The Challenges of Participating in a Teacher Residency Program

Teacher residency models are gaining traction in the United States as a promising vehicle for preparing new teachers. Although many studies have highlighted the value of teacher residency models, there is little information about the challenges faced from the perspective of resident and mentor teachers. Using a pragmatic lens, this instrumental case study explored resident and mentor teachers’ shared challenges to participating in a teacher residency program. The resident and mentor teachers indicated that participating in a year-long teacher residency program provided several challenges, such as a lack of connection between university and school expectations, heavy coursework load in the resident teacher’s education program, the burden of substitute teaching, and insufficient pay. This pragmatic knowledge is critical for all universities intending to develop partnerships with local schools, regardless of the model for teacher preparation.