development of support programs, nor does it answer the "why" of induction and new teacher support. (For this kind of information, we refer you to the companion document). It is merely a "bare bones" description of the "what" and "who" of current practices in Ontario school boards. We think of it mainly as a window on support activity. We provide a glimpse into what is happening and encourage you to take a closer look.

Cole, A., & Watson, N. (Eds.). (1991). Support for beginning teachers [Theme Issue]. Orbit 22, 1.
Included are articles which deal broadly with the political context and activity in Ontario; descriptions of various approaches to teacher induction (collaborative efforts between faculties of education and school boards, system-wide programs, and school-based support); some examples of induction programs already in operation; and accounts which illustrate both the need for and the benefits of support programs.

Cole, A., & Watson, N. (1991). Support for beginning teachers: Ontario perspectives. Final Report submitted to the Teacher Education Council, Ontario.
In this report, we summarize findings from a survey of induction practices across Ontario, and provide an in-depth look at one induction program. We go on to illustrate a variety of other approaches to new teacher support being taken in the province. We also discuss a range of conceptual and practical issues related to induction, and suggest guidelines for both policy and practice.

Cole, A. L. (1990). Helping teachers become REAL: Opportunities in teacher induction. Journal of Staff Development, 11(4), 6-10.
Recent developments in Ontario, Canada, are used to identify and discuss issues related to teacher induction and teacher education reform efforts in North America.

Cole, A. L. (1990). Personal theories of teaching: Development in the formative years. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 36(3), 203-222.
Argues for the significance of "personal theories" in teaching. Profiles first year teaching of four teachers who had completed program of self-inquiry and reflection about their own developing conceptions of education. Describes their personal theories of teaching before employment and the nature and impact of their teaching experiences.

Cole, A. L., & McNay, M. (1989). Induction programs in Ontario schools: Raising questions about preservice programs and practica. Education Canada, 29(2), 4-9.
Views the first-year teacher induction program as a logical extension of the student teaching experience and the next step in long-term teacher development. Outlines the goals of pre-service practica in Ontario universities and suggests related goals for induction programs.

McNay, M., & Cole, A. L. (1989). Induction programs in Ontario schools: Current views and directions for the future. Education Canada, 29(1), 9-15,8.
Reports the views expressed by Ontario educators in response to an earlier article on teacher induction programs. Discusses the need and rationale for induction programs, their funding and governance, professional status issues, enabling factors, the role of mentor teachers, and program evaluation.