| Summary: | This is a study of seconded teachers' experiences as
university instructors and faculty advisors in the Faculty
of Education at the University of British Columbia.
Data were gathered for this study through interviews
with 17 seconded teachers (5 first-year seconded teachers,
8 continuing seconded teachers, and 4 teachers who reentered
the school system after secondment). The purpose of
my study was to understand more clearly the experiences of
seconded teachers in the teacher education program through
the use of Glaser and Strauss's (1967) grounded theory
approach.
The results indicated that the seconded teachers in
this study moved through stages: seeking the position,
preparing for secondment, expressing self doubts and
loneliness, adjusting to the tempo and workload, working
with adult learners, and looking for support. As university
instructors, seconded teachers bring realism to the teacher
education program by presenting fundamentals of teaching,
by modeling teaching strategies, by connecting theory and
practice, and by sharing narratives. Seconded teachers
acknowledge with reservations that as evaluators they
possess power over student teachers. Regardless of how they
might prefer to conceive of their role, in the end, they
become evaluators. Seconded teachers displayed various
communication styles. Reflection, an aspect of
communication, was also identified as important. The themes that have emerged in this study point to 5 general central
issues: the contrast between university and school
cultures, the strength of reflection on practice, seconded
teachers' commitment to classroom teaching, seconded
teachers' professional identities, and secondment as
professional development. The results of this study suggest
that the temporary, short-term nature of secondment, as it
now stands, may be a lateral career move rather than a
vertical progression. Comments suggest that the Faculty of
Education could do a better job of educating seconded
teachers about, not only the preservice teacher education
program, but specifically the expectations and roles for
the seconded participants.
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