Abstract
To support teacher professional learning and bridge the theory-practice divide, university-school partnership has been included as one of the key elements in teacher education. Such partnerships provide opportunities to create hybrid spaces where teacher educators, administrators, pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, families, and communities share learning and development opportunities through ongoing reflections, adaptations, and inquiries. In this chapter, the authors describe the theoretical foundation and specific practices in a university-school-community partnership preparing teachers for multilingual learners. Professional learning opportunities in the hybrid spaces are detailed, and boundary-crossing engagement is discussed. Based on the partnership experiences, the authors also discussed the transformative potential of partnerships in teacher preparation to promote the development of asset-based multilingual and multicultural learning among educators, students, and communities.
TopMain Focus Of The Chapter
In this chapter, we describe a university-school-community partnership including both pre-service and in-service teacher preparation components designed to support teachers working with multilingual learners and their families. Situated in the hybrid space, this partnership leverages strengths-based interactions among multilingual students, families, in-service teachers, pre-service teachers, and teacher educators to generate and promote horizontal forms of knowledge for teacher preparation (Zeichner, 2012; Zeichner & Payne, 2013).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Multilingual Learners: Learners from multilingual backgrounds or developing multilingual competency through different learning contexts.
Boundary-Crossing: Entering unfamiliar territories, assuming new roles, and/or acquiring new tools for research and practice in teacher education.
Research Practice Partnership: Long-term, systematic collaborations to enhance educational practices through research.
Hybrid Space: Space of teacher education where university-, school-, and community-based resources are integrated to support teacher development.
Funds of Knowledge: Bodies of knowledge and skills essential to multilingual and multicultural communities that may or may not be recognized or legitimized in current teaching and learning contexts.
Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Practices: Instructional practices that support learners from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
Community Cultural Wealth: Cultural wealth including aspirational, navigational, social, linguistic, familial, and resistant capital based on the experiences of students and families from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.