Supervision of student teachers: emerging models and innovative approaches in the USA

This article discusses the growing trend toward cooperative models of and new approaches to student teaching supervision in the United States. Although 78% of US teachers train in traditional 4-year programmes, new models are emerging to replace the traditional triad supervision format. The article explores these models through a study of some US university approaches to supervision, ways of enhancing partnerships between schools and universities, and ways of improving teacher supervision with an ancillary benefit of increasing recruitment. Teacher supervision and preparation approaches in the USA are growing toward more cooperative models between school districts and universities, with school districts offering their own in-house training and coaching models based on professional development schools. Research indicates that teacher preparation methods are slowly changing, as schools and universities realise that successful alternatives to traditional teacher preparation exist, especially in the ...