With great interest the other day I read this terrific blog posting http://shankerblog.org/?p=10340 by Alan Daily and Kara Finnigan (an up and coming researcher team supported in part by the WT Grant Fdn). Their findings about the social context and relationships in teaching made me think about how this similarly applies to the process of educator preparation, particularly to the clinical experiences of teacher candidates . The social networks within which a teacher functions (eg learning communities, collaborations, every day interactions with peers) seem to have a significant potential impact on teacher performance. The value-add of an individual teacher is likely related to the value-add of social networks within which a teacher works. This suggests that the preparation of new teachers should promote healthy and dynamic interactions with their peers. Not a radical idea but one which sometimes is hard to make happen.
