“It’s not just any teaching program”: The new professionalism, educational inequity and Ako Mātātupu: Teach First New Zealand

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.30.6116

Keywords:

Teach For All, teacher education, new professionalism

Abstract

In an effort to understand the impact of the international education network, Teach for All, this paper focuses on one Teach For All affiliate program, Ako Mātātupu/TFNZ (AM/TFNZ), to consider how Teach For All and its affiliates are reshaping notions of teacher expertise and professionalism as it defines itself in contrast to university-based teacher education. By drawing on qualitative data, including semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document analysis, we argue that AM/TFNZ develops a new kind of professional by shifting 1) the purpose of becoming educators 2) the content of teacher education, and 3) the role of teacher educators. Ultimately, AM/TFNZ develops their educators outside of the literature, expertise, or histories of teacher education with a focus on creating a network of innovators capable of disrupting the status quo.

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Author Biographies

Zachary Ramsey, University of New Mexico

Zachary Ramsey is a doctoral student and teaching assistant at the University of New Mexico. His research interests revolve around educational equity, teacher education, and innovative pedagogical approaches, like project-based learning.

Helen McFeely, University of New Mexico

Helen McFeely is a PhD candidate in teacher education, educational leadership and policy at the University of New Mexico. Her research interests lie at the intersection of community, classroom and home-based literacies. Her work in a diverse public high school provides her opportunities to learn about the literacy practices of her students and to bring these practices into both K-12 and higher education settings as she also teaches literacy methods courses at the University of New Mexico.

Jackie Cusimano, University of New Mexico

Jackie Marie Cusimano is a doctoral student at the University of New Mexico in the Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Educator program. She is a university supervisor for student teachers and a credit recovery high school teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her areas of interest are in authentic student engagement and holistic pedagogy through the practice of testimonio

Katherine Crawford-Garrett, University of New Mexico

Katherine Crawford-Garrett is an associate professor of teacher education, educational leadership and policy at the University of New Mexico. She holds a EdD from the University of Pennsylvania. Her areas of scholarship include neoliberal contexts of schooling, teacher activism, and critical literacy. She is the recipient of the 2016 Fulbright US Scholar Award to New Zealand. She is also the author of Teach For America and the Struggle for Urban School Reform and articles in leading peer-reviewed journals such as the American Educational Research Journal and Teaching and Teacher Education.

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Published

2022-07-12

How to Cite

Ramsey, Z., McFeely, H., Cusimano, J., & Crawford-Garrett, K. (2022). “It’s not just any teaching program”: The new professionalism, educational inequity and Ako Mātātupu: Teach First New Zealand. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 30, (99). https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.30.6116

Issue

Section

Teachers and Educational Policy: Markets, Populism, and Im/Possibilities for Resistance